My other new camera arrived not long ago. It weighs six and a half pounds, more or less. That's without the lens, which will add another pound or so. I think I will end up having to reveal my New Year's resolution.
After several false starts, I have also found a very nice new tripod head, which I will also write about in due course.
Mike
I know the New Year's resolution. The K-5 spends a week with each commenter who makes a post within the first two hours. Each person uploads the best frames taken with it, along with commentary, to a central site.
Posted by: David | Friday, 07 January 2011 at 08:45 AM
Welcome back to Large Format, Mike!
Posted by: Ben Syverson | Friday, 07 January 2011 at 08:50 AM
My hunch is that the camera says "Beseler" on the side, and your New Year's 'resolution' will not be measured in pixels. ;)
Posted by: MarkB | Friday, 07 January 2011 at 09:11 AM
What camera weight 6 1/2 pounds these days except maybe a large format field or view camera?
Let me guess, it's a Linhof Super Technika V.
Posted by: Richard | Friday, 07 January 2011 at 09:12 AM
Going back to LF?
Posted by: Chris | Friday, 07 January 2011 at 09:18 AM
Linhof Technika. So ...do I win a prize ??!
Posted by: Damen Stephens | Friday, 07 January 2011 at 09:21 AM
What? 4x5 for enlargement or 8x10 for contacts? Half plate? Can't wait to see what you produce as a an original "fleeting-moment" photographer with such deliberate gear!
Happy New Year!
Posted by: Michel | Friday, 07 January 2011 at 09:53 AM
"I have also found a very nice new tripod head"
Looking forward to hearing how that Arca D4 works out for you ;-)
Posted by: Seascape | Friday, 07 January 2011 at 10:07 AM
Well, either it's "shoot large format", or the ongoing march of DSLR and zoom lens mega-bloat continues at full pace.
Posted by: Paul Glover | Friday, 07 January 2011 at 10:21 AM
My guess is that your new camera is an 8x10 wooden field camera. I think you wrote about 8x10 contact prints not too long ago. Right? Congrats!
Posted by: Rob Griffin | Friday, 07 January 2011 at 10:26 AM
Personally, I hope you are getting a Deardorff...
Posted by: Jim in Denver | Friday, 07 January 2011 at 10:30 AM
I'd guess, based on the fact that five of the first six commenters jumped to exactly the same place I did, that your update was, perhaps, a bit less enigmatic than originally billed.
I am slightly envious. Large format is the only thing that might tempt me to use a non-digital photographic medium again. I don't know that the results would be better than (or even much different from) digital, but the sheer level of technical fiddlery required makes it appealing. Perhaps this is the same feeling that bakers get when they think about making their own phyllo, or that the mechanically-inclined get on pondering the construction of a kit airplane.
Posted by: Nicholas Condon | Friday, 07 January 2011 at 10:30 AM
A Holga filled with quarters.
Posted by: Mike Plews | Friday, 07 January 2011 at 10:39 AM
Damn you!
Posted by: charlie | Friday, 07 January 2011 at 10:46 AM
I hope you make great images with the new camera, Mike!
Posted by: David Dyer-Bennet | Friday, 07 January 2011 at 10:49 AM
Is it a Leica dangling around a new baby's neck - congatulations, Mike !
Posted by: Mark Walker | Friday, 07 January 2011 at 10:54 AM
My Nikon F2S with its MD-1/MB-1 attached and my 50mm f/1.2 weighs about that much. At least I don't have a 250 back or that weird auto-aperture thing (yet).
Posted by: Jed | Friday, 07 January 2011 at 11:01 AM
Hey I heard they were going to do one but I didn't know the Leica M9 'Lead edition' was out yet Mike.
Posted by: Dennis Huteson | Friday, 07 January 2011 at 11:16 AM
A Phillips Explorer or Compact II?
Posted by: fred fowler | Friday, 07 January 2011 at 12:38 PM
It's two Pentax 645Ds, mounted and control wired together so that you can take high resolution stereo pairs.
If the tripod head is for this new beast, I bet it's painted green and better known as a field gun carriage.
