Cycling great, Eddy Merckx, set the hour record in Mexico City on Oct 25, 1972 by riding 49,432 kilometers. Eddy's bike was drilled out for maximum lightness. I believe that I read in the 80s where Eddy was reflecting on having drilled out his bike -- he had come to the conclusion that he thought that he could have ridden another kilometer if he had not reduced the stiffness of the bike by drilling it out.
Kirk - www.keyesphoto.com
The Canham metal cameras have the holes designed in, rather than drilled out. They look very cool, and presumably it serves *some* purpose, as it must be easier and cheaper not to have the holes. To drill holes in an existing camera might be useful if it were way over engineered.
However, DavidG hits the nail on the head: if weight is a primary concern, go to the guys who make cameras to be as light as possible in the first place: Gowland.
CXC
You hit the nail on the head too Christopher. The Canhams have the holes designed into the structure, not put in as an afterthough. I've never seen one first hand, but looking at the pictures on their website, they appear to save some weight, but still not a whole lot. So again, they wind up being primarily aesthetic.
There's no such thing as a perfect design. Every design is a collection of compromises. The designer's job is come up with the best compromise given the function, materials to be used, and cost to produce. Gowland's design is for light weight. His camera sacrifices rigidity to obtain that light weight. That's important for a photogrpher who is packing the rig up in the mountains on his back. Me, I'm car-bound, and there's not a mountain within 600 miles. I need something that won't be blown around by the wind.
One gent wrote a few years ago that he drilled out a Calumet C-3 to save some weight. What he got was a warped camera. Drilling into the castings changed the internal stresses causing previously machined surfaces to twist out of line.
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