I have used a Chamonix 8x10 for the past 10 years or so, very happily. But even though it's lightweight for the format, I use it less and less. My shooting is all on long walks, and I'm not getting any younger. I want to keep it for the time being, because I love it and could no longer afford to replace it if I felt the need to, but I'm thinking about smaller - and affordable - alternatives.
I contact print 8x10, never felt the need to enlarge it, and I want to spend most of the time I have in the darkroom next year making kallitypes. For new work I'm seriously thinking about 5x7. I've used 4x5 a lot, but it's a bit too small to contact print, and I never felt the enlargements were worthwhile over 6x7 medium format for the relatively small sizes I print at (the biggest enlargement I ever make is 16x20, and even that size is unusual for me, usually it's 16x12 maximum). I already have the lenses I would need, the format is big enough for the kallitypes I want to make, and I can easily cut down some of my 8x10 film to fit 5x7 holders, so this seems like an economic option.
There's a shortage of good condition 5x7 view cameras around in the UK secondhand market at the moment, I've been looking at the usual places and finding nothing. I am a working photographer, and even though I'm happy to fix things my main interest is getting something I can use without having to spend a lot of time restoring it. And importing anything into the UK nowadays is such a minefield I want to avoid it.
So, the new Intrepid 5x7 seems of interest. It's very affordable, for sure. I've read some negative commentary regarding design aspects of earlier versions of all the Intrepid cameras which makes me slightly concerned, but it does seem the latest version takes account of some of those criticisms. But I'd be really interested to hear any real world experience from people here who have used any of the Intrepid 5x7 versions (or even the 5x4s, which are obviously very similar). Do you think this camera was a good choice, did you find any intractable problems, if I can expect to have to work around issues, are any of them major?
Fire away. All experiences welcomed.
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