Chroma - Lasercut Acrylic 4x5 Field Camera

@stevelmx5 well done on getting funded... although it looked early on that there was no doubt it would be.

Now I have to choose a colour and I have no clue what to pick
 
I made it that, and then wondered about the extras for reviewers...

Well done on reaching the target :jaffa:.
 
ChrisR said:
Yes Steve, I make that 148 cameras to build! Now we'll see if you are a production engineer as well as a design engineer... :):):)
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Thanks Chris. It's definitely now the time to see if I can build as quickly as I can design!

StephenM said:
I made it that, and then wondered about the extras for reviewers...

Well done on reaching the target :jaffa:.
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Thanks Stephen. I am building a handful of extra Chroma's for some bloggers/photographers I know (although they're paying for them!) so they're added to the list. I was genuinely planning on building maybe 40 cameras which would have been enough to reach my £10k target but after passing that within 6 hours I then spent the next 30 days planning how I'm going to move a bed into my workshop to fulfill the orders!
 
Looking ahead, one of the features I like about Mike Walker's site is that he has a gallery showing the images made by various photographers who use his camera(s). As far as I could find, Intrepid don't do this. So, should you decide to have a dedicated sales website, you might like to consider this as a feature, and start planning accordingly as the cameras go out into the field (or wood, or studio, or...).

And thinking about locations, perhaps your next project should be for an underwater large format camera :D.
 
StephenM said:
Looking ahead, one of the features I like about Mike Walker's site is that he has a gallery showing the images made by various photographers who use his camera(s). As far as I could find, Intrepid don't do this. So, should you decide to have a dedicated sales website, you might like to consider this as a feature, and start planning accordingly as the cameras go out into the field (or wood, or studio, or...).

And thinking about locations, perhaps your next project should be for an underwater large format camera :D.
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Thanks Stephen, good suggestion. I was planning to setup a Flickr Gallery for photos of/with Chroma's but maybe I'd be better keeping it to my own site instead? I'll have a look at my storage options and create one or the other.

Hmmm, an underwater Chroma you say....good idea...
 
The advantage of using your own site is that when someone runs a search for makers of large format cameras, they will find the examples ready to hand. As I'm a bit technologically challenged (well, I don't use flickr, Facebook, Twitter et al) I simply don't see things that are posted there. For all I know there's a flourishing Intrepid Camera's photographs section on flickr, but if there is I've passed it by. It's going to depend on your target market and I don't suppose that there's an easy way of discovering the profiles of your backers.

Even then, Kickstarter backers are probably a skewed sample anyway. I never knew that Intrepid started on KIckstarter until long afterwards, and I first came across them at an artist's open house event in Hove when one of their cameras was on display for purchase (at £165 as I recall, a price never bettered!). The only Kickstarter campaigns I've come across are those that were mentioned on photo forums. Or even just a subset of those, as only Stearman Press and yourself have appeared on my radar.

The challenging thing about an underwater LF camera (from a layman's point of view) would be the film advance, as I can only think of some sort of variation on the Grafmatic holder. Personally, I'd like a simple way of carrying more sheets with me that isn't as bulky as multiple film holders. I miss Acros in Quickloads :(
 
StephenM said:
The advantage of using your own site is that when someone runs a search for makers of large format cameras, they will find the examples ready to hand. As I'm a bit technologically challenged (well, I don't use flickr, Facebook, Twitter et al) I simply don't see things that are posted there. For all I know there's a flourishing Intrepid Camera's photographs section on flickr, but if there is I've passed it by. It's going to depend on your target market and I don't suppose that there's an easy way of discovering the profiles of your backers.

Even then, Kickstarter backers are probably a skewed sample anyway. I never knew that Intrepid started on KIckstarter until long afterwards, and I first came across them at an artist's open house event in Hove when one of their cameras was on display for purchase (at £165 as I recall, a price never bettered!). The only Kickstarter campaigns I've come across are those that were mentioned on photo forums. Or even just a subset of those, as only Stearman Press and yourself have appeared on my radar.

The challenging thing about an underwater LF camera (from a layman's point of view) would be the film advance, as I can only think of some sort of variation on the Grafmatic holder. Personally, I'd like a simple way of carrying more sheets with me that isn't as bulky as multiple film holders. I miss Acros in Quickloads :(
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All good points so it definitely needs some thought. The benefit of a Flickr group is that it's an existing hosting/discussion platform and is free to use. There are plugins I could use add a gallery from a Flickr group to my site so I think that might be the best option long term.

