MPP Monorail Camera Help Requested

[devalier]

Hello Dear Community,

I have seen sillier posts, so I'll try my luck, I actually need help making up my mind adn assessing value. Frustrated slightly by a restriction of movements on my Speed Graphic I also note an MPP monorail camera at my favorite shoppe.

MPP monorail chambre without lens, front standard or back, 250 euros, light tight and all movements smooth and lock tight. The shop owner is candid and tells me it is a fair price, it has not sold in a year and he has just been lazy to track down the missing elements.

I've spent some late nights looking into ebay sites, google and the MPP user club and other forums, including here, and can find very little information on MPP Monorails. It seems it is very difficult to find the right parts although I can see it is not too difficult to adapt/make lensboards and backs. I would want to reduce the back to 4x5. I am handy with a dremel, but have enough half started projects to realize that "Oh, I'll just make it," is easier said than finding the time to do it and do it right.

Long post, heh? Is 250EUR a fair price for what is essentially bellows on rails and do you think I may have trouble completing the camera? Anyone have experience with an MPP monorail?

[Richard Kelham]

MPP monorails were very well engineered and solidly built cameras. But they are also rather rare (compared to say Sinar) so your chances of finding the missing bits are extremely poor, especially if the MPP Users club are unable to help. I would suggest 250€ is probably a fair price for a complete camera, but not for this one.

There seem to be a lot of reasonably priced Cambos around – try one of those.