Wanderlust Prepping

[Kimberly Anderson]

I got my 90 today. Very, very excited. I will be looking for a suitable 65. Maybe not the Schneider, but maybe if I can find one that's not too much.

I'm planning to shoot 6x12 with it, so I am just a tad concerned that the 90 won't be wide enough...

In any case, I was so excited I just had to share.

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I'm doing research on finders now. I had a Mamiya 7II system for a while and those finders were delightful. I am afraid they are far too expensive to justify for these cameras though. I have read through the original Wanderlust thread and learned a lot about what finders are available. Not quite ready to jump yet, but I have some ideas.

[Oren Grad]

Enjoy! :)

Haven't decided yet what I'm going to do about a finder. In the minimalist spirit of it, I'm almost inclined to just try it with the sport finder for a while. But I did pick up a Blik.

[Drew Bedo]

I have the lens. . . need a finder too.Missed on the funding/intro so hope to be able to get one of the "production" cameras when available.

[Jim Cole]

My new to me Linhof 90 f/6.8 arrived last week. I also picked up one of the cheap plastic (~$30) 28mm viewfinders on ebay that is almost a perfect match for the 90 as well as one of the BLIK rangefinders that is still in route.

I'm all set and really excited to use the Wanderlust when it arrives.

[David Karp]

Got a coated 90mm Raptar to go with mine. Thinking about a BLIK. Will try the inexpensive viewfinder. Really looking forward to this camera.

[Tracy Storer]

The 90 Angulon has been sitting on the desk ready for a while, now has a Blik sitting next to it. Don't know where my 4x5 holders are for sure, but I'm sure I'll run across them before the cameras ship.
: D

[Steve Goldstein]

There was a 65mm Super Angulon over on APUG earlier today.

[Kimberly Anderson]

I won the auction for this viewfinder today:

Panflex Viewfinder (http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=111082249060)

I can't find anything out about it, put a bid in on a wild hair thinking it would either work for the 90 or the 65. It's a bit of a gamble, but at $75 I've gambled on far more expensive items.

All I can figure is that it strongly resembles some Widelux viewfinders.

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EDIT: Apparently Panflex is a Chinese version of the Noblex...ish. There are a few differences but they operate and look almost identical. Here's a video in Chinese with a man loading the Panflex camera that has the identical viewfinder to what I won.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6QrKJojXT_A

[David A. Goldfarb]

I've looked at a Panflex in the NYC Lomography shop, and I own a 6x12 Noblex (formerly belonging to the late Ted Harris, once moderator of this forum, in fact). The Panflex that I saw had a spring-driven motor. The Noblex has an electric motor.

[tenderobject]

i have a similar viewfinder for my fotoman 617. it looks like the same with that vf for panflex. i'm not sure if i could use that for travelwide though.

[Kimberly Anderson]

My thinking is that I'll be shooting with a 6x12 back...either with the 90 or the 65. I'm kind of leaning towards the 65, but I purchased the 90 first. IMO we'll all be kind of experimenting building these cameras for how we intend to use them. One solution for me may not work for anyone else...but I think that's awesome and in the spirit of their 'hackable' platform.

[Drew Bedo]

You are right Michael: To each his own . . . .

My plan is to use the Wanderlust with a Grafmatic for landscapes at infinity—to keep it simple and light-ish.

On viewfinders: Is there any way to use a smart phone or even a tablet as a viewfinder. My thought is that there should be a way to use one of the protective holders as a mount to clip it on and off. There are light metr apps already out there. What about an app that would let you choose the aslect ratio and madnification to match the field of view shown on the screen to the lens mounted on the camera?

[Kimberly Anderson]

Build it. I would buy it.

[Peter Gomena]

Wow, Drew, what an idea! An electronic viewfinder/meter app. Make it with scalable format sizes/focal lengths and create an attachment that will center the iPhone over the lens axis. Dial-in parallax adjustment, too.

We live in marvelous times.

[David A. Goldfarb]

That app is called Viewfinder Pro, but it's limited at the wide end by the focal length of the iPhone lens, unless you add supplementary lenses, which you can do. Alpa makes an iPhone mount to use with this particular app. I suspect you could rig up a mount for other cameras with parts from Zacuto and the like.

[Drew Bedo]

The hardware aspects of this concept would be great projects for 3D printing (prototypes anyway). The applications aspects are limited only by imagination and skill at creating apps. Sadly, I have no practical ability in either atrea.

[Drew Bedo]

I feel a little like "Horshack" from that old sit-com shouting, ". . .Oh-Oh!"

Just thought of another way to use a Wanderlust: Mounted behind a spotting scope or large telescope for Extreme telephoto in LF.

I did this once long ago by mount a Speed Grafic behind a spotting scope on a workshop made wooden mounting bracket. It was clumsy and cumbersom, but could be made to work. A lightweight and inexpensive camera would make this much easier to work with.

I may have to buy two now.