Pretty, expensive

[Dan Fromm]

http://cgi.ebay.de/Asymmetrische-Fachkamera-4x5-inch-Handarbeit-Unikat_W0QQitemZ290062793284QQihZ019QQcategoryZ8277QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

[naturephoto1]

Hi Dan,

It is. But a beautiful L bracket hand built wood monorail 4 X 5 that includes a Docter Optics 250mm Tessar lens, Berlebach tripod, tripod head, and a beautiful hand built camera suitcase; I believe it also includes a Polaroid 545i (?), 4 Fidelity 4 X 5 Holders, Dark Cloth, Large Format Handbook- Plaubel, construction diagrams, and magazine article about the camera???. :cool:

Rich

[Ole Tjugen]

It is also a masterpiece, in the original meaning of the word!

Pretty, but too expensive for me. So my pretty, inexpensive cameras will have to do. :)

[naturephoto1]

It is also a masterpiece, in the original meaning of the word!

Pretty, but too expensive for me. So my pretty, inexpensive cameras will have to do. :)

This from the man that last bought a Carbon Infinity???!!!!:confused: :eek: :D

Rich

[Ole Tjugen]

This from the man that last bought a Carbon Infinity???!!!!:confused: :eek: :D

I "last bought" a pre-anniversary Speed Graphic. Inexpensive at $56, but maybe not so pretty.

The Carbon infinity is pretty, and pretty inexpensive compared to this camera!

[Frank Petronio]

It might go well in a brutal shag-carpeted, mylar wallpaper, 1970s-style dream setting. It lacks the subtlty of a really nice Ebony or even a Nagoka Ikeda. It is entertaining -- and well crafted -- kitsch, and an ironic satire on Linhof's designs.

[naturephoto1]

I "last bought" a pre-anniversary Speed Graphic. Inexpensive at $56, but maybe not so pretty.

The Carbon infinity is pretty, and pretty inexpensive compared to this camera!

Yes, but the Carbon Infinity was a beautiful used piece of art work with a cracked GG. :eek: :D

Rich

[Ole Tjugen]

I still use the cracked GG, and I haven't replaced the missing spirit levels either. I figure mine could well be the only CI showing clear signs of use - most of the others have never been unpacked, I suspect ;)

[Jim Galli]

Everything is backwards when Architectural Digest comes with a large format camera to take pictures OF a large format camera.

Furniture is...well...furniture, and cameras are cameras.

The V11 is as close as I'll ever get to combining the two.

[John Kasaian]

I see a window of opportunity here---- build a Bender, buzz out a circassian walnut lensboard, give the whole enchilada a piano finish sell it on German ebay.... and move to easy street! ;)

It really is a beautiful piece of wood (and metal)working but so is a V11 'dorff (plus you get all those acres of gg to play with!)

[BrianShaw]

I "last bought" a pre-anniversary Speed Graphic. Inexpensive at $56, but maybe not so pretty.

Ha, Ha... I never thought I wanted, or could, do this... compete with Ole for quantity, quality (or lack thereof), and price: My last camera buy, which I'm ELATED over, was an Aniversary Graphic with lens/shutter/synchronizer, 3-cell flash, 8 film holders, two pack-film holders, graflock back, cords, 50 sheets of Royal X (dated 1973), and the carrying case -- $24 + $20 shipping. All in clean and working condition straight out of the box (okay, except for the film holders that needed to have old film removed and a bit of dust blown off of them). :) At that price and with the functionality that it offers (I actually like hand-holding 4x5) I think it is more than "pretty".

[Ole Tjugen]

Furniture is...well...furniture, and cameras are cameras.

I'm pretty certain that at least one of my old plate cameras was made by a German cabinet maker. And another one was made by a Soviet cabbage-crate maker, I believe... One is a work of art, the other a work of - well, labour, perhaps?

[Ernest Purdum]

It looks well designed, though the focusing range seems rather small.

I'm amused that German eBayers also can't copy words accurately. "Doctor" Optik.

On U.S. eBay, I've seen Graflock, Grafloc. Graphlok, Graphlock, Graflox and Graphloc. G-Clarion lenses show up once in awhile.

[Marko]

It looks well designed, though the focusing range seems rather small.

I'm amused that German eBayers also can't copy words accurately. "Doctor" Optik.

On U.S. eBay, I've seen Graflock, Grafloc. Graphlok, Graphlock, Graflox and Graphloc. G-Clarion lenses show up once in awhile.

And all of those to be found on a large format camara, of course. ;)

What's really funny, though, is that "Doctor" is spelled like "Doktor" in German, so it was either just a typo or ignorance compounded with a typo.

[Ernest Purdum]

I don't think it was a typo. It appears about three times.

[Pete Watkins]

That is beautiful, and the Walnut lensboard makes me want one. I might get to make a walnut lens board but the rest is out of the question. Thanks for putting the link up.
Best wishes,
Pete.

[Richard Årlin]

Well an Ebony SV45TE 4 wich I have, is not is not so much less expensive... and imagine just making a prototype like this whith all trials and errors for perfect fits by a cabinetmaker... I myself make paper by hand from pure retted linen rags processeded in a stamping mill needing 125 hrs for 3 kgs dry matter, surface seizing the sheets once dried and separated... printing my own books in a handpress at a rate of maybe 15 sheets an hour, my own ground printing ink made with printer's warnish burnt from 48 hrs long cooked walnut oyle til it ignited... and printing wit type I handset after I first cut the stamps, hardened them, struck the matrices... many more steps... cast the type by hand one by one 3 or 4 a minute and finished them... anyway this guy spent a lot of time and used all his skill to make the camera... maybe he is a LF photographer himself... U know one of my typecutting friends did not understand one special aspect which was immediately obvious to his father who was a blacksmith, but I believe this guy knew woodworking and maybe cameras and possibly photography... for the work he did I believe he askes a very modest price... like parts of his own expenses

[Geert]

I still use the cracked GG, and I haven't replaced the missing spirit levels either. I figure mine could well be the only CI showing clear signs of use - most of the others have never been unpacked, I suspect ;)

Ole, I can make you a new groundglass, you will find my eventually :D

Regarding the camera. It looks well built but I don't like the looks of it. The lensboard looks like an early 19th century Hammerklavier, the L-arms seem to come from an Ikea seat and the knobs from a state of the art technical camera.
That's a bit too ecclectic for me.

G

[Jan Pedersen]

Talking about expensive! There's still some nutcases out there. William Linn just sold an old ugly, (Sorry William) old Petzval for 511$


jan

[Ole Tjugen]

Interesting - there's a 19th century Hammerklavier right behind me here! :)

I disagree on the IKEA bit though - they've never made anything that precise. Ekornes or Hjellegjerde, perhaps?

And my "crached groundglass" is a BosScreen with a crack in it: Still perfectly flat, bright and grainless. :D

[Struan Gray]

My first impression was of a chimera of Artek and Biedermier. The case was the thing that I would most like to own.

I would actually be suspicious of a mechanical design optimised for metal being copied in wood. They do still make wood-framed motor cars, but not as monocoques.