Wanderlust 4x5 P&S

[mdarnton]

Thanks Tim, Andrew.

[Oren Grad]

And when they have the screen's texture worked out, they'll send it to us at no cost.

Cost of postage, actually. But still, they'll be eating the cost of the extra screen itself.

[Ben Syverson]

Cost of postage, actually. But still, they'll be eating the cost of the extra screen itself.

Exactly. Unfortunately, the postage is too much for us to take on at the moment. About half of our backers are international, so it brings up the average shipping cost. Once you multiply that average by 1500, it gets to be a large number.

We could wait until the GG texture is perfect, but I don't want to test the patience of 1500 people for much longer. The LFF community and most of the folks on Kickstarter have been exceptionally kind and understanding, but we've already had people initiate chargebacks (sigh) and threaten legal action.

To be honest, Justin and I can't take much more delay either—we're both incredibly stressed out. The anxiety often keeps me up at night, and I'm sure Justin could say the same. The only light at the end of the tunnel is that very soon, these cameras will be out of our studio and out in the world, making amazing images. That will be the single most rewarding part of this project, and the entire reason we committed ourselves to it.

[Tin Can]

Thanks Ben!

I bet you are stressed.

Lawsuits, damn those people for eternity.

Exactly. Unfortunately, the postage is too much for us to take on at the moment. About half of our backers are international, so it brings up the average shipping cost. Once you multiply that average by 1500, it gets to be a large number.

We could wait until the GG texture is perfect, but I don't want to test the patience of 1500 people for much longer. The LFF community and most of the folks on Kickstarter have been exceptionally kind and understanding, but we've already had people initiate chargebacks (sigh) and threaten legal action.

To be honest, Justin and I can't take much more delay either—we're both incredibly stressed out. The anxiety often keeps me up at night, and I'm sure Justin could say the same. The only light at the end of the tunnel is that very soon, these cameras will be out of our studio and out in the world, making amazing images. That will be the single most rewarding part of this project, and the entire reason we committed ourselves to it.

[Jim Cole]

Amazing! Lawsuits over a $99 item that KickStarter stresses has no guarantee of delivery after you invest. What the hell is wrong with people these days? What lawyer will even take this case?

[Ben Syverson]

Amazing! Lawsuits over a $99 item that KickStarter stresses has no guarantee of delivery after you invest. What the hell is wrong with people these days? What lawyer will even take this case?

Exactly. And those types of emails take a psychic toll even if we know they're not really going to hire a lawyer to recoup $99. It's just not a pleasant feeling to know you've made someone that upset.

[Peter De Smidt]

Outrageous! I've been thinking about doing a Kickstarter campaign for either dslr scanner plans or a kit, but there is no way I'm going to do that if there's a threat of lawsuits. Ben, you've done a terrific job, and soon you'll start seeing the great things people do with your camera. Hopefully, that'll make it all worth while!

[Ben Syverson]

I think Kickstarter makes sense for two types of projects:

1) You have a product ready to go, and all you need is the money to produce it. e.g. A book which is done, already test-printed via Blurb or Lulu, and ready for offset.

2) You're doing a small project with an unknown outcome, but over which you have complete control over production, and very fixed costs. e.g. A singer-songwriter wants to make a new album.

If you're outside of #1 or #2, don't Kickstart it!

We thought we were in category 1, given that we had (in our minds) injection-friendly 3D CAD parts which we had verified by 3D printing, and a production partner who said "no geometry restrictions."

In reality, we were further from "ready to go" than we realized. We had some "known unknowns" and plenty of "unknown unknowns," as Donald Rumsfeld might put it.

[Kirk Gittings]

Frankly nothing has happened with this project in general terms that I did not pretty much expect. I'll be happy with the product when you guys are happy with the product I suspect. I don't want it any sooner.

[Andrew O'Neill]

What a learning experience, hey Ben? The majority of us backers are and have been behind you 100%. No worries.