For many film photographers (admittedly myself included), large format photography is an unfamiliar frontier. Whether it's all the technicalities (lens movements? Bellows? What does it all mean?) or a matter of price and accessibility, there's a large number of us that just haven't gotten to the point where we feel comfortable diving in just yet.
That may soon change.
Steve Lloyd, whose Chroma project I've been following for the past few months, is now live on Kickstarter.
As Steve explains, he wanted to build a large format camera that was light and easy to carry, so he did what any sane and reasonable person would do: he designed a camera from the ground-up. Weighing in at roughly 1 Kilo, or just over 2 pounds and being made of laser-cut acrylic, it can be made in any number of colors!
If you can't tell, I'm excited. This camera will be my first foray into large format photography and I'm especially excited that I'm supporting a brilliant maker and friend with his project.
I'd drop all the tech specs here, but I'll be the first to admit that I don't know what most of it means, so it's best that I just direct you to the Kickstarter campaign for all those juicy details.
Also, as we had the idea a little later on in the process, ShootFilmCo is working with Steve on creating a limited edition custom Chroma Lapel Pin available as one of the rewards. Design is not yet finalized but we're going to unveil those very soon.