Well I wonder whether the problem was that one, if not two, middlemen got involved in the transaction, and that the price doubled or more. Given what Gary Smith said from Japan about probable price, one as got to ask whether this is what pulled the legs out from under the transaction.
I'm interested in buying 5x7 Toyo holders, but not if the price is going to go up 100% or more because somebody has decided to do the deal through a middleman, especially if it is efectively a co-op order on a product that is otherwise unavailable.
With the greatest respect, given that the first order fell apart due to price, why are people talking to a middleman instead of directly to Toyo?
I really don't understand why someone can't just talk with Toyo or Sakai, either in person or over Skype (not available last time around) and get various prices tied to the number of orders. If someone can give me the phone number, and if Toyo has people who are fluent in English, I'm prepared to make the call myself, although it might be preferable if the call was made by someone in Japan, or fluent in Japanese, or who uses their cameras. As for Sakai, a quick Internet check suggests, rightly or wrongly, that it may be based in South Korea.
Arca-Swiss 8x10/4x5 | Mamiya 6x7 | Leica 35mm | Blackmagic Ultra HD Video
Sound Devices audio recorder, Schoeps & DPA mikes
Mac Studio/Eizo with Capture One, Final Cut, DaVinci Resolve, Logic
Headquarters is in Osaka:
http://www.toyoview.co.jp/sub1.html
Yes, it would be preferable for someone local, fluent in Japanese, to be an intermediary.
If you explore the links on the left, you'll see that the product line is primarily machine tools, not cameras.
I no longer shoot enough LF to justify any new stuff. I can't believe it was 4 years!
I was looking for a long-lost Heliopan step-down ring last night, and in desperation I looked in my boxes of sheet holders (disused since stepping "down", temporarily I hope, to 612 and 617; since a new child). I found four Toyo WP holders and they are indeed wooden with metal trim. They're the same size as my modern S&S WP holders, but they do look remarkably like the Rittreck holders (WP? 5x7?) I used to have when I owned one of those beast cameras.
They are ill discoverers that think there is no land, when they can see nothing but sea.
-Francis Bacon
The Rittreck WP holders were made - or at least branded - by Tachihara. The dimensions are different from those of vintage Eastman or modern Chamonix holders, and they're not fully interchangeable.
Anyway, if Toyo 5x7 holders exist, I'd speculate that they're in the same style as your Toyo WP holders. I wonder whether Toyo made half-plate holders for their metal field camera whose "native" format was 4 3/4 x 6 1/2.
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