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Well I'm sure I'm in the last third of the backers, didn't get my pledge in until the 8th of April or so. Being a card carrying pessimist I,m just not expecting anything until October. They have had all the parts in hand for over a month now so by October that will have been three months. Surely that should be long enough to at least start to assemble and ship SOME cameras.
Wasen't there a recent post where Ben said that the plan was to assemble all the cameras and then ship them out in batches by region? I understood that shipping by how early one had become a backer was not the plan.
Here is what was posted 16 days ago:
"Hi guys, sorry for not updating you sooner—we got the helicals, and they look great. Now we're trying to schedule a team to do assembly.
Shipping will likely happen in large batches or possibly one lump shipment. If we need to stage them in batches, the batches will be sorted by geography and backer number, followed by preorders. In short, your place in line will be preserved as much as is logistically possible, but they'll all basically go out at the same time.
"
Sometimes people hear, or read, what they want to read. :)
Ben just posted an update. If you cannot see it here is the text;
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6 likes
Hi everyone,
I apologize for the radio silence and delay. But I have good news! We're scheduling our Chicago pickup party for next Sunday, August 23rd from 2PM - 4PM. More details will go out to backers who selected pickup. We're also considering adding an additional pickup party one week later (August 30), so if you would like that, please let us know. And remember you can pick up your camera any time after the 23rd during business hours in downtown Chicago.
Shipping options
If anyone would like to switch to pickup (or switch back to delivery), you can still edit your choice. You can also still edit your shipping address, so please keep it up to date if you're moving this month (a few of you are).
Getting cameras in boxes
We're still selecting the most efficient and cost effective way to ship, but while we research our options, we'll get these cameras assembled and into boxes. It's not clear yet whether a single bulk shipment will be any cheaper or easier than sending them out in smaller batches.
In any case, please know we're just as anxious as you guys are to get 1500 cameras out of our studio. It's slightly cramped in there with all the parts. :)
So hang in there! The smell of corrugated cardboard is in the air! And thank you once again.
Ben
I will be at pickup party with lens, loaded holders and HEILAND FOTO-MITE!
Yikes!
I better get a cigar...
Don't forget a 405 and some instant film!Quote:
Originally Posted by Randy Moe
No longer a fan of Fujiroid.Quote:
Originally Posted by photonsoup
I have 7 boxes of FP3000B left and when it's done, I'm done with Fuji anything. They are not the future of film.
Any New Yorkers going to the partay? I was hoping someone could pick up my birthday gifts.
Hah! While you're grabbing Larry's could you grab mine too then? :)Quote:
Originally Posted by Larry Kellogg
Ben: I am still interested in buying a camera whenever one comes available due to cancilation or other mishap.
Untill then: congratulations to all as this project comes to fruition!
If anyone wants to organize a NY pickup party, I'd gladly send a few NY cameras in one package!
Ill happily host a Boston/NE pickup partyQuote:
Originally Posted by Ben Syverson
Oh, that would be awesome. Let's see if we can get some folks to attend!Quote:
Originally Posted by koh303
I'd be interested in a Boston pickup party if the date works.
Can be done at our warehouse, feel free to PM me (or email me to coordinate)...Quote:
Originally Posted by Ben Syverson
Beers on me :)
I'm willing to help out for a New York pickup, how about somewhere in Manhattan? All trains run through Manhattan.
How many people in the New York area can make it?
I'm in.Quote:
Originally Posted by Larry Kellogg
I would so show up at a pickup party in Manhattan (work on Times Square, live on the Jersey Shore).Quote:
Originally Posted by Brian Puccio
I doubt you have enough orders for this, but I'd be willing to do Minneapolis / St. Paul.
I live in Brooklyn. Happy to help out!
So far, I think we only have four New Yorkers, not sure if It makes sense.
Two thousand two hundred and twenty two comments on this thread!
Uh oh, now I ruined a perfect 2222
Ben,
Did you say Phoenix (Gilbert actually),AZ, the Valley of the Sun? I know there's are at least two of us. Only a day by stagecoach from Tucson.
Happy trails to all,
Steve
Hmm, I see my post as 2236.Quote:
Originally Posted by plywood
Well most likely an official KS update would bring the NYC backers out of the woodwork. I don't think they're all reading LFPF. Anybody that would host such a 'party' would need the space to do so, and would need to be able to accept a theoretically large shipment. Of course if one of the Founders could make it out to NYC, it could be cool just to have a calibration demonstration! That's probably not exactly what they have in mind though, since it could get expensive to come out here.
I think there's two conditions for a mini-launch in NY: (1) someone willing to host with room in manhattan and (2) a bunch of people who want to go.Quote:
Originally Posted by sperdynamite
Unless you all want to come out to my 1 bedroom in the burbs, I can't help, sorry! :)
I'm in for a Phoenix party :)Quote:
Originally Posted by Steve Pitchford
I was thinking that all New Yorkers could meet in the plaza outside of ICP at 42nd and Sixth. I guess it depends on whether we could do it when it was still light out.
Ummm... the headlines.... don't know the neighborhood, but....................
"Thirteen Old Timey Photographers met shortly after dark near 42nd and sixth. 16 Antique cameras in cardboard boxes are stolen, when they are mugged. Nobody in the Starbucks at that intersection saw anything!!!"
LOL, mugged? When was the last time you were in New York? I'm not saying it doesn't happen but this is not old New York. That area is very safe and crawling with people all the time, and is next to the B-D-F-M trains.Quote:
Originally Posted by Kuzano
I was thinking of the large open plaza around the entrance to ICP. I can be there during the day. I figured people might want to see whet they're getting, although the plaza is kind of lit up at night. It looks like this:
Attachment 138554
Lots of photographers hang out there so it would be a good marketing opportunity for the TravelWide.
