Just got my new Tachihara 8x10

[Wyno]

Icouldn't resist. I just received my new 8x10 Tachihara and I just had to tell someone. Jeff at Bedger Graphics was very helpful as he always is. Unfortunately for me someone bought the last one he had in stock back in November, just hours before I sent my order in. Jeff sent me an email explaining and asked me if I still wanted to go ahead. I said yes and here it is. I can't wait to try it out. My fingers are itching and I'm at work and can't use it yet.
Mike

 

[snaggs]

Photo's please! btw, I'll be visiting a friend in torquay in May.

Daniel.

 

[Pinholemaster]

Congratulations! 8x10 rules.

Jeff at Badger is great.

 

[noseoil]

Congratulations! Please post a couple of shots of your new love for us to see. If they get tucked into this thread, you won't get in trouble with a "d" shot, I wouldn't think. Then post a couple of images from the camera when you get them! tim

 

[coriana6jp]

Congrats on the new 8x10. I had a Tachi for a while, and its a great camera I am sure you will enjoy it alot. Which one did you get the double or triple extension? Either one will serve you well for a long time, and they are really a beautiful camera to look at.

Now get out, take some pictures and show them to us!!

Gary

 

[rootberry]

I have a 4x5 tachi (rebranded Calumet) 4x5 that I love to death, but havent used for years since I got my 8x10. I wish I had an enlarger so I could put the thing to good use! Post pics of the new cam

 

[George Losse]

Congratulations on the 8x10 purchase.

I started in 8x10 with a Tachihara, it was a very nice camera. I shot with it for about five years. I made some of my favorite 8x10 images with it.

 

[Chazzy]

Did you get the double extension or the triple extension version? I noticed that it made a significant difference in the price (significant to me, anyway).

 

[jayavant]

i'm very keen on getting an 8x10 myself and have thought about the tachihara and the shen hao.

can you tell me why you got the tachihara?

 

[Wyno]

I'll take some photos on Monday and post them here. The main reason I bought the Tachihara over the Shen Hao was the extra bellows extension with the triple. They're nearly the same price and it's really a matter of weight. I have a 4x5 Shen Hao and was very tempted by the new 8x10 Shen but then I remembered the lovely rosewood that I saw on Graeme Hird's Tachihara 4x5 and I thought nah, I'll go the whole hog and get the Tachihara. Steve Nicholls from Adelaide, will be pleased to know that I'll have to slow down my shooting pace when I start using the 8x10.
Mike

 

[paul ewins]

Congratulations! I ordered some 8x10 HP5 and Tri-X from Badger this morning as I couldn't find anywhere in Australia selling it (Vanbar no longer lists it). I hope to have my darkroom up and going again in the next month after a protracted bout of renovations and am looking forward to learning the ropes in 8x10. Probably portraits to start with as my Cambo is not the ideal field camera (but better than the Kodak 1A!).

 

[buze]

Congratulation ! I have a double extension Tachi 8x10 for a few weeks (bought second hand), and it's a blast !
I removed the fresnel on mine, it seems it has been cleaned up a bit too vigorously (or with a light solvent) and I see "double images" when focusing. So I've put a simple plain ground glass in it's place for now.
If anyone knows where to source an original fresnel, that'd be great!

 

[Maris]

Congrats! The 8x10 Tachiharas here, double extension and triple extension, have worked since 1991. They still look beautiful and have never failed.

Your camera may be one of those rare things in the modern world; a device that is actually improved by the patina of use.

 

[Paddy]

If anyone knows where to source an original fresnel, that'd be great!

Have a look here at Adorama's site: Dead Link Removed

 

[buze]

Thanks Paddy, I ordered one!

 

[John Kasaian]

Congratulations! You'll have lots of fun with 8x10!

 

[NikoSperi]

Argh! GAS.
I lost out a bid on a triple Tachihara 8x10 a couple months ago, shortly after seeing a Deardorff slip under my nose... and then thought, so be it.
But the bug is still in the blood stream... I'm envious!

