I've posted a few pictures, including ones of the problem nut/post at
http://medicine.wustl.edu/~willisd/shenhao/
explanation.html gives a brief description of the photos.
The web site is intended to show the camera. It certainly won't impress you with my html skills. The photos were taken in my lab (hence the science junk in the background) with our Nikon 990. I haven't played with it much, so the photos are not much more than point and shoot.
Geoffrey has been very helpful, and we've corresponded off forum trying to figure out how to make this work. As helpful as he's been, I'm reluctant to hose off my camera. The camera has some light trap material right behind the lensboard and right in front of the back. It's kind of a nice touch. It's not very thick, so it shouldn't really compress and cause focus problems. I'd be concerned that water would make it loosen. Besides, it just seems very counterintuitive. But if it works for him, great.
I did put a drop of water on the top of the camera and it beaded up nicely, so there is something water repellant to the finish or the wood.
When I got the camera, there was something oily on the ground glass. The only thing I had in lab was some ethanol and some kim wipes. I put some ethanol on a kimwipe and wiped it on the oily areas and dried with another pad of kimwipes. It came off easily. I noticed that a couple of times I got close to the wood and the ethanol kimwipe had a little stain on it, which makes me concerned that there might not be clear coats on top of the finish.
There are also a couple of flaws in the wood where it appears a small splinter flaked off leaving a little groove. Because these are stained, it happened before the finish was applied. These grooves appear to have their full depth which makes me wonder a bit if the clear coats are there, unless they were sprayed on very thinly, which they may be. Overall, the wood and the finish look quite nice.
As I've worked with the camera, the rear swing has loosened up some, but the rear shift is still tough to work.
I'm still concerned about switching the back from vertical to horizontal because the finish will wear off the corners where the tabs hold the back to the rear standard. Actually, it's not the finish I mind so much as that don't want the wood to wear making the back a little sloppy.
If anyone has any questions or wants to see specific views of the camera, please let me know. I didn't photograph the bag bellows, but I can do that if anyone would like to see it.
Again, I think the camera is fine for $550, but I'm not going to get easy customer service as I would with other cameras--it can be tough to reconcile a problem when the camera came from China. The way the rear swing/shift is controlled is an easily fixed design flaw. Overall I'm pleased with my first LF, but $1000 is getting a little steep for it.
Dave
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