We started our Summit camera design in 2020. We listened carefully to what our experienced users told us. Due to their choice of subject matters and their photographic styles, many of them rarely use lenses in the 600mm range with their 810 cameras. That means, at least in theory, that they should not bear the extra weight and dimension of the camera which has that capacity. 

Our Alpinist 810 camera is a very capable and light weight camera. With our Summit 810 camera, our design goal is to trim one lb from its weight and 40% from its folded dimension. This means the Summit 810 camera will be the thinnest and the lightest Chamonix 810 camera. 

Our Summit 810 film holder which to be paired with this camera has also reached our goal. It is the thinnest and the lightest 810 film holder. Summit camera + Summit holder is an enclosed system that walks away from the traditional standard. It means that if you decide to give up the use of your 600mm lens and your traditional film holders, we will create an unparalleled user experience for you. 

Large format wooden cameras with single extension were famous for a while in the past due to their light weights and compact folded sizes. Historically, many single extension cameras were advertised as traveling cameras. It indicated that photography was not the only goal of your journey and you should bring your camera to your business trips, holidays, even honeymoons. Your traveling camera should be packed in your luggage and to be used when needed. Or imagine another situation: you have one or a few shots in your mind and you have to use your 810 camera, but you are unable or unwilling to bring your heavy tripod and your big gear bag with all your lenses and holders for various reasons. 

When folded, our Summit camera has no protruding knobs or buttons. It uses a Linhof size front which allows but does not encourage the use of Copal #3 shutters. We are not trying to tell our users which camera to choose, but our design hints that our Summit camera is a very unique system and a special tool. 

This system shows some stubbornness in its rationality. It has made its careful decision what to lose in order to keep what it needs. Lightness and rigidity are the goals that Chamonix has spent the last two decades pursuing. Our Summit 810 camera is another milestone for us. 

There will be two models: Summit X with a convertible back and Summit 810 Horizontal model. 

Here is the tech data of the Summit X convertible model: 

Max bellows draw: 550mm

Min bellows draw: 95mm

Front swing: unlimited

Front shift: 38mm on each side

Rear swing: 10 degrees

Rear shift: none

Rear tilt: 90 degrees forward, 15 degrees backward

Folded size: 310mm x 320mm x 59mm

Weight: 2,450 grams

Front standard takes Linhof size lens board

Bellows: fixed

Tech data for the Summit 810 horizontal only model: 

Max bellows draw: 470mm

Min bellows draw: 95mm

Front tilt: 30 degrees forward and backward

Front swing: unlimited

Front shift: 38mm on each side

Rear swing: 10 degrees

Rear shift: none

Rear tilt: 90 degrees forward, 15 degrees backward

Folded size: 310mm x 268mm x 59mm

Weight: 2,180 grams

Front standard takes Linhof size lens board

Bellows: fixed

Summit horizontal model is limited edition with 9 cameras and Summit X is an unlimited edition. 

The price for both models will be $5,500 USD with FedEx shipping.

Both Summit models can only be used with our Chamonix Summit film holders, not regular 810 film holders. This is actually a set of five ultra thin holders. Each holder has a weight of 285g and a thickness of 4.8mm with its thickest part of 6.2mm. This set of five holders has its carbon fiber carry bag. The carry bag has a weight of 293g. The price of our Summit 810 holder set is $4,100.

Here's a testimonial feedback from one of the first users of this camera.

The new Summit 8x10" camera is an evolution in large format photography that I have been waiting decades for and thought would simply never happen. But Chamonix are constantly evolving and refining their camera systems and have spent years completely rebuilding the essential 8x10" camera based on concepts and materiality designed to drive and improve photographic output and production, with form carefully following function. 

It's easy to get distracted by the camera's fetishistic beauty, but what lies waiting is an incredibly powerful tool that has opened up my photographic potential, making me faster, more mobile, more discreet, lower profile, more confident and more secure in my environment. 

Working with large format film in sensitive locations is always fraught and an oversized camera can draw unwanted attention. The Summit is very unassuming in the field and looks about the size of a 4x5" camera, and is as quick to use. Its refined simplicity instills confidence, with extreme rigidity produced by a highly considered carbon fiber design. 

I've worked for decades with 8x10" cameras built by RH Phillips, in some very rough and unpredictable locations, and have been very impressed with the results. But the Summit is next level. It's a new chapter in 8x10" camera design. The ingenious idea of pushing the camera's rear element and ground glass along the camera bed to snap into place for each particular focal length is a really original and effective one that feels like a tiny revolution. It solves the problem I always had with ultra wide lenses on a field camera, where a part of the camera appears in the frame, and is simply faster and more ergonomic. 

This is truly original thinking and design sense, that must come out of a passion for and knowledge of photography that only a photographer can understand. Sliding the carbon fiber Summit film holders into the incredibly rigid rear of the camera is a pretty fabulous feeling, especially when you pack the camera up again and realize it's all about the size of a laptop. 

There are, of course, limitations to what kinds of lenses you can use, but I often find my best work emerges from limitations. Limiting me to a set of compact lenses that I can walk all day with in the field has helped me focus on taking pictures again, rather than dither over unusual optics. So I'm looking at the world properly. That's exactly what I've been hoping for lately. The Summit's extreme, pared-back design is liberating. The difference feels a little like that between a fly fishing rod and a spinning rod, for anyone who likes to fish, or between a Lotus Elise and a Bentley. 

It's incredible that such a refined analogue large format camera can arrive at a time when photography itself is languishing under the glut of AI imagery and ubiquitous digital sensors that make the world plastic. This is something to be celebrated. 

* Richard Mosse has no affiliation with Chamonix and is an independent and unsponsored photographer who purchased a Summit Horizontal camera.