I would say if it meant I was going to get my cam MUCH faster I would be interested. However I could see it getting complicated fast due to logistics and planning, and if it's more or less the same amount of time I'd just opt for home delivery. Best case scenario would be if one of us had a midtown photo studio where they could take a large delivery, and host people coming and going for a day or so.
Yeah, I agree, a midtown studio location would be ideal. I'm sure we could have done it out of MV Labs, the black and white lab I interned for, but it is closed.
I messaged Ben about doing a pickup party for DC, but the more I think about it--the more I think it just complicates things. Let's say Ben sends out a mass email announcing the date/time of the party and 11 people RSVP. Then only 7 people show up. Then it becomes a pain for the person with the cameras and the no-shows trying to arrange the remaining pick-ups.
Yah! Ya got me. Living in Oregon, surrounded by forests, lakes, streams, small communities, the only thing we have close to a "mugging" here is an occasional am-indian uprising, where we circle our cars off the Interstate. I'm only a half hour off the reservation.
Only made the comments based on historic (perhaps prehistoric) precedent set by PNW and West Coast perceptions. Glad to hear NY is cleaning up their act at last. The lighing looks great... what ISO?
Just some thoughts that came up while waiting for Pony Express to deliver a couple of Old Timey Cameras.;)
Things change, New York is a darling compared to what it used to be.
There is a Starbucks on that corner, so I thought you knew the area. Then again, there is a Starbucks on every corner.
That's not my photo, not sure of the ISO.
I just hope they don't wait too long to start shipping. If the pick up party is Sunday 8/23, then to be fair to those of us who cannot pick up a camera in Chicago shipping should at least start Monday 8/24. Unless or course they only had time by the 23rd to assemble enough cameras for pick-up and the rest are still in pieces. So far Ben will not commit to any time line for shipping and by now, with all the parts in hand for 6 weeks, well doesn't that seem odd to anyone. I dunno, maybe they are just flat broke and are trying to delay until they can scrape up enough funds to pay for it all.
You know, I'm probably face more risk in your part of the country than I do in New York. I'm not a backwoods person, so I would probably get lost in the woods, drown in the lake, or slip off a rock and get swept to my death in a fast moving stream.Quote:
Originally Posted by Kuzano
Someone wrote a book about just those sort of risks that urbanites face when they go out to the wilderness. Some people literally walk backwards into the Grand Canyon while getting their pictures taken.
Well aren't you just a little ray of sunshine?Quote:
Originally Posted by plywood
No it doesn't strike me as odd at all for a small operation of a few friends.
Yeah, people expect Amazon level service from two guys in Chicago who've had the gumption to design a whole new camera and sell it at a fair price on KS. We've all found the delays unfortunate but people could be a lil more supportive rather than complaining about theoretical problems they haven't encountered. Getting into a KS means you're going on a journey with the founders and you may not end up with a camera in your hands, lucky for us, we finally get our Travelwides!!!Quote:
Originally Posted by Roger Cole
Anybody have any tips on shooting flash with LF? I shoot weddings and I want to expose a few sheets at the reception, coming as close to the old speedgraphic press camera look as possible. I'm gonna use a Nikon speedlight, but every time I've shoot B&W with flash before I've never been able to soften the contrast. It seems like there was a totally different look outta those old flash bulbs...
Use bounce flash if you can. Read this recent thread - same techniques apply:
http://www.largeformatphotography.in...low-DOF-Advice
Yeah, I mean those techniques are more about the images looking nice in the modern way. I want my images to look like Weegee (with an absolute minimum of murder, if possible). :-)Quote:
Originally Posted by Corran
Ah :) yeah flashbulbs had a much higher output than your average flashgun. Not sure about the contrast, maybe it was the (lack of) directionality?
Certainly a possibility; they have a much larger reflector. I wonder if the flashes like the Qflash or Sunpak 120 would be somewhat similar. And, of course, you have to consider the press lenses of the era.Quote:
Originally Posted by Corran
Weegee! f/8 and be there!
The Travelwide would be wonderful for Weegee-style stuff, but you need them honkin big flashbulbs.
Put a Honeywell Tilt-O-Mite on one of those flash shoes and you're all set for bulbs.
Sweet, now I'm curious.Quote:
Originally Posted by Kevin Crisp
There's a junk shop down in Tallahassee where I saw about 50 flashbulbs for like $10. Maybe they're still there...
Haha! that thing looks so cool. Not sure I would want to rely on finding old flash bulbs. Maybe I'll look into a 120J. Though those things are HUGE.
As for the age of the lens, I shoot with a Nikon SB-22s on a Rollei 2.8E and I still get really high contrast so I don't think the lens helps that much to reduce contrast. Not sure what it was but they just seem so much softer...
They cleaned up their act over 20 years ago. But personally I waaaay prefer 42nd Street of 1986 to the Disneyland that it is now. Actually I prefer the city as a whole of those days of yore....Quote:
Originally Posted by Kuzano
Not at all. But on July 3rd in the KS main comments section Ben was asked if shipping would be delayed until after the pick party. Ben answered the same day and said 'no, there would be no delay', Those were Ben's own words so of course, since by then all the parts were on hand I figured he had a plan already as to shipping. Now in more recent comments related to the last up date he says the pick up party will happen before the rest of the cameras go out. So you see there is some confusion going on here. Because of my neighborhood I'd really like to know when it's coming because I have to be home. A package left at the door is a invitation to theft around here. As usual, throughout this long delayed project no one is asking Ben and Justin for the moon, just a little concrete information.Quote:
Originally Posted by sperdynamite