The Wehman is on the way, man!!

[chris jordan]

Woohoooo-- the new axe is coming soon!! I'll report back after the first trial run...

~cj

www.chrisjordan.com

[Oren Grad]

Weh cool... enjoy!

[Andre Noble]

What happen to your Toyo 8x10?

[chris jordan]

The Toyo got its butt kicked by the dust and grit in New Orleans, so it's off to the Toyo factory for repairs. I discovered that the Toyo has an achilles heel that makes it unsuitable for working in gritty conditions: grit can get into the focussing mechanism and lock up the gears, rendering the camera all but useless. Unfortunately the focussing gears are inside a metal casing that isn't accessible, so once the grit gets in there the camera needs to be sent to the factory for repairs. So, I'm trying a Wehman for shooting under gnarly conditions.

[Steve Hamley]

Chris,

Keep us posted.

Steve

[Paul Moshay]

I had that problem with my first Toyo 8x10 and 4x5, bought used and perhaps used in dusty condtions. The problem with Toyo's are the fine focus slides, as they are aluminum against aluminum, and if a bit of sand gets in between them they gall up and need to be taken apart and smoothed by a competent tech person. Being also a machinist, I relined the slides with .005" teflon sheets and the problem was gone, but I later sold the two and bought new ones to use only in the studio. Paul

[CXC]

Chris, welcome to the Wehman club.

Mine is currently, temporarily, on the shelf, as I just received my new 8x10 Gowland monorail. Gotta love working with a monorail, gotta hate lugging it about. I need a giganto backpack, probably a Timbuk2 Pro.

The Wehman remains my main 8x10, the plan is for the Gowland to be the wide-angle specialist, the only area in which the Wehman is short of superb. Remember that with lenses up to 300mm or so, you can just take off the front plate and leave it in the car, making it even lighter, less bulky, and easier to handle.

[Ralph Barker]

Christopher - sounds like you need a training routine for that Gowland 8x10. Try packing a Toyo 810G around for a couple of weeks, and the Gowland will seem like a feather.

[CXC]

Ralph, of course, weight is not a problem, since as you know it is a featherweight. I was just hoping it would fit in my f.64 Large backpack, as does the Wehman. Well, technically you can squeeze it in, if you take it off the rail, and it would fit more or less okay if you also took off the tilt/rise knobs, but I don't want to do either of those two things. I'm sure I'll work something out with a just slightly bigger pack. The main compartment of the f.64 Extra Large backpack is smaller than in the Large, of course...

[Frank Petronio]

I would love to see some set-up digitals of how people are packing and handling their Wehmans. It does look like such a practical camera, I am taking a better look at one myself.