Re: MF camera kit survey

[Eric Goldstein <egoldste@xxxxxx>]

>   You have to compete against $250-$300
> Sputniks. So you either need to be cheaper
> than that or have a better camera

Making a camera better than a spud would be nearly impossible to aviod!
8-)

The Spud was designed as a low performance producer of stereo print
pairs; the design of the viewer and print frame I think make this clear.
The optics and sloppy mechanicals are maginal for the higher performance
demands of shooting chromes...

For glass, I'd suggest lenses from post war 2x3 press cameras, such as
101/4.7 ektars and optars (30 to 50 bucks apiece). Want something a
little newer/better? Pick up old polariods with rodenstack and enna
tessar-type glass for about $70 each. These will be vastly superior to
spud lenses. If you really wanna get crazy, crown graphics used to be
offered with 80mm xenotars which you can still find fairly easily, and
these are killer lenses; they go for about $125 each. All these lenses
have excellent shutters with a full range of speeds from 1 - 1/400 or
thereabouts as well as sync.

For a viewfinder, I wonder if the viewfinders (and rangefinders for that
matter) from old 2x3 pressers wouldn't be a cheap, bright, accurate
solution?

For general construction, you might want to check out dan greenhouse's
mf rig, which is not the slickest looking machine in the world but seems
to be good and functional:

http://www.ghouse.com/daniel/index.html


Eric G.