New Wanderlust 4x5 camera

[Dr Croubie]

My sampling of the eBay lens market is telling me there are going to be a lot of frustrated early adopters.

Yeah, I wish I'd taken a plunge a bit earlier and stocked up on lenses, could be making a bit of profit right now.

I'm probably going to have to buy locally, inflated prices but at least i'll get something.
(plus it'd be really good to get to the $85k mark, if we all get a free pinhole that'll take a bit of strain off the lens side of things. If not, I'm just gonna make my own pinhole, or figure out how to hack a Mamiya645 45mm lens into it...)

 

[Nige]

What information did you have a hard time finding? US funds are processed through Amazon, outside the US it's via credit card. Funds are not charged unless the project attains its pre-determined goal within the allotted timeframe.

Dead Link Removed

thanks, I didn't find that.

 

[Roger Cole]

My sampling of the eBay lens market is telling me there are going to be a lot of frustrated early adopters.

If I didn't already have a good 90mm Angulon I'd probably be shopping for one of the other small 90mm press lenses. There was much discussion of this on the Large Format Photography Forum thread but the bottom line is that most any 90 can be made to work as long as it isn't too large or heavy. Depending on the FFD it may take a bit of shimming or re-marking of the helical but shouldn't be very difficult.

 

[TheFlyingCamera]

I'm interested in the 65mm superwide with just the pinhole lens. I like the idea of having a really good pinhole that's compact and light for travel photography. Something to shoot without thinking too much about it.

 

[Patrick Robert James]

I have a 90 SA that I will sell when the camera comes out. I suspect the price of 90's will go up quite a lot in a month or two. Lots of demand.

I thought about buying a super wide version just to use the pinhole. Could be a lot of fun.

 

[Dr Croubie]

I have a 90 SA that I will sell when the camera comes out..

Question (or for anyone really, who already has an LF lens or two), how do the sizes compare?

These cameras are designed for the 90 Angulon, or 65 Super Angulon.

From what I know, the Angulon just sits in its hole and is fairly low-profile, the Super-Angulon is a big Biogon-looking thing shaped like an hourglass. So i'm wondering, does anyone reckon that the 90 Super Angulon would fit in this camera? (i'd buy a 90SA just for the extra sharpness, coatings and that they're newer, if I knew it'd fit)

The other thing is, are the holes in the camera (well, lensboard) the same diameter for all around this size?
They've already mentioned that the f/5.6 versions won't fit, for either size, weight, or bore-diamter size, so I'm wondering about other lenses too.

Fujinon do a 75mm which looks cheaper than a nice new multicoated 65SA, which could fit into the 65mm camera with a 10mm bit of a spacer I reckon (i'll make it fit, dammit). I'm just wondering about other lenses in that range, and from other brands like Rodenstock, Fujinon, and Nikkor. (More options means more chance of actually finding a lens)

 

[Roger Cole]

There are two (maybe more, but I know of two) SAs, the f/8, which will fit and work, and the f/5.6, which is way too big and (probably, as Ben says they haven't actually tried it) won't. I think there was also an f/6.8 version which I'd guess was in between and I don't know about that.

But the 5.6 SA would be a poor choice for this camera even if it could be made to work. As Ben said on LFPF:

Ultimately, it's a good thing... that is a very expensive lens, and it's quite heavy. If you could get it onto the Travelwide, you would need to carry it by the shutter, because holding it by the grip would make the camera dangerously front-heavy. It's hard to convey just how light the camera is. The last thing we want is a $1600 lens hitting the pavement.

http://www.largeformatphotography.i...-4x5-P-amp-S&p=1012361&viewfull=1#post1012361

I don't see the point either. This camera is about being small and light and easy to carry and use handheld, all of which would be worked against by a big, expensive lens. The biggest reason to get an SA over an Angulon is coverage. I want a SA or Fuji or Nikkor etc. equivalent for just that reason as I'm always running out of coverage with my Angulon. But this isn't a factor with the Wanderlust. If you aren't using movements and you stop down to f/16 or more and don't shoot into strong backlighting you'd be hard pressed to tell the difference between the SA and A with most sized enlargements.

 

[pen s]

Uh Oh! The count is stuck at 511 backers for the last 6 hours. This does not bode well. Sure hope there are another 140 or so people out there that will sign up for a camera. Already on LF Photography forum, Rangefinder forum, P-net, Filmwasters, and here. Any other interested people we are missing?

I'd just hate to see this fail. It checks all the box's for me at least.

 

[outwest]

I have a 65 SA, a 90 Angulon, and a 90 f/8 SA but I went with the 65 SA version because it is usually a hassle to set up on a view camera and this would turn it into a point and shoot proposition. I'm a little confused on where they say they have the focus set for the 65 as I can find no DOF reference that would give as little as 8 meters to infinity.

 

[horacekenneth]

Uh Oh! The count is stuck at 511 backers for the last 6 hours. This does not bode well. Sure hope there are another 140 or so people out there that will sign up for a camera. Already on LF Photography forum, Rangefinder forum, P-net, Filmwasters, and here. Any other interested people we are missing?

I'd just hate to see this fail. It checks all the box's for me at least.

Maybe you can try some of the blogs and tiny forums like believeinfilm and istillshootfilm, coolgirlsshootfilm, etc.

 

[mgb74]

...I don't see the point either. This camera is about being small and light and easy to carry and use handheld, all of which would be worked against by a big, expensive lens. The biggest reason to get an SA over an Angulon is coverage. I want a SA or Fuji or Nikkor etc. equivalent for just that reason as I'm always running out of coverage with my Angulon. But this isn't a factor with the Wanderlust. If you aren't using movements and you stop down to f/16 or more and don't shoot into strong backlighting you'd be hard pressed to tell the difference between the SA and A with most sized enlargements.

