Christopher Walrath

No, I'm talkin' economics. I thought I was sellin' my soul. But I really wanted to take the plunge. I had built a Mamiya M645j system over the space of five years and had gotten two bodies, prism finder, for C lenses, L pistol grip. Well I finally decided to sell all of this to make the jump to 4x5. I sold the kit for $500.00. I got enough to start. I got a 4x5 view camera from erie for $100.00. I got a 545 Pola holder form ebay for about $50.00. I got an expired (so what) box of P/N 55 for like $40.00. I got an Ernemann/Dopple lens for around $30.00. I got three boxes of 4x5 Arista sheet film for $65. Eight Graflex holders for a combined $40. Transit tripod as a Christmas gift and a self fabricated base and the total is now about $325.00.

In my annual G. A. S. fit I, this last week, just purchased an RB67 Pro-S, a 90mm lens, two backs sans slides, two slides, waist level viewer, 15 rolls of Arista 120 film, a No. 1 (45mm) extension tube and a camera strap for a total of about $430.00.

Math
(2) Mamiya M645 bodies
Mamiya Sekor C 45mm
Mamiya Sekor C 80mm
Mamiya Sekor C 150mm
Mamiya Sekor C 210mm
L grip
Dinged up Prism View Finder
(15) rolls of 120TMY film
Tamraq ProX Bag
$300.00

equals

4x5 view camera
140mm Ernemann/Dopple
Polaroid 545 holder
P/N 55 20ct box expired film
150 sheets Arista.edu 4x5 film
Transit Tripod
8 Graflex holders
4x5 film holder zipper bag
4x5 daylight dev tank
LC-1 Alice Backpack
Lots of weird stares
Mamiya RB67 Pro-S body
Mamiya 90mm lens
Waist level viewer
120 film back
Pro-S 120 film back
No. 1 (45mm) extension ring
15 rolls Arista.edu 120 film


Granted all of this took about eight months to take shape. But I think I came out a little ahead on this last year. And I got printing gear to boot.