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Thread: New Very Colorful 4X5

  1. #11

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    Jul 2014
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    Re: New Very Colorful 4X5

    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.

  2. #12
    Nodda Duma's Avatar
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    Re: New Very Colorful 4X5

    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
    Newly made large format dry plates available! Look:
    https://www.pictoriographica.com

  3. #13

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    Jul 2014
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    Re: New Very Colorful 4X5

    Quote Originally Posted by Nodda Duma View Post
    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.

  4. #14

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    May 2015
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    Re: New Very Colorful 4X5

    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

  5. #15

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    Jul 2014
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    Re: New Very Colorful 4X5

    Quote Originally Posted by LabRat View Post
    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.

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