I just bought one of these from a Hong Kong dealer on eBay named "oneworld3." The price from Hong Kong with shipping was about $100 less than Badger's price excluding shipping, but Badger's comes with a monocular viewer, which mine lacks. I don't particularly like monocular viewers, so it works out for me. It does have the groundglass viewer with an extending bellows shade. I didn't get charged customs.
I'll post some test shots as soon as the weather clears up, but here are my first impressions.
As Kerry Thalmann wrote in his review for _View Camera_ magazine, the finish is indeed "industrial" and the design simple (frame counting from the paper backing), but it seems like a perfectly functional back. One interesting aspect of the design is that there are two pressure plates side by side, and I'll be interested to see how this works in practice. I don't know how other 6x17 backs/cameras do this.
It does do 6x9 and 6x12, but the masking system is a little fiddly. It would be nice to have one-piece masks that just slip in or even better--adjustable masking blades with controls on the outside, so you could switch formats on the fly. Instead there are two sets of two metal masking blades that screw in on each side of the film gate, one pair for 6x12 and one pair for 6x9, so no format switching mid-roll, and you need to carry a small screwdriver (which I often do anyway) to use that feature.
I'll be using this on my Tech V 4x5", and it looks like I can use it easily with lenses from 90-210mm and maybe as long as 240 or 300mm. With the 360 Tele-Xenar, I got some mechanical vignetting at 6x17, but I could use it with 6x12 or 6x9. I couldn't focus a 65/8 Super-Angulon on the Wideangle Focusing Device with this back. I have a 75/8 Super-Angulon on a recessed board, and I was able to focus it on the inner rails by the awkward method of using the front standard pulls, but maybe I'll remount that lens on a Tech 23 lensboard and see if I can use it with the Wideangle Focusing Device since I don't have a cam for it anyway. [Okay--I tried that and it didn't work, so back to the normal recessed board, and I'll either have to focus the 75mm lens with the front standard pulls or rear movements.]
If it holds the film flat and doesn't leak light, I'd say it will be worth the $548 I paid for it.
Anybody in the Texas area have one and wouldn't mind letting me run a few rolls through it?
