Wista DX

[dfn]

Just a short question:
Is 749 USD a good price for a brand new Wista DX? Is it worth the extra cost vs Shen Hao or Tachihara?

[k_redder]

Just a short question:
Is 749 USD a good price for a brand new Wista DX? Is it worth the extra cost vs Shen Hao or Tachihara?

I can't speak to whether the DX is worth the extra money, but having just been in the market for a 4x5 the DX was one that I was considering and I don't recall seeing one for sale new at that price. So if the DX is the camera you really want, $749 looks like a pretty good deal to me.

[Duane Polcou]

I've been using Wista cameras since 1988 . First a Wista VX, and now a Wista D (an older version of the SP) which I purchased on eBay for about $575 from a gentleman in Japan who regularly sells Wista gear online. Works flawlessly. I think Wistas are precise, solid cameras made by a company with a long history of producing gear with more substance than marketing.

Having checked out some wooden field cameras (Wista DX, Zone VI, Deardorf) I find wooden "folders" in general to be far less rigid and durable than their metal field counterparts. I agree with k redder that 749 is a good price for a Wista DX if it is BRAND NEW, but if you want to go used and want to consider a metal camera you may very well be able to buy for less.

[Brian Ellis]

If you want a Wista DX it's a great price. Unless things have radically changed since I last looked, I believe a new DX normally sells for about $1100+. But the Chamonix is much more camera for about the same price as your potential Wista, as is the Shen Hao IMHO (though the Shen does weigh about two pounds more than the Wista). Tachiharas cost about the same as your potential Wista and have basically the same features except for rear shift on the DX which the Tachihara doesn't have. Some people think Wistas are better built than Tachiharas and Shen Haos. I didn't think so based on the Wistas I've played around with but I've never owned a Wista so maybe there's something about their construction that I missed in my handling of them.

I've owned a Chamonix, Tachihara, and Shen Hao. FWIW, if I were buying a wood field camera in the $750 price range today, my order of preference would be Chamonix, Shen Hao, tie between Wista DX (for your $749 cost) and Tachihara depending on which was more important to me, the rear shift of the Wista or the one inch longer bellows of the Tachihara (and if I did a lot of hiking I might prefer a Tachihara or Wista to a Shen Hao because of the 2 lb weight difference).

[dfn]

Thank you all for giving your thoughts. Right now I donīt need more cameras, but when I saw a NEW Wista DX for that price on Q****y Camera I thought that it must be a good buy. If I donīt like it I can always sell it. But I decided against it in the end. Maybe someone of you others might be interested, after all it seems like a good deal.

/Daniel Forsman

[Nana Sousa Dias]

I have a Wista DX for 6 years and I bought this year a Shen Hao HZX 45 II A. The Wista is a fine camera, very light and well manufactured but the Shen Hao is more rigid, has more movements, longer and interchangeable bellows and it's cheaper. The Shen Hao has a great advantage over the Wista DX and many cameras much more expensive, wich is the ability of the rear standard to move forwards. This allows the use of a 47mm lens, very easily and this lens can even be used mounted on a flat lensmount, as long as you do not use tilt movements.