 

[Wyno]

As promised and only a day late . Mt new Tachihara and Nikkor 300 F9 lens alongside my one year old Shen Hao with second hand Fujinon 210 lens.
Mike

 

[NikoSperi]

Icouldn't resist. I just received my new 8x10 Tachihara and I just had to tell someone. Jeff at Bedger Graphics was very helpful as he always is. Unfortunately for me someone bought the last one he had in stock back in November, just hours before I sent my order in. Jeff sent me an email explaining and asked me if I still wanted to go ahead. I said yes and here it is. I can't wait to try it out. My fingers are itching and I'm at work and can't use it yet.
Mike

Wyno,
How was the shipping (expense/hassle) and customs in your experience of buying something that size from the US? Those factors have always been scaring me off buying such a beast from Badger or elsewhere in the US. I hear Australian Customs can be as nasty as some Europeans which would be my case.
I'd appreciate if you could share that part of the experience.
Cheers,
Niko

 

[Wyno]

Hi Niko,
postage in US dollars was $31.50. This was for 10 8x10 film holders, 1 spanner wrench, 1 lensboard adapter, 1 Tachihara 8x10 triple extension camera and 2 boxes 8x10 FP4. Customs sent me a letter telling me the package had arrived and I rang them to ask how much I was going to have to pay. I was told that all I had to pay was the 10% GST and a fee of $48.50. The GST was worked out on the Australian Dollar value of the items. The total amount I had to pay was $450.00 roughly which I thought was rather good.
I hope this helps.
Mike

 

[knweiss]

Mike, very nice camera! I'm curious: What's the weight of your 8x10 kit now (camera, lens, 10 film holders)?

 

[jayavant]

i have a shenhao 4x5 like the one in wyno's picture. i am not sure i can afford to buy a tachihara 8x10 but am dying to get ionto 8x10 photography. have decided to build one - either from a kit or from scratch.

wyno - do you have any of your work online? i'd love to see it... i've wandered around geelong quite a bit myself taking photos (not LF) - i worked at CSIRO for a while...

 

[Wyno]

Hi Jayavant,
I hocked my soul to get it. No, not really, but the Oz dollar was 79.5 against the American dollar at the time so I ended up paying about $2600 for the camera and with the ten film holders 300mm Nikkor lens, lenswrench, darkcloth and two packs of 8x10 film, it came to about $4100 plus $448 in import duty. With the Oz dollar at over 90 cents against the greenback, now would be the time to buy.

Making your own would be fun, and I'm currently in the throes of designing my own 4x5 and 8x10 cameras to be made from carbon fibre and plastics as far as possible. Without a cad program for my computer at work, it's taken me several years and lots and lots of A1 1mm graph paper to get it right. I'm doing my final drawings now and then I have to find someone here in Geelong who can help me with making the molds for the layup.

Unfortunately, I am very computer illiterate and haven't got a clue how to put my stuff online. My partner says I should get off my lazy butt and get my brother (who teaches computers) to help me. He, however, is a knowall and asking him would be like asking Ansel Adams how to press the shutter on a point and shoot. He'd do it for me but I wouldn't really learn anything.

If you've wandered round Geelong then you might perhaps know Buckley Falls. I was there the weekend before Easter and got some shots of the old paper mill with a perfect reflection in the river at around 7 in the morning. I haven't processed the shots yet, but I think I've got a couple of winners there.

Which section of CSIRO did you work at? I have a friend from work who lives in Henry street just opposite the front gates, and I have acouple of other friends who work at the Animal Health Lab near the Eastern Gardens.

Cheers
Mike

 

[jayavant]

hi mike

i used "work" rather loosely - typing as i was thinking... i work for DPI in toowoomba, qld, and spent a week last year doing some training at the australian animal health laboratory in geelong. i guess that is the place near the eastern gardens. claustrophobic place to work - though i did get to handle avian influenza virus...

yes - the aussie dollar value is certainly encouraging at the moment, but i think i'll have to bet on it staying that way for a while. my wife and i just came back from visiting her family in korea and i went rather wild in the wonderful secondhand camera stores of seoul.

i have no drawing or engineering skills though i can work with wood.. may have to make a kit camera. as for putting photos online - i simply scan stuff and upload it to flickr. there's a link in my profile.


ansel adams with a point and shoot? what a concept!

- greg

 

[Thanasis]

As promised and only a day late . Mt new Tachihara and Nikkor 300 F9 lens alongside my one year old Shen Hao with second hand Fujinon 210 lens.
Mike[/IMG]

Oooh, she's a beauty! Let us know how your new camera performs.