Ooops : of course I meant : the new 140mm F-line "square" 4"x5" camera it is significantly lighter and more compact than the classical 171 "square" camera series.
Ooops : of course I meant : the new 140mm F-line "square" 4"x5" camera it is significantly lighter and more compact than the classical 171 "square" camera series.
Emanuel - I've searched Robertwhite, BH, etc. and can't find the "new" field model with rear 4"x5" standard like the Misura has or the "new" F-line models. Are these new F-line models not out yet? Does anybody have any reference to latest Arca Swiss "new series" catalogue (other than e-mail AS)? Maybe I could just build the system I want with separates? Thanks.
Trey:
Emailing AS is not reliable, and based on past experience, it may be years before a new catalog is printed.
Contact Rod Klukas at Photomark in Phoenix. He was expecting both Misuras as well as the new "smaller" version of the 4x5 field camera this month. He can also get info more easily from Arca in Besancon than most.
To Trey and other people interested in the new F-line series Arca Swiss cameras. Simply place a phone call to any Arca Swiss distributor on your continent ;-) The new products have been presented at Photokina but the distributors' web sites have probably not been updated yet ! So next step is to ask any Arca Swiss distributor : when and which price ?
Several Arca Swiss misuras have already been shipped to customers in Western Europe.
Two caveats to any potential Arca-Swiss buyer: they don't stock or ship the parts you need on a regular basis, and they have a lousy record of communication with their customers. Precision Camera Works in Chicago is their authorized service center, and the owner, Bob Watkins, knows Arca stuff inside out. But without replacement parts - or waiting months and months for parts - it's kind of hard to get anything repaired that is out of the ordinary. Luckily, the stuff is so well made it rarely needs replacement, but be warned that if you aspire beyond 4x5 F-Lines and Discoverys, you may be in for a wait.
The 140mm standards and bellows make sense, and would be a good basis for a future digital platform, but I wouldn't expect to see anything in mainstream American's hands for at least a year or so...
As much as it pains me, I have to agree with Frank. Buying and owning Arca-Swiss equipment is simultaneously wonderful and frustrating. Fortunately, as Frank says, the equipment is good and is seldom in need of parts or service.
I have sent several email inquiries to Arca-Swiss concerning options on the Misura and the new products first shown at Photokina. For example, I wonder if the Misura can be equipped with Micrometric Orbix. Nobody in the U.S. knows if the Micrometric knob will fit in the leather case. None of my email has been answered. Without Rod Klukas at Photomark and Emanual Bigler on this forum, I would have no information at all on these products.
Diane Henry, the U.S. distributor is friendly and helpful, but handicapped by a lack of information from Besancon. She agreed to send me information on the Misura and other new equipment after I was unable to attend PhotoEast. She did what she promised. But all that she had was a one-page pdf fluff ad with no useful information, and the 1999 catalog of Arca-Swiss equipment which has been around since, you guessed it, the last millenium.
I have visited the offices in both Horgen and Besancon. In both cases, the Vogts and their staff were unbelievable helpful and welcoming. They even went so far as to pick me up at the train station when local transport was a problem. Their hospitatlity was second to none. And it was obvious that the level of technology was superb. In 1991 I was headed to Vienna to give a talk on seismic software I developed for the Mac, and we spoke for over an hour on their use of Macs in design. Yet for all this, the company can't seem to cobble together even the most rudimentary web site.
Their product line SCREAMS for custom ordering of cameras. A just-in-time inventory system would allow them to assemble cameras for each customer with exactly the rail, standards and bellows the customer needed. This would lower the cost to both Arca-Swiss and the customer, and presumably increase sales and revenues.
So when all is said and done, the cameras are still wonderful and the company is a group of people worthy of support. But they do make it incredibly frustrating to continue to give that support.
The reason Sinar and Hasselblad were so successful with professional photographers in the USA, when Arca-Swiss and Rolleis were at least as good (and probably better) cameras, was that they produced timely literature; sent good reps out into the field; and serviced what they sold, down to the smallest accessory. While the Sinar and Hasselblad websites are less than ideal IMHO, they sure beat the heck out of Rollei's lame excuse and Arca's non-exisistent websites.
Complex system cameras seem like ideal candidates for web-based explainations - not only would they sell more cameras by getting the information out to the public, worldwide, 24-7-365, but they would cut down on mistakenly ordered parts and technical support questions.
It's all a moot point. With the dollar going so low, the prices are going to be out of sight. Imagine how hard it will be to get an Arca once we attack France!?
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