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Tin Can
6-Feb-2019, 17:31
Below is the website, I found it from a bicycle website I shop at.

https://www.rivbike.com/

https://www.cameradactyl.com/4x5/

From the second website you can find a link to their closed and ended KS.

Would you have wanted one?

Do you roll....

Not me!

Two23
6-Feb-2019, 18:26
From the second website you can find a link to their closed and ended KS.

Would you have wanted one?




Ah no. I'm not a "rainbows & unicorns" sort of guy. I'm just a duck hunter in South Dakota.;) Besides, my Chamonix is too perfect for me to consider switching.


Kent in SD

Dugan
6-Feb-2019, 18:41
Ack.

Andrew O'Neill
7-Feb-2019, 08:45
They look like they were made by Fisher Price.

Peter Collins
7-Feb-2019, 14:31
Again, Kent in SD, and I are in sync. My Cham is close to perfect.

Laminarman
7-Feb-2019, 15:47
Again, Kent in SD, and I are in sync. My Cham is close to perfect.

I'm with Peter and the duck hunter. Duck hunting bad out on the East Coast Kent...I'm comin' out!

ic-racer
7-Feb-2019, 18:26
Not sure why the link to the bike, but every time I see anything that claims to be 'hand crafted' like that I can't stop thinking of this...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TBb9O-aW4zI

Joe O'Hara
8-Feb-2019, 08:24
Oh dear.

Tin Can
8-Feb-2019, 08:30
I bought very nice handlebars from the bike site and it directed me to the printed camera.

Looks like they finished 2 KS production runs AND delivered the strange camera. Better than some...

Perhaps they don't break or bend when dropped in the same way a wood or metal camera does.


Not sure why the link to the bike, but every time I see anything that claims to be 'hand crafted' like that I can't stop thinking of this...

Drew Wiley
8-Feb-2019, 18:07
On a shelf here, I've got a tiny little plastic photographer in a beret tethered via a toy cable release to an equally tiny bellowed view camera and tripod - something my sister picked up as a gift for me in Holland. But I bet those silly polka dot and plaid view cameras on the link would actually sell in the camera shop in town if they even remotely actually work. They already sell roll film camera somewhat like that. Students love that kind of fun stuff. And as for those bicycles, I know several of the people who allegedly began the trail biking industry. They're right across the Bay, have their own museum of mountain biking history, right at the foot of Mt Tam where it all began. A couple of them are multimillionaires now, owning factories churning out bikes that can cost up to $10,000 or more apiece. But before that fad ever began, we hill kids reinforced our own ordinary klunker bikes for that kind of use - which was not yet a sport, but simply a way to get from point A to B on cattle paths, old abandoned railway grades, and early oxen logging trails on steep hillsides. So I really wouldn't mind having a perfectly ordinary but otherwise tough bike like one of those on the link. I'm not even comfortable riding the fancy ones. But this area also seems to be the world epicenter of bicycle theft. There are entire bicycle "chop shops" near the University specializing in reassembling
stolen bicycles into something harder to trace to the original owner, and then retailing them to whoever. There's not a bicycle chain or cable or lock that can't be breached in mere seconds if you know the technique and have the right tool. A block away the local wacko got arrested for making bombs in his basement because he was inspired by someone to go out and blow up... (leave it at there lest this become political). But after he was deported to his mandatory 20 year Federal sentence - thank goodness - the subsequent garage sale had to liquidate about thirty of those little kid bikes with banana seats and high handle bars which he had stolen, and rode around in the wee hours of the night on his burglary escapades. Pretty bizarre for someone almost 50 years old. I once caught him in my backyard trying to defend the world against two alien spaceships which happened to be my two garden tank sprayers!

plywood
9-Feb-2019, 13:21
Went to their website and now they also apparently are making a handheld 4X5. Somewhat the same concept at the Travelwide, but with interchangeable lens cones for different focal length lenses. It is also all 3-D printed, no injection molded parts. This is what gave the Travelwide KS project such headaches and caused much delay and cost overruns. The price is more expensive however at $200 a copy. Wanderlust Cameras were going to sell the Travelwide for $150 each. But that price required a production run of at least 250 according to Ben. I guess that with 3D printing you can just runoff whatever number you have orders for. The Cameradactyl handheld 4X5 at least looks fairly sturdy with thicker helicoid parts, but it does weigh a bit more than the Travelwide.

