Mark Blackwell wrote: > Well taking the largest camera ever used in a slightly different > direction, I am soon going to build a camera. Ive seen the Bender > plans, and I am a fair woodworker. Yet I would be interested to know if > there are other common plans out there, and if you have built one was it > used successfully. I have a Bender and have been using it for a little over a year. In its defense, while the joints look less than sturdy when the whole thing is put together they reinforce themselves--for example, the standards are initially a sort of alarming U-shape, but when you put the back and front in they are considerably sturdier; similarly, the monorail riders are hard to hurt when they're on the rail and not all that easy even when they're off. I do have some issues with the Bender's design--the light weight is delightful carrying but sometimes causes problems on the camera, e.g. in high wind; the unified shift/swing control can sometimes be awkward; I'd really like zero detents but haven't figured out how to put them in; the standard bellows are too stiff for a 135mm lens necessitating a bag bellows, which requires a little effort to put on--but ultimately I'm relatively happy with it. Certainly if I buy or build another large format camera, it'll be a 5x7 as I can't really justify replacing the Bender. Your shooting style may be radically different from mine, wherein you would find precise, geared movements very attractive. This is something only you can find out. Much is made of precision in camera design, but in a view camera the only thing that absolutely needs to be precise is the ground glass/film holder alignment. That was a bit awkward to do in wood, and I ended up using little pieces of tape as shims; I recommend getting access to a micrometer if you are seriously going to build the thing yourself. I find I don't have much trouble with precision in focusing and tilt/shift with mine, which is all friction based. Graham ============================================================================================================= To unsubscribe from this list, go to www.freelists.org and logon to your account (the same e-mail address and password you set-up when you subscribed,) and unsubscribe from there.