I love my Quickload holder/film as well and will be gutted when it's all been used :0(
 
I hate Flickr but I have to admit it's great for allowing other people to add photos to a group, and organising/dumping photos in folders. I just wish it had been developed to be a bit more social, instead of just being a weird popularity contest site!
 
mothdust said:
I hate Flickr but I have to admit it's great for allowing other people to add photos to a group, and organising/dumping photos in folders. I just wish it had been developed to be a bit more social, instead of just being a weird popularity contest site!
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I agree with its’ limitations and I stopped using it for anything other than hosting quite a while back but it is very good for hosting so I’ll make the most of it :0)
 
Well, this was me yesterday at the Liverpool College Arts Centre Photography course...

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There was a bit of a mix up and I thought I was just going along to be introduced during the official lecture and show the students a Chroma and how it came about...instead I arrived to 30 students and 3 lecturers in their seats waiting to see my lecture.. [emoji15]

Oh well, all the best talks are winged so I gave them a 2 hour talk about film photography in general (I’d taken 3 bags of cameras/developed film luckily!) and ended up getting a tour of their 4 darkrooms and studio! Even better was that the lecturer gave me three boxes of ‘slightly’ expired film and said I can go in and use their darkrooms/studio for free whenever I want. They’ve also asked if i’ll go back and do another guest lecture and a film photography workshop out in the field so a good day all round [emoji6]

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I reckon 3 stops extra should cover the 28 years OOD issue!
 
Ha, I got caught like that once. I was invited to be one of a panel of judges of some student films, it was only when I got there that they told me they were expecting a full on lecture about my route into tv and my experiences as an editor. Never again.
 
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Well done - both on getting the invitation and delivering a talk unprepared. You're obviously well known now.

The part that struck me most was that you brought along 3 bags of cameras and films even though you weren't expecting to need them (I presume).
 
StephenM said:
Well done - both on getting the invitation and delivering a talk unprepared. You're obviously well known now.

The part that struck me most was that you brought along 3 bags of cameras and films even though you weren't expecting to need them (I presume).
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Thanks Stephen. I only asked about bringing other cameras along yesterday morning as the lecturer had told me that most of the students had never shot any film at all so I figured everyone likes playing with cameras! Taking along the multiple format slide/reversal film was also good because the students could look at slide in their hand. A lot of them now want some Velvia!
 
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Before I send out an update to the KS backers and my Chroma mailing list, I wanted to share this here first. Since completing the campaign I've been getting the finalised design ready to cut (before I go and cut a few thousand pounds worth of acrylic for 148 cameras!) and have been looking at the overall usability of the camera if weather conditions are a bit less favourable. My main thought was that the original M3 thumbscrews are pretty small diameter so, whilst more than enough to lock out the movements, I looked at what changes I needed to make to step up to M5 fixings instead. Even off the shelf, M5 thumbscrew/thumb nuts are larger and come in a better range of shapes/sizes so I've modified the model slightly to embed larger M5 rivnuts (internal threads). This hasn't changed any of the external dimensions or weight so it's a win-win!

The second, more obvious, change is that I've integrated larger fixings to the front standard and also changed the locking design to make it even more simple to use;

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The outside (M6) thumb nuts lock out the front tilt, and the inner (M10) thumb nuts lock out rise/fall independently. I've located off-the-shelf M10 thumb nuts that interlock with the outer M6 thumb nuts perfectly but unfortunately they're currently on back order so I've cut my own for now to test the design. The ones I've got fitted currently will be replaced with the plastic units that are the same size/shape.

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To say I'm happy with the new front standard is an understatement :0) Another benefit of this design over the previous setup is that the front standard rotates freely each way so I don't need to have the bellows attached to the front via magnets and disconnect them to fold down the camera. Instead, they can be secured permanently and the front standard rotated 180 degrees when folding the camera which means less magnets, simpler build and one less step when folding/unfolding the camera.
 
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looking good.

That was the one advantage my Arca had over a field camera, the standards were tightened/released on pretty long levers which could be worked with gloves on, the down side is that I slipped and broke one coming down a hill.
 
steveo_mcg said:
looking good.

