light leak on wisner 45 technical?

[MacGregor Anderson]

Thanks. I've tested and retested the leak around the filmholder. No amount of fiddling with position changes it.

The holes in the lens boards are just bizarre, but not something that would cause me to give up on the brand on their own.

The screws popping out of the top are too disconcerting to let go.

I'm sure most of these cameras are very finely built and don't have these problems. But I'm not interested in a long back and forth process now that my confidence is shaken.

I will be returning this to B+H as soon as they reopen and starting over from scratch.

If anybody has any suggestions for a folding field camera with good movements, around this price range feel free to email me. I'd love the help. I might spend a bit more if I have to, but nothing over $2500. I'm not interested in used equipment after two bad purchases from two reputable houses of lenses said to be in near perfect condition.

I shoot mostly landscapes and nature shots, but I'm finding the CF movements rough and constricting. I'd like to keep it at 6lbs or a bit less. Sturdy build and smooth operation in movements is very important to me. Lenses right now run from 90 to 300, and while I might expand in either direction a little, I'm not looking for extremes. Wood or metal is fine.

Thanks again. Hopefully one day I'll be able to help someone new here as so many have helped me.

If anyone ever wants info on Central Oregon, or if there are any fly fishermen out there that want info on Oregon fishing, I could certainly start to pay back my debt there.

Mac

[MacGregor Anderson]

Picking on me? Not at all. I'm truly grateful that people here took the time to work through this problem with me. I probably deserve a lot of flack for many of the questions I asked, but nothing here was the least bit abbrasive. It's a really fine community on this board. Reminds me of the fly fishing site I frequent. And the answers on that other site were also helpful and instructive. Couldn't believe I avoided the typical nasty jabs there. I think the Large Format community is a breath of fresh air and this site proves it every day.

[Gary J. McCutcheon]

Dear MacGregor,

Good to here you found the problem. Sorry it is the camera and boards. The holes in the boards almost sound like sabotage. No this is not a conspiracy theory. Send the whole thing back and either get your money back or a new near perfect camera. I know you can get one because many of us out here have Wisners that do what they were built to do. There are many excellent 4x5's out there, you may want to try another brand. Few have the features of the TF, but if it is such a fight to get one that works the way it should you may need to look and re-evaluate. Bruce's Field Camera Store sells Wisner Cameras and he would check out the camera thoroughly for you before he ships. You might give him a call 212-807-7788. I've only called him once to see what he had in stock and he does stock a number of Wisner cameras as well as Ebony, Linhof, etc.

Good luck and let us all know how this turns out.

Gary

[Gem Singer]

Mac,

Give Jim a call tomorrow (Sat., between 10AM and 2PM Eastern time) at Midwest Photo Exchange (www.mpex.com). Explain your problem to him. He can outfit you with an Ebony within your price range. Mention that you obtained the referrence from this forum. I can assure you, that both the quality of the service and the price will be well worth your while. I hope that B&H is willing to give a full refund on the obviously defective Wisner they sold to you.

By the way, my wife and I lived in Bend for three years during the early 1980's. We fly fished the Deschutes, the Metolius, the Fall River, the Umpqua, etc. Great place to live, hike, ski, fish, and photograph the scenery. However, in those days, it was not an outstanding area for making a living.

[Gem Singer]

P.S. You may want to consider the Toyo 45AII. It has more movements than the Toyo 45CF and it uses the same lensboards. Jim often has hardly used 45AII's at very reasonable prices.

[MacGregor Anderson]

Eugene,

I'll do that. I looked at that Toyo and almost went that route. Something more "romantic" about the wood camera got me.

I practically live on the Metolius. I'm in Sisters, off in the woods a couple miles out of town. Fish that river all the time. Big blue wing olive hatch yesterday just above the hatchery at the "idiot hole." Size 14-16, WAY bigger than the usual 18s and 20s. Slate grey in color. A spinner fall just after that. Noon til two was dry fly fishing at it's best. You know they stopped stocking the river a while back, and it's all wild fish now. I got one nice redside yesterday. If I hadn't been roll casting across fast current it might have been a couple fish. Catch and release only on that river now, fly fishing only down to bridge 99. I've only been here 2 years, but they tell me it's a major success story in wild fish management.

The job market here is still what it was pretty much. "Poverty with a view." I left a big city career at age 31 to find a better place to live, found this part of the world at 33, and have had two great years exploring. It's crowded now compared to the 80s, and many of the locals have moved off to Idaho. Property prices are growing like Manhattan. But to me, this town of 1000 people is just perfect.

Thanks for the info and ideas. If you ever come out to visit, I know locals on every river you mentioned and would be glad to help you out with hatches, etc.

[Gem Singer]

Hi again Mac,

The wife and I hung around Sisters as often as we could (in the early 1980's). I remember a great pizza restaurant in Sisters. Sisters was the llama capital of the USA. Do they still raise them there? If we could have made a decent living in Oregon, we would probably be living there now. You are fortunate to be able to live in such a beautiful area of the world.

Since you like wood cameras as much as I do, take a look at the Ebony cameras. They are a work of art in fine wood and titanium metal. The low priced RW45, with the universal bellows, would be the ideal camera to use in the field in your area of the world. See Kerry Thalmann's article in the latest issue of View Camera. Jim usually has the RW45 in stock, or can get one for you, quickly.

[MacGregor Anderson]

B+H was quick and helpful in providing return info. I've done a lot more research since this started and talked to a number of people and have come up with a couple options that should work better for me. No need to detail them here, but I do want to thank all of you once again for the very helpful advice, emails, and support.