Used fujifilm tx-1 hasselblad x-pan Craigslist

[kennephoto]

Hello all saw on my local Craigslist a listing for the camera mentioned in the title and was looking for advice on it.
http://minneapolis.craigslist.org/ram/pho/4478037384.html
I saw Kai of DigitalRev using something similar to this http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=38plXCYCvKQ
Any idea if this is a good deal? Is it hard to get film for these? Is it hard to get film developed for this camera? The photos Kai took were pretty cool with this camera and it made me want to try one and sure enough there's someone selling one locally. Thanks guys

 

[privatebydesign]

Great camera but it has had its day.

It uses regular 35mm, 135 format, film, developing is not difficult but can't be done through some machines, they don't understand the wider frame.

The trouble with them is to get any kind of quality from it you need to get good scans and again, most automatic machines can't handle the frame size, so it is speciaised and expensive. Or you do the scanning yourself which is time consuming and frustrating, well I found it was and gave up very quickly.

Though it takes a gorgeous picture, especially on slide film, in my opinion it isn't worth the trouble.

 

[kennephoto]

Ok thank you for the very detailed reply. You answered all my questions. I will pass on it and spend my money a better way. Thanks again!

 

[privatebydesign]

Ok thank you for the very detailed reply. You answered all my questions. I will pass on it and spend my money a better way. Thanks again!

You are welcome, progress is crazy, I remember that when looking to get a Honda CBX, the writing for big sports bikes was already on the wall, same with the Canon 1VHS, I still own two, one with less than 100 rolls of film through it. All of them have superb engineering, just terrible timing.

 

[Hillsilly]

It would be a nice and fun camera to own, but you'd have to wonder if it would add much to your photography. I'd agree with the above about scanning at home - it can get very frustrating very quickly. But if it is possible to scan the negatives at the time of development, you might be pleasantly surprised by the results. (Of course, you can always print nice images from the negatives.)

Personally, I'm waiting for something like a Linhof Technorama 617 to come into that price bracket.

 

[mrzero]

Here is a great page by a fan of this camera: http://www.fototheque.com/xpan/

The depressing part about your sale for me was that the 90mm lens only works out to about the equivalent of a 50mm lens on a standard 35mm scale (film or full frame digital). The 30mm lens (17mm equivalent) talked about on there would be quite fun, though.

For $900, you could spend it better on current gear and get more immediate results.