Wanderlust 4x5 P&S

[Larry Kellogg]

Here is a link for the company, Xcentric, that is doing the injection mold work:

http://www.xcentricmold.com

They're in Michigan, I believe.

Must be my mistake, i though they were making them in a china factory... and that the delay was due to troubles there...
Sorry for the misunderstand...

[DougD]

The Nov. 25 update on Kickstarter indicated that they were dealing with a minor defect that resulted from manufacturing. Which means that the production run was delayed and that once the run is complete, they still need to do whatever hand assembly is required and ship them. I would guess we're looking at late January for delivery. All in all, not too bad given that this is a "from the drawing board" product.

[Roger Cole]

I can wait. Winter is crap for going out and using a camera like this anyway, not that there aren't days for it, but generally so gray and blah and ick around here, if not actually all that cold, that I do little photography anyway, at least at the camera. It's often a season for working on darkroom backlog but even that isn't happening this year for me.

[Andrew O'Neill]

Ya, winter is crap here, too. Nothing but rain, rain, and more rain... snow is in the forecast tonight and tomorrow. YAY!

[munz6869]

Meanwhile, it's summer here (40 degrees Celsius yesterday), and I'm shortly leaving work for a camping holiday up the coast... I'll have to take the Wista instead!!

Marc!

[zuiko90]

Same yuk here in Olympia also Andrew. I'm heading up to Hornby island in March. Lots of not much to do and that's why I go in the off season. Might catch the herring run though.

[willrea]

Going to love dealing with all the people dealing with driving in the snow 'for the first time' in the morning.

Same yuk here in Olympia also Andrew. I'm heading up to Hornby island in March. Lots of not much to do and that's why I go in the off season. Might catch the herring run though.

[zuiko90]

Willrea,
Whew, Capitol way is bare and wet outside my window at 7 AM so it looks like, at least in town, going to be a regular friday.

Back to topic, I have a feeling we are not going to see cameras delivered till Feburary or March anyway. This is a very ambitious project even for Justin and Ben. They seem to have the design and engineering chops but are also feeling their way with actual production using a contracted source and that is the unknown (and perhaps unknowable) factor. The lessons learned with this camera will, I'm sure, be applied to future projects. Ben says they have more really cool ideas in the pipeline. Besides just the backers I hope they can sell a boatload of these cameras and make a few bucks. They deserve it.

One more thing to consider. The Harman Titan 4X5 pinhole camera sold over 1000 units in just 3 months and it retails for more than twice as much (although it includes about $25 worth of paper and film). It dosen't have provision for a lens and does not have a helical, pinhole only as shipped. With the Travelwide you get a pinhole and depending on how much you want to search, a wide angle lensed camera. My slightly rough looking but working Angulon was $100 and so, for the cost of a Titan I'll have both a pinhole and wideangle 4X5, not a bad deal all around.

[Larry Kellogg]

Most? Hell, almost NO ONE will now what the darkslide is.

Well, in New York, I have people come up to me all the time who have shot 4x5 and know something about large format cameras. Still, most people don't know anything.

Speaking of the darkslide, how long can we walk around with the darkslide pulled out before taking a shot? I guess this would be a good test of light tightness. It would be easier on the street to be ready to take the shot, instead of having to pull the darkslide one second before taking the shot.

[zuiko90]

Well, in New York, I have people come up to me all the time who have shot 4x5 and know something about large format cameras. Still, most people don't know anything.

Speaking of the darkslide, how long can we walk around with the darkslide pulled out before taking a shot? I guess this would be a good test of light tightness. It would be easier on the street to be ready to take the shot, instead of having to pull the darkslide one second before taking the shot.

Last spring I built a plywood box 4X5 for a 130mm f7.7 Kodak Anastigmat salvaged off of a 1930ish Kodak folder. The lens has front cell focusing to 6 feet so I only had to build a square box and make sure the lens was shimmed to infinity. When I took it out on the street I got all kinds of inquires and comments from both old timers and young folks. Even the young folks seemed to recognize the purpose of the dark slide or at least had seen cameras that use filmholders.


In a couple of hours I got more comments about that camera, probably 10~12 people asked questions, than any time I have walked around with old film cameras. Most times no one says anything about either the camera or taking pictures.

I pull the darkslide right before I release the shutter, then flip it to the 'exposed' side and replace it immediately.