WillTravel 45 4X5 Viewfinder Camera Review
4X5 would be great if only there were a way to make it simpler, hand-holdable, fairly carryable. Maybe, just maybe, if there were a way to make it more like a point and shoot. Shooting 4X5 in a simple, light, easy camera with just a lens and a basic focus mechanism makes this format fun and accessible for any photographer who wants the resolution but not the complexity and size of a monorail, field, or press camera. Distilling the photographic experience into something simple, effective, and useful, well, that’s a shockingly hard prospect and very few cameras do that well. In a world of over-engineered, high-complexity, nearly-need-a-degree-to-understand-it cameras, the WillTravel is a refreshing, welcome visitor.
I wish that the WillTravel had been an option when I started large-format work. I fumbled with a monstrous Calumet CC camera – the 400, 401, and 402. The 401 was, of course, my go-to because why carry a small 402 when I could lug around a two-foot-long monster that need a 210mm lens to prevent the monorail from being in the bottom of the photo? In short order I dropped those in favor of a Speed Graphic and Super D, both of which were much better first cameras, but also themselves fraught with problems. Had the WillTravel been my first 4X5, I think I’d have less of an inclination toward the technical side of large-format work, but a greater overall attraction to the use of sheet film.
As a field camera user now, I miss the little WillTravel a bit and liked the quick snaps that I could take with it. In taking away the time of setting up, choosing a lens, focusing precisely, and requiring only that I calculate the exposure details, the WillTravel gave me a faster