Wanderlust 4x5 P&S

[bobwysiwyg]

Thanks, makes sense both business-wise and in general. I'll check their website to see how one might pre-order if possible.

[bobwysiwyg]

Darn! Wish I had followed this sooner, would love to have one. Checked the Travelwide site and no mention of pre-ordering, at least not yet. Took their suggestion and signed up for the news letter. I sure hope there is a second run.

P.S. Should anyone getting one out the first batch would like to sell it, for whatever reason, let me know.

[Winger]

I found my Angulon, yay! And along the way I also came across this lens that I rescued from somewhere. It only works with a cable release and doesn't need to be cocked. It's a 105mm, but is there a chance it might be made to work on the Travelwide? If not, anyone have ideas where else it might work? I know only what it has on it for info.

[Old-N-Feeble]

I don't think the 105mm Tominon covers 4x5 at infinity. Sorry...

[HMG]

I found my Angulon, yay! And along the way I also came across this lens that I rescued from somewhere. It only works with a cable release and doesn't need to be cocked. It's a 105mm, but is there a chance it might be made to work on the Travelwide? If not, anyone have ideas where else it might work? I know only what it has on it for info.

From an old Polaroid MP3 or MP4 copy camera. You've probably seen those. Info on them if you google around but the 2 big issues are coverage (as noted) and also that they were designed for "flat field".

[Dan Fromm]

Bethe, O-n-F is right. The thing is a tessar type optimized for shooting above 1:1. Even if it were a garden variety f/4.5 tessar type, it still wouldn't cover 4x5. I like me tessars but they has their limits.

[Ben Syverson]

I think that is their intention. I once asked Ben the minimum number of cameras that had to be run to make a second batch economically viable. He said 500. My guess is that they, Ben and Justin would have to gather 500 pre-paid orders before they would commit to a second run. Doubt very much they would have the liquidity to run a second batch and then hope they sell so as to recover their investment. This makes me think all future sales would have to be pre-paid. They have already spent multi-thousands of dollars out of pocket thus far to bring this campaign to where it is. My guess is they face at least another $20K (or more) expense to get them shipped to backers.

I re-ran the numbers recently, and we could actually do 250 at a time. We wouldn't need to pre-sell all 250, since (although it may not seem like it now) we do have some profit margin built in. We have about 6000 people on our mailing list, and get multiple daily requests to purchase a camera, so I think we could finance another run in probably a day or two. But I want to wait to ship this first batch first, so we know how to calculate shipping costs for future runs.

Once we do the first run of 250, it will help to finance the parts for another run. So that should be the last preorder needed to bootstrap us into monthly production. Looking forward to it!

[Brian Puccio]

I re-ran the numbers recently, and we could actually do 250 at a time. We wouldn't need to pre-sell all 250, since (although it may not seem like it now) we do have some profit margin built in. We have about 6000 people on our mailing list, and get multiple daily requests to purchase a camera, so I think we could finance another run in probably a day or two. But I want to wait to ship this first batch first, so we know how to calculate shipping costs for future runs.

Once we do the first run of 250, it will help to finance the parts for another run. So that should be the last preorder needed to bootstrap us into monthly production. Looking forward to it!

That's fantastic! I'm glad this is coming together for you guys. I hope the stress levels are starting to go down.

[letchhausen]

That's great news! I was worried that the pain and angst of this process (not to mention the whining) might have scared you guys off from continuing. Glad to hear that the future is now. I like Randy Moe reminding us that you don't need a ton of film or holders. One of the things I've always liked about shooting 4x5 is that I don't take a ton of shots and can keep up with my photographic production. With the TW I can get a few shots off in places or times when I normally wouldn't be able to.

[Winger]

I don't think the 105mm Tominon covers 4x5 at infinity. Sorry...

Bethe, O-n-F is right. The thing is a tessar type optimized for shooting above 1:1. Even if it were a garden variety f/4.5 tessar type, it still wouldn't cover 4x5. I like me tessars but they has their limits.

Oh well. And I was wondering that as well. I know exactly what this lens was going to be used for, though it never was. It came with a Polaroid holder for pack film, so I'll guess that it would cover the area of FP100C equivalent. I scored both as they were gathering dust because the lab went digital. Since it was going to be used to photograph gel electrophoresis plates, it wouldn't have been in use for long anyway 'cause they stopped doing those, too.

So, I wonder what else I can do with it...