Not sure I care for all the wild color combos. The black and grey looks nice though.

Nodda Duma
9-Feb-2019, 14:16
My daughters, 12 and 10, LOVED their cameradactyl! They picked out the colors and believe me it was an eyesore, with pinks, unicorn bellows, and everything. But I’ll tell you this: They were really excited when it showed up. They even insisted in coming with me on my (rare these days) photography outings so they could use *their* camera.

When was the last time you saw a 12 year old interested in large format?

What a great way it was to get kids and other folks interested in large format photography.

These days people like Ethan are the driving force behind innovation in large format.

Cheers,
Jason

plywood
10-Feb-2019, 10:39
My daughters, 12 and 10, LOVED their cameradactyl! They picked out the colors and believe me it was an eyesore, with pinks, unicorn bellows, and everything. But I’ll tell you this: They were really excited when it showed up. They even insisted in coming with me on my (rare these days) photography outings so they could use *their* camera.

When was the last time you saw a 12 year old interested in large format?

What a great way it was to get kids and other folks interested in large format photography.

These days people like Ethan are the driving force behind innovation in large format.

Cheers,
Jason

You bring up a good point that is often missed. So far our grandkids haven't shown more than a passing interest in grandpa's hobby. I've been thinking that a simplified work flow with 4X5 using photo paper as a negative might be the way to arouse their curiosity. With this process they can see the process of negative/positive photography first hand. The size is also big enough to see without enlargement. The advantage of photo paper is that it can be handled under safe-light, for contact prints the darkroom setup is dead simple with a minimum of equipment and chems. It's also cheap, with cutting down 8X10 paper costing about 25 cents per sheet.

For a camera using 4X5 film holders the most basic setup would be pinhole. A one element meniscus lens in barrel with drop in stops is the next step up. Due to the slow speed of the paper a lens cover as shutter is practical. The bottleneck could be finding a windowless room to set up a makeshift darkroom, not everyone has housing with those circumstances.

LabRat
10-Feb-2019, 12:22
They need a celebrity endorsement, with SpongeBob SquarePants using the camera down in Bikini Bottom... Hope it's waterproof and film will not need a presoak... :-)

I don't know about the "fun" motif of these, as many are drawn to the techno or traditional estetic of gear, and how are you going to find lenses or holders with unicorns to match???

But the gorilla in the room for film use is "how are you (or someone) gonna process that film, and how are you gonna make a print (or get it on FB asap)...

Is it just me, or are there more entry level cameras being made then the the holders, lenses, darkroom gear, and other stuff needed??? Like making new cars that require old parts to run them??? Seems the market can be flooded with too many makes...

I hope that does not become discouraging for someone interested...

Steve K

plywood
10-Feb-2019, 15:22
They need a celebrity endorsement, with SpongeBob SquarePants using the camera down in Bikini Bottom... Hope it's waterproof and film will not need a presoak... :-)

I don't know about the "fun" motif of these, as many are drawn to the techno or traditional estetic of gear, and how are you going to find lenses or holders with unicorns to match???

But the gorilla in the room for film use is "how are you (or someone) gonna process that film, and how are you gonna make a print (or get it on FB asap)...

Is it just me, or are there more entry level cameras being made then the the holders, lenses, darkroom gear, and other stuff needed??? Like making new cars that require old parts to run them??? Seems the market can be flooded with too many makes...

I hope that does not become discouraging for someone interested...

Steve K
To address your concerns;
Concerning processing my post above has a bearing on that. Photo paper can be processed very simply with minimal equipment, and you can observe the development under safelight. You can also cut down the paper and load film holders under safelight.
Regarding film holders, there appears to be a plentiful supply on the used market, I have paid from $5 to $10 for mine.
On lenses; a single element meniscus lens of 200mm focal length, (a +5 diopter) using waterhouse stops could be fairly inexpensive and stopped down to f32 to f64 can render acceptable results. (especially for 1:1 contact prints)
The whole idea is to provide a means to try out silver based photography without breaking the bank. If the young folks want to take it from there, well, that's up to them.