Wanderlust 4x5 P&S

[Ben Syverson]

I sent Ben an email about this and mentioned it earlier in this thread.

We can't do much without a place to put the dough.

I sure don't want to handle it and most likely we should, if possible, make donations a direct deposit sort of thing without meddle men. (pun intended)

tap tap HELLO BEN!

It has been an emotional roller coaster for the past few weeks, so seeing these messages was truly touching. I'm once again amazed at how supportive you all have been.

I talked to Justin about it last week, and we don't feel comfortable taking any more of anyone's money, until we ship these cameras. We already feel like we've stretched everyone's patience past the breaking point, and there's no one to blame but us.

To put the $30k comment in perspective—that was profit from our previous product, the Pinwide, which we would have otherwise split and kept. Because of the way an LLC works, the company doesn't have its own money. So it was ours, but we never thought twice about pouring it into the Travelwide.

Sometime in the next two weeks or so, Justin and I will drive out to Michigan and supervise a sample run, so we can finally dial in the helical. It's still an open question of how much they'll discount the first run of bad parts. Before I spend another $9,000 to run the helical, I need written assurances that they can hit a certain dimension within a specified tolerance. So that discussion will probably happen in person when we're there.

If they can't give us guarantees and/or a big enough credit for the bad parts, we can move the tools to a much cheaper shop in Wisconsin or Indiana, and just run the parts until we get it right.

Thanks again for the very kind gesture, everyone. We truly appreciate the sentiment, but we really can't take any more of your money!

[Tin Can]

That's that.

Thanks Ben, we are pulling for your group to succeed with this and anywhere your skills take you!

[rfesk]

Dear Ben, I am with you all the way. Sure will be glad to help if you make it possible!

[plywood]

Thanks again for the very kind gesture, everyone. We truly appreciate the sentiment, but we really can't take any more of your money!

Ok then, no donations....but I'll bet a lot of us would be interested in buying a few of those failed metal pinhole inserts. I know you are swamped right now but when you finish the project I'm first in line to buy 5 of them.

[mdarnton]

And I'd buy a focus helicoid for a DIY camera I want to make in 5x7.

[Winger]

Yeah, maybe you can do a spare parts store of all the pieces that didn't meet spec that you get stuck with.

Add me to the patient list, too. I know that when we get them, they'll be worth getting. Gives me more time to unfrak my developing process, too.

[Kuzano]

I also am an inveterate DIY person. I have been modding LF camera's for years. I have a couple of visions I am still in the midst of.

I am sure I will be interested in parts that I can tweak and work with... Quite a few in fact, when we know what the "didn't quite meet our specs" pile looks like.

Perhaps a fairly good list of parts that may end up on the floor would be in order. We may be able to clean up the shop... you know, be GREEN and not have those pieces end up in the land fill??

I'd be willing to consider buying some helicals, and some other pieces.

I did not catch that there were going to be ground glass viewing screens with the camera, so I have already modified a standard DDS Fidelity film holder and it works on my modified Super Graphic in the stock film slot. I know you won't proceed on this until you have it "right" per your specs, but I have a GG system ready to go. Also, as mentioned before, I anticipate being able to refill QuickLoad envelopes with any emulsion 4X5, but it's a finicky process and I doubt it's marketable in it's current form.

Thanks for all your efforts.

[Drew Bedo]

Parts?


I would like to use one of the wide-angle bodies without helical mount to use with a long focal length spotting scope. Eyepiece project will cover all (or enough) of the 4x5 format. The ida is to produce that long telephoto "stacking" perspective common to 35mm imaging—on 4x5 sheet film. The full moon setting behind a windmill for instance.

I would not need a helical, just a bracket or rail to hold the scope and camera body in alignment securely.

[Larry Kellogg]

Yeah, maybe you can do a spare parts store of all the pieces that didn't meet spec that you get stuck with.

Add me to the patient list, too. I know that when we get them, they'll be worth getting. Gives me more time to unfrak my developing process, too.

Speaking of unfraking the development process, I've been speaking to Jim Megargee of MVLabs (www.mvlabs.com), where I intern one day a week, about the TravelWide project. Jim is a great black and white printer and an excellent photography teacher. I suggested that we help people straighten out their development process. So, Jim said he would come up with a special price for developing film for people using the TravelWide camera. All of the film is developed by hand, and it would be possible to get densitometer readings too if people wanted to run tests.

Would people be interested in this kind of service?

[Brian Puccio]

Speaking of unfraking the development process, I've been speaking to Jim Megargee of MVLabs (www.mvlabs.com), where I intern one day a week, about the TravelWide project. Jim is a great black and white printer and an excellent photography teacher. I suggested that we help people straighten out their development process. So, Jim said he would come up with a special price for developing film for people using the TravelWide camera. All of the film is developed by hand, and it would be possible to get densitometer readings too if people wanted to run tests.

Would people be interested in this kind of service?

Uh, yes, but you already kinda know (of) me.