Posted by: Roger Bradbury | Friday, 07 January 2011 at 12:48 PM
Well, you built a darkroom so it was time to buy a camera to go along with it. Sounds like fun.
Posted by: Robert Roaldi | Friday, 07 January 2011 at 01:43 PM
I like Mike Plews' guess best (Holga filled with quarters). But this is Mike Johnston we're talking about. He wouldn't use cash to fill a Holga.
My guess is a Crown Graphic. Fits his frugal persuasion better than a Deardorf and has pretty good movements for non-technical photography, plus cheap as can be.
Patrick
Posted by: Patrick Perez | Friday, 07 January 2011 at 01:50 PM
My new year's resolution is requiring a rethink, as the drill bit broke off inside the rear rail. No matter what you read on the internet, building a large format camera is always going to cost more than the camera you see on ebay 3 months into the project - I hope that your assumedly fully-assembled camera treats you(and us, hopefully, by extension) well!
Posted by: robert landrigan | Friday, 07 January 2011 at 02:05 PM
Patrick,
Good thinking, but Crowns are not exactly "cheap as can be" any more. Good late Crown Specials with the top-mounted rangefinders commonly go for $600 these days, give or take.
Mike
Posted by: Mike Johnston | Friday, 07 January 2011 at 02:51 PM
I'm guessing a 5X7 LF camera. It would be too pedestrian for Mike to descend to the humdrum of the .8 format. And he can still do nice size contact prints.
Posted by: Bryan | Friday, 07 January 2011 at 03:06 PM
$600? eeeeep!
Shows what I know.
Patrick
Posted by: Patrick Perez | Friday, 07 January 2011 at 03:26 PM
I gotta go along with Rob Griffin. If I recall correctly I believe you have a Saunders LPL670 medium format enlarger, but the heaviest medium format camera I can think of is the a Mamiya RZ67Pro that weighs in at around 5 1/2 pounds with a normal lens. I think there's a Fuji 6x8 camera that may weigh more, not sure. I don't think you plan on investing in say a 4x5 enlarger, so an 8x10 wooden field camera it is. Right?
Posted by: Player | Friday, 07 January 2011 at 04:31 PM
Have you been using your Mamiya 7 Mike? Was I dreaming or did you buy one last year?Would like to hear what you think of it...I found it really hard to use and ended up selling mine. Couldn't use it for close up work so bought a Mamiya 645 instead.
Ann
Posted by: Ann Peterson | Friday, 07 January 2011 at 07:46 PM
"Have you been using your Mamiya 7 Mike?"
Ann,
I did shoot with it a few times (pre darkroom) but haven't taken to it. Yet, at least. Been feeling the need for something far more extreme....
Mike
Posted by: Mike Johnston | Friday, 07 January 2011 at 09:11 PM
C'mon Mike, just tell us. This wait is getting indecently long. :)
Posted by: Mani Sitaraman | Friday, 07 January 2011 at 11:27 PM
How much does a Gowlendflex weigh?
No wait, that takes two lenses. Mike doesn't seem like he'd be getting a Hulcher , so maybe he got a 5x7 home portrait Graflex SLR, but those weigh ten pounds. Must be the 5x7 compact Graflex , those come in at about 6 1/2 pounds.
Bo wait , Mike is a known Graflex basher, so it must be an 8x10 Gowland pocket view.
Posted by: hugh crawford | Saturday, 08 January 2011 at 01:36 AM
My first guess was a Crown Graphic, or similar press camera. Never mind why.
Mike, I discovered on the Large Format Photography Forum that Green-Blue sensitive x-ray film can be had for $35/100 sheets! A fantastic price for experimenting! (And, if you are using 4x5, and are pretty good with an x-acto knife in a changing bag, that works out to be 9 cents a sheet, great for experimenting!) It can be rated at 100 ISO, and has no anti-halation layer, since it is double sided. I believe it behaves like ortho film, but I'm not sure.
Blue-only is also available, if you enjoy wet-plate photography era color interpretation, and you'd like to play with development by inspection. (Apparently sodium vapor lamps are okay, but red LEDs are best.)
Posted by: Will Frostmill | Sunday, 09 January 2011 at 05:41 PM