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Chroma - Lasercut Acrylic 4x5 Field Camera
- Thread starter stevelmx5
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- Andy Grant
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Oh no, not purple....
I know someone who will buy it off you just because it's purple....
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- Janet
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Oh no, not purple....
I know someone who will buy it off you just because it's purple....
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wontolla
Misery Guts Monica
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Oh no, not purple....
I know someone who will buy it off you just because it's purple....
I know someone who will buy it off you if it was green.
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Strangely, I nearly ordered green Acrylic then saw the purple instead :0)
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There you go Janet;
I've dubbed that one the "Joker" edition because of the orange lens board but my actual build this time will be all purple :0)
The mottled-grey pieces are 5mm closed cell foam light seals and the black square frame is the rear plate of the bellows that I'm having pre-drilled for magnets before the bellows are assembled. The 6 small silver squares on the back are embedded 5x5x5mm magnets which have matching magnets embedded in the camera bed so that the rear standard snaps into place and stays they while you tighten up the thumb screws on each side of the bed to lock the rear standard in place.
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- Charlotte
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The Prince Memorial Edition Acrilux!
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- Steve
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That's "The camera formerly known as Acrilux" edition isn't it? ;0)
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Thanks. Film holders are idiot proof already (kind of!). The dark slides have colour coded edges so you can flip them around when they've been exposed. Just need to make sure you load/unload them properly then ;0)
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There you go Janet;
Acriukip.
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I know Paul Nuttall invented photography but don't even go there!
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That shade of purple though....
I preferred the Joker/Prince references ;0)
Yes, of course dark slides are idiot proof. What could possibly go wrong?
Even a little bit...
I knew about the first one - saw it happen when I pulled another slide out of the bag (had already taken that shot on another sheet, so used the duffer for a second shot, if only to see how much had got fogged). I had no idea about the second, however, until after I had developed the film. These (and a couple of previous mishaps) led me to make my nifty dark slide retainers...
...which have worked really well so far.
Suz, in the pic of the film holder, there are two narrow white panels on the right. The panel with the little label at the top is part of the holder, and the one to the right of that is on the dark slide. If you take the slide out, flip it over, and put it back in, the panel changes to black. I use white to indicate unexposed, and black to indicate exposed - clear negative and dense negative, respectively. (I also have a little database app on my phone that I use for recording details, but the dark slide indicator bands work as a primary visual aid in the field.)
Even a little bit...
I knew about the first one - saw it happen when I pulled another slide out of the bag (had already taken that shot on another sheet, so used the duffer for a second shot, if only to see how much had got fogged). I had no idea about the second, however, until after I had developed the film. These (and a couple of previous mishaps) led me to make my nifty dark slide retainers...
...which have worked really well so far.
Suz, in the pic of the film holder, there are two narrow white panels on the right. The panel with the little label at the top is part of the holder, and the one to the right of that is on the dark slide. If you take the slide out, flip it over, and put it back in, the panel changes to black. I use white to indicate unexposed, and black to indicate exposed - clear negative and dense negative, respectively. (I also have a little database app on my phone that I use for recording details, but the dark slide indicator bands work as a primary visual aid in the field.)
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Not sure what it is with people today having trouble with dark slides. We used many thousands of sheets and never had a problem. Some people used the little wire twist locks as a safe guard, but few of us bothered, as we never picked them up by the sheathes.
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I think you may have answered your own question there Terry, you used many thousands of sheets and most people nowadays have only used a few. The more you practice the luckier you get.
What was happening with me was, they were placed vertically in the bag with the slides uppermost. The pocket wasn't overly tight, but enough for the bottom edge of one holder to catch on the little handle bit at the top of the adjacent dark slide, which occasionally caused it to be pulled up.
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The difference is that today not many people use hard compartmentalised camera bags. These held the slides firm and square. Most were made of fibreboard or ply lined leather and weighed a ton. However some were surprisingly compact and easy to carry. Especially for ones designed for cameras using single metal slides.
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Right, the serious business now of finances and Kickstarter campaign targets. I've been working out the materials/labour costs to build each camera and then factoring in the final charges from a Kickstarter campaing;
5% of total pledges - Goes to Kickstarter
3% + 20p from each pledge - Goes to Stripe for payment processing
I'm looking at building the rewards around an initial idea of building 60 cameras with a total target of £10,000. I can always add extra cameras if the demand is there but I want to set a realistic target so that I don't fall short.
I am looking at 3 different rewards;
1) Early bird discount for the first 10 cameras - £150
2) Kickstarter special price for the next 30 - £200
3) Remaining 20 cameras at the release price but will be delivered as soon as the other 40 are complete - £250
All three rewards can be supplied in whichever colour the backer wants (from a list of choices) and will include the main camera body, bellows and a lens board (with a choice of shutter size cut into it).
I may also add some lower priced rewards or a stretch goal for the dark cloth hoodie that I'm also currently working on. I'd imagine that would be around £25 but will add that if it's ready.
Any thoughts? Honesty appreciated! Am I being realistic with the price and will I actually manage to sell 60 of them!
Cheers
Steve
5% of total pledges - Goes to Kickstarter
3% + 20p from each pledge - Goes to Stripe for payment processing
I'm looking at building the rewards around an initial idea of building 60 cameras with a total target of £10,000. I can always add extra cameras if the demand is there but I want to set a realistic target so that I don't fall short.
