Bob
There's mosquitoes on the river, fish are rising up like birds. It's been hot for seven weeks now, too hot to even speak now, did you hear what I just heard?
I want to know also, as last night I was shopping the 8X10 Intrepid on their website.
What they show is the bungee cord back in one corner at an angle, no update in images or text.
I will wait.
Tin Can
No metal spring back, it was the bungee cord version. When I placed my order I specifically asked this question: will I get the new spring back? and they said, yes, I would. So on that count I am very disappointed. I dislike the bungee solution, since in the 8X10 size it gets very sloppy and imprecise. To make matters worse, the focusing mechanism in the rail bed skipped gears badly when it was racked out to about 50% of maximum, at which point it simply ground the gears and nothing moved. They DID send a replacement bed and it works better, but there are signs that its going to have some degree of the same problem as things start to wear (these gears are plastic, as you might guess). On top of all that, the bellows are already showing signs of excessive sag and don't want to fold up without misfolding. I don't think the bellows are going to hold up to years of use. Also, the black metal clips attached to the top edge of the ground glass frame are so badly aligned to the wood that one of them has already pulled out, since only one screw actually had purchase in the wood frame.
In all, there seems to be some serious quality control issues at Intrepid. I've heard from a friend who also received the 8X10 camera around the same time I got delivery of mine, and he said the focusing mechanism skipped/ground gears like mine, and was useless. He opted to return his for a refund. Right now, I wish I had too. If I had known the camera would have had these issues I would have refrained from buying one, and sought out an old Kodak 2-D instead.
Sorry, Intrepid. I know you're trying, and I admire what it is you're trying to do, but if other people are having the same experiences, you're going to earn a reputation for poor craftsmanship. I hope things improve, for your sake and for your customers.
Wasn’t sure how they’d fit the metal back on there without making the camera larger so was surprised when you said that yours would have one.
I thought the rack on my bed was skipping teeth on the gears also. It will do that when you get it extended all the way out or retracted all the way in. What caused mine to grind half way out was the lock nut on the gear knob. As you move the bed the lock nut tends to tighten up if you haven’t loosened it up enough. That will cause the gear and teeth to skip. They’re using phenolic plastic and when I checked mine there was no sign of damage to the mechanism. Enough means farther than you’d expect to have to loosen it.
On the the back a little while ago I popped the bungee cords out of their capture holes on the side away from the entrance for the film holder and put a new knot in them to increase the holding force. Big improvement. The front standard wobbles a bit when tightened down. I’m going to get a flat washer about as wide as the knob on the screw down ang glue it in place directly to the bottom of the knob to increase stability.
Bob
There's mosquitoes on the river, fish are rising up like birds. It's been hot for seven weeks now, too hot to even speak now, did you hear what I just heard?
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