I've been patiently waiting for this to drop for ~5 years, and I was hoping that it would somehow be under $1000.

Oh my god. $4400 is... a lot of money. $175 shipping had better include a Jeff Bridges Cameo video.

Don't get me wrong: I suspect that he's spent millions of dollars getting the project to this point, and that it's a mechanically perfect instrument. Huge respect for caring this much and seeing the project through.

But damn.

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marssaxman 16 minutes ago | parent | next [-]

I feel better now about the $700 I spent buying a 35mm panoramic film back for my medium-format Bronica SQA. It seemed like a real splurge at the time, but for the price of this new camera, you could get a whole Bronica system, including four or five lenses, an alternate viewfinder, a couple of 120 backs, and the panoramic film back, with enough left over for a year's worth of film and processing.

People must really like that swing-lens effect. It's not for me, but I imagine that this camera must seem much more compelling if it's what you're after.

> Huge respect for caring this much and seeing the project through.

Second that: product development is hard, and manufacturing is really expensive in small quantities.

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_doctor_love 4 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

Just because we're film enthusiasts doesn't make us SAPS!

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JohnnyLarue 3 hours ago | parent | next [-]

Nice marmot

	▲	_doctor_love 2 hours ago \| parent [-]
		Yeah dude, keeping an amphibious rodent within the city, you know, for domestic? That ain't legal either.

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3 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

[deleted]

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armadsen 2 days ago | parent | prev | next [-]

Yeah, I've been waiting for it for years too. I thought it was going to be substantially more than $4400 (more like $6-7K). Under $1,000 is unfortunately simply impossible. Used Wideluxes go for a fair bit more than $1K.

That said, too much for me right now. Maybe someday.

	▲	Finnucane 8 minutes ago \| parent [-]
		My first thought is, that looks cool. [looks in wallet. Looks at cabinet with other cameras. Looks at wallet again.] Oh well.

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joe_mamba 3 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

>and I was hoping that it would somehow be under $1000.

Does this product have iPhone levels of sweatshop manufacturing and economies of scale, that such a price point would be realistic to you?

From what I know, the price is exactly where low-volume hand-made artisanal hardware is in the west, especially given the supply chain geopolitical challenges Trump caused.

I fact, the value for such a niche boutique engineered product seems pretty decent. Just look how much Swiss watches cost.

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peteforde 2 hours ago | parent [-]

Like I said, I was hoping that it would be closer to what an iPhone costs so that a lot more people can justify buying one.

I believe that it's better for their long-term viability if they sell 1000 for $2000 instead of 300 for $4400.

	▲	joe_mamba 2 hours ago \| parent [-]
		>Like I said, I was hoping that it would be closer to what an iPhone costs so that a lot more people can justify buying one. And as I said, the realities of profitably shipping boutique developed and manufactured HW, are vastly different that what you'd wish for them to be, if your only reference is products from the likes of Apple. It doesn't matter what you hope for, the math of economics is what dictates the end result. >I believe that it's better for their long-term viability if they sell 1000 for $2000 instead of 300 for $4400. That's like wanting 9 women to deliver a baby in a month. Why doesn't Apple choose to sell 100 million units of their iPhone 17 Pro Max at 700€, instead of selling 30 million units at 1300€, so more people can enjoy it?

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keyle 32 minutes ago | parent | prev [-]

That is bonkers pricing. There is no way they actually expect a sell out with this price.

	▲	Finnucane 5 minutes ago \| parent [-]
		A new Leica M6 goes for about $7K at B&H. When you could still buy them, Rolleiflexes were about that much. A mechanical camera hand-made in short runs in Germany? Not gonna be cheap. If you can afford and think you'll use it enough to make it worthwhile, there are worse things you could spend your money on.