However, you might find it difficult to shoot handheld (at least at iso 100) if your maximum desired aperture is f/16. None the less, I'd agree and even consider the 90mm Optar and just use faster film.

This is reminiscent of the Gowland Aerial 4x5, which he sold new for about $600 (many years ago).

Now we need an inexpensive but relatively accurate optical finder. I'm thinking something like the simple, plastic Russian 85mm finder - but sized for 90mm on 4x5. Maybe a 35mm viewfinder (for 35mm camera) would work well enough; you'd have less than 100% on the vertical axis but that might make up for any lack of alignment between lens and viewfinder. Time to dig through my "stuff" box.

If they're stalled on reaching their goal, they should add "lomagraphy" and "iOS compatible" as keywords.

 

[Roger Cole]

My standard film in 4x5 is TMY and I'm also not averse to pushing it or HP5 if needed. Results are also still acceptable to me for the king of photos I'd use this for at f/11. But I agree it's not for low light.

 

[Andrew K]

Just checked - $63000 pledged of a $75000 goal, and 21 days to go......

Better order a viewfinder for myself - looks like I'm getting a new camera for Christmas!

Geuss it's a good thing I kept my 90mm Angulon when I got my 90mm WA Optar Just with I knew what happened to the 90mm Linhof Angulon I had? Apparently being a Linhof "selected" one they are sharper!

 

[Andrew K]

Forgot to mention - I shoot hand held all the time with my Pacemaker Crown Graphic. The trick is to use a compact bracket to hold the cable release - I'm lucky as I was given a old Stroboframe bracket, but I've also used a old flash bracket with the cable release gaffer taped into place..

 

[pierre506]

over 64100 now.

Sent from my XT882 using Tapatalk 2

 

[250swb]

Just pledged for the 65mm version, already got plenty of ideas what I want to use it for, fingers crossed!

Steve

 

[Nige]

Just pledged for the 90mm version, no idea what I'll use it for

 

[TheFlyingCamera]

Just checked - $63000 pledged of a $75000 goal, and 21 days to go......

Better order a viewfinder for myself - looks like I'm getting a new camera for Christmas!

Geuss it's a good thing I kept my 90mm Angulon when I got my 90mm WA Optar Just with I knew what happened to the 90mm Linhof Angulon I had? Apparently being a Linhof "selected" one they are sharper!

The "Linhof Selected" is a bit of an urban legend without evidence to prove it correct or not. Yes, Linhof did pick through the Schneider production run and select certain lenses, and then put their name on it. I seriously doubt that Schneider's manufacturing QC would be so erratic that the "Linhof Select" lenses would be radically better than the normal production run. If there were that much variation, I doubt Linhof would have been using them to supply lenses in the first place. It's 99% marketing hype. I won't utterly deny their claims that they did additional QC on the lenses to come up with the best of the best, but it's the difference between 99% and 99.5%. They MAY be better, but it's not an observable order of magnitude better.

 

[pen s]

Over 66K now. Can they find another 86 backers @ $99 each?

On another note, desperate to find lens options other than the now suddenly rare 90 f6.8 Angulon I just stuck a 105mm f4.5 Kodak lens from a 6X9 folder on my other 4X5 and it works great if you don't mind a 120mm diameter circular image with a rather sharp cutoff. Wasn't a bit surprised at the results but I really wanted to see them for myself.

 

[Dr Croubie]

[h=5]552
Backers[/h] [h=5]$66,667
pledged of $75,000 goal[/h] [h=5]20
days to go[/h]

SATAN'S CAMERA! (well, at least the guy who lives across the road from satan)

 

[pen s]

[h=5]552
Backers[/h] [h=5]$66,667
pledged of $75,000 goal[/h] [h=5]20
days to go[/h]

SATAN'S CAMERA! (well, at least the guy who lives across the road from satan)

"A watched pot never boils"

I've sworn off looking at the site tabulation of backers and dollars pledged. Just too excruciating. I'll check back on Monday and in the meanwhile chase 90mm lenses.

If this really slows down near the May 2 deadline, then the backers (like myself) who pledged the minimum $99 dollar amount might look seriously at increasing their pledge amount. I certainly will. An additional $15~25 from each $99 backer could then push it over the goal.

 

[Roger Cole]

"A watched pot never boils"

I've sworn off looking at the site tabulation of backers and dollars pledged. Just too excruciating. I'll check back on Monday and in the meanwhile chase 90mm lenses.

If this really slows down near the May 2 deadline, then the backers (like myself) who pledged the minimum $99 dollar amount might look seriously at increasing their pledge amount. I certainly will. An additional $15~25 from each $99 backer could then push it over the goal.

+1. I hope they can get there without this of course, less because I'd mind kicking in another twenty five bucks or so (I wouldn't) than because it would mean more cameras going out and more film being shot and more LF film being shot, but if we get close without going over as the deadline approaches I think this is an idea that deserves promoting.

It's really looking like they'll get there though.

 

[Gadfly_71]

And we're a go!

Reached the $75K goal with 18 days to go. They're saying that if enough additional funds are raised we'll get a mount for the pinhole and a spanner/wrench if they can swing it.

December can't get here fast enough.

 

[Dr Croubie]

Wow, that went from $71k to $79k overnight, probably everyone got bored on a Saturday and thought 'why not?'.

That stretch target of $85k for the free pinhole is looking very much in sight now, they should go and offer more targets now, somehow $100k doesn't look too impossible with 18 days left...

 

[kirkfry]

I am not sure Schneider even made 500 90mm angulons.