[LargeFormat] about to take the jump

[William Wiseman]

I have decided to take the jump to a 4x5 camera. After some research 
and reading, I think a monorail camera will work for me since almost 
everything I will be doing would be close to my car or indoors. I'm 
also not a small guy and my normal camera backpack weighs in at 30 lbs. 
(with tripod) so carrying a camera case/pack isn't going to be a big 
deal. My biggest problem is a tight budget.

After some looking, I am considering one of the older Calumet/B&J 
Orbit/Kodak with round rails. They seem to all be the same basic camera 
and all seem to go for around $100 (sans lens) on ebay. Would this be a 
reasonable choice? Is there some problem that makes these cameras 
undesireable? Also, most seem to have a 20 to 22" rail but is a shorter 
rail available or was this a standard size bar/tube where a shorter 
rail could be easily made?

TIA.

JeffW.