That was the one advantage my Arca had over a field camera, the standards were tightened/released on pretty long levers which could be worked with gloves on, the down side is that I slipped and broke one coming down a hill.
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Cheers. I've looked at locking levers too but decided against them, mainly because they can be overtightened more easily so could cause damage. At least with a thumb nut you can feel the tension easily and it doesn't take a lot of force to lock them either.
 
stevelmx5 said:
Cheers. I've looked at locking levers too but decided against them, mainly because they can be overtightened more easily so could cause damage. At least with a thumb nut you can feel the tension easily and it doesn't take a lot of force to lock them either.
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They were plastic levers working on steel standards, different design constraints I think. :)
 
Hi Steve, I think you should sent that Fujicolor tugsten to me coz I NEED that film. It's a long time since I played with a tungsten film.
 
So Steve, I'm in the middle of changing over from Manfrotto RC2 clamps to Arca, which means I have to buy some Arca plates (some of which are stupid prices... £35 for a strip of metal!!!). I see that some of them come longer in order to adjust the centre of balance of the camera, and I wondered if that would apply to the Chroma? Presumably the rear standard is relatively fixed wrt the tripod mount (give or take some movements), but the front standard might move almost 150mm either way? Given there's a lens in the standard (so a bit of weight), is there an issue with balance? And would a longer plate help to counteract this?
 
ChrisR said:
So Steve, I'm in the middle of changing over from Manfrotto RC2 clamps to Arca, which means I have to buy some Arca plates (some of which are stupid prices... £35 for a strip of metal!!!). I see that some of them come longer in order to adjust the centre of balance of the camera, and I wondered if that would apply to the Chroma? Presumably the rear standard is relatively fixed wrt the tripod mount (give or take some movements), but the front standard might move almost 150mm either way? Given there's a lens in the standard (so a bit of weight), is there an issue with balance? And would a longer plate help to counteract this?
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Hi Chris. I don’t have a long Arca plate and the balance seems fine (although my lenses aren’t that heavy). I think if you’re going to replace the plates it would be worth having a longer one for flexibility but I’m not sure it’s a critical requirement.
 
Patrick Dixon said:
I'd quite like one, but it looks like I have missed the boat?
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Thanks for your interest but unfortunately you have for the time being. Having 148 KS reward camera to build means that I can't take any further orders until they're completed and out the door. I'll let you know as soon as I'm ready to take an order though. Cheers
 
Look, there's me being interviewed today at the Photography Show (NEC) by John Aldred from https://www.diyphotography.net :)

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I was also very good at the show. I really wanted to upgrade my Sony A7 with the new A7iii but instead came away with a box of Instax Wide Mono (£10) and a 4x5 DDS holder that's missing a dark slide (£2)....the pizza I had for lunch cost more!
 
stevelmx5 said:
I reckon the least I can do in return for borrowing your 24/2.8 for so long is to repay you with a couple of rolls bud ;)
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That's very kind of you, Steve. You can get some wonderful effects using tungsten film in daylight (Blimey, I'm preaching to the converted here!! :facepalm:)

Oh, well done on your impromptu lecture (y)
 
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Wow, I've never donated £1000 to any charity before but have just done it to the IChemEWater2018 campaign thanks to the very generous backing of the #0 Chroma by http://www.aqueum.com/ and http://www.andeye.com

https://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/ch...age.action?charityCampaignUrl=IChemEWater2018

There's more information about the charity and what they're hoping to achieve here;

http://www.aqueum.com/chroma/

If anyone is able to share the link to the charity campaign and the Aquem.com post on their social media I'd really appreciate it. Of course, if it's something you'd be willing to support in any way it would also be fantastic!

Cheers all
 
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stevelmx5 said:
Wow, I've never donated £1000 to any charity before but have just done it to the IChemEWater2018 campaign thanks to the very generous backing of the #0 Chroma by www.Aquem.com and www.Andeye.com;

https://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/ch...age.action?charityCampaignUrl=IChemEWater2018

There's more information about the charity and what they're hoping to achieve here;

http://www.aqueum.com/chroma/

If anyone is able to share the link to the charity campaign and the Aquem.com post on their social media I'd really appreciate it. Of course, if it's something you'd be willing to support in any way it would also be fantastic!

Cheers all
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Steve, both the links in the first sentence are broken...
 
Aquem for Aqueum appears in the Kickstarter and in Instagram! Worth correcting where you can... for a good cause?
 
ChrisR said:
Aquem for Aqueum appears in the Kickstarter and in Instagram! Worth correcting where you can... for a good cause?
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I’ve corrected my FB posts as well as the VirginMoney donation page and will sort out IG. Unfortunately, I can’t edit the Kickstarter update after its’ sent so that will have to be left. The guy himself even agrees that he’s got an awkward name for it!
 
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