I should be getting a new camera

[StephenBatey]

The Kickstarter campaign on behalf of a new 10x8 camera from Intrepid has just ended, with the target of £18,000 reached (12 minutes after the campaign opened apparently) and then slightly exceeded (by almost £200,000). I was one of the backers, so I should eventually get a camera and move up into a larger format than my current miniature 5x4.

I've gone for a reducing back as well, to let me use 5x4 film; the camera is lighter than my current 5x4, and has longer bellows. In the large format world, lenses don't have focusing mounts but rely on the camera's bellows. As infinity focus requires a lens/film plane distance equal to the focal length (except for telephoto and retrofocus lenses) the size of the bellows controls the longest lens you can fit. My 5x4 has 430mm bellows; the 10x8 should have 600mm. This isn't as much as it might seem as the standard lens for 5x4 is 150mm and for 10x8 300mm; so proportionally, the bellows are shorter.

Apologies for using this section to announce, but it's the closest fit. The Intrepid 10x8 does tick two of the four letters in that it's a single lens camera, although neither digital nor reflex. And I seem to be alone here in using film.