I am looking at 3 different rewards;
1) Early bird discount for the first 10 cameras - £150
2) Kickstarter special price for the next 30 - £200
3) Remaining 20 cameras at the release price but will be delivered as soon as the other 40 are complete - £250
All three rewards can be supplied in whichever colour the backer wants (from a list of choices) and will include the main camera body, bellows and a lens board (with a choice of shutter size cut into it).
I may also add some lower priced rewards or a stretch goal for the dark cloth hoodie that I'm also currently working on. I'd imagine that would be around £25 but will add that if it's ready.
Any thoughts? Honesty appreciated! Am I being realistic with the price and will I actually manage to sell 60 of them!
Cheers
Steve
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How many hours labour is this? Is there a way of reducing the labour by building it slightly differently? Remember people will only willingly pay small child sweat shop rates
With me outsourcing the bellows and groundglass manufacturing, the labour time is the actual assembly of acrylic parts. My updated design has simplified the work required and total number of parts so it's probably down to 2-3 hours of assembly per camera.
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That's not bad. I think the £250 end price sounds a lot but I suspect it isn't really and I'm just cheap
Thanks. I'm basing my price around the figure that Intrepid released at but I should add that the figures may change when I've got the final assembled camera finished with my new design. I should also be able to reduce my materials costs slightly with larger material orders (I'm waiting for a response from a couple of suppliers) so I should be able to bring the overall price down accordingly.
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I guess two things jump up for me.
1) can you be bothered to make 40 of the things. By camera 20 if you're starting to get sick of them the next 20 could be a real drag and take a while to deliver.
2) posting the assembled cameras, have you got boxes and packaging sorted and full end to end, not just the stamp, costed? Remember to pay yourself while your standing at the PO counter for an hour posting 10 of the them.
1) can you be bothered to make 40 of the things. By camera 20 if you're starting to get sick of them the next 20 could be a real drag and take a while to deliver.
2) posting the assembled cameras, have you got boxes and packaging sorted and full end to end, not just the stamp, costed? Remember to pay yourself while your standing at the PO counter for an hour posting 10 of the them.
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Personally I think £150-£200 as a Kickstarter price will attract backers, in line with the current non Kickstarter price for the Mk2 Intrepid 5x4 at £250.
I'm generally not fussed with Kickstarter projects that say "£5 gets you a big thank you and a mention on the website" but I can see it may work for friends and relatives that want to support but have no desire to own a LF camera. But I did like their inclusion of a pinhole lens board, that was a nice touch.
On another tack I'd like to see an accessory mount so that a bubble could be fitted or even better an integrated one.
As far as selling 60 cameras, I would have thought so but you have to be offering a something different from the Intrepid which has exceeded their most optimistic projections.
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To be honest, that price sounds about right, looking at similar Kickstarters.
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Their initial super early bird backers got the Intrepid for £99, I got in a little later so paid a little more but still great value..
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Good point. I guess it makes sense to have a small number sold at a loss to build up the interest/demand.
Looking at their original campaign, they had 3 levels of reward;
25 @£99 - "Super Earlybird"
10 @ £189 - First ten to be delivered, with the backers names engraved on the camera.
394 @ £129 - "Full Production" delivered after the other 35
Once they fulfilled their Kickstarter orders, they then started to sell the camera for £250.
I don't know how many cameras were original offered at £129, I'm guessing that number was extended to meet demand during the 30 day campaign? Their original target was £27k and they received £63k of backing. Looking at their campaign, I guess it would make sense to sell below the final sale price to build demand. Hmmm, decisions.
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I guess the question is how many have they sold since going full price. We'll never know but the reality is loss leaders only work if they continue to sell a full price and at enough volume to cover the losses from the, errm, leaders.
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Thanks Steve. I agree that building the same camera 60 times will be a challenge but I guess everything starts somewhere! I'll be roping in my friends/brother/dad to help with the assembly, not that they know that yet! The actual postage cost is added on top of the reward price. The company that will be cutting the acrylic also supply shipping boxes/packaging so I'll get a figure for that and build it in.
Thanks for the advice Nick. I've built in an 18mm diameter bubble level into the bed of the new design and factored the cost of that into the materials. I could also integrate a cold shoe of some sort possibly but hadn't considered it before. Cutting the lens board for a pinhole would be easy enough but there'd be an additional cost for both the material and the brass plate itself so I'll get my calculator out. Potentially, I could make a push fit pinhole that uses the same Copal 0/1/2 board to get people started. They could then pop out the pinhole and fit a proper lens when they're ready?
Thanks Charlotte. I'm still doing my sums so will try to get the price down but it won't go up!
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I'm think they're doing quite well, they launched the Mk 2 version after listening to users feedback, they have a current lead time of 6 weeks ( which I realise is no real indication of demand) they've also recently launched the 8x10 version as a Kickstarter and have surpassed thei £18,000 target they currently have been backed to the tune of £150,000 with 11 days to go.
What this means in real sales terms is anybody's guess but I think they're ticking over
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I like that idea, shouldn't add to much to the production cost, maybe you could consider it as a bonus depending on the of number backers perhaps for the early backers and as an optional extra for those on board later.
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If I build it around the standard shutter sizes it could be offered as another reward in itself too?
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Could you make a board cheap enough to be the litle not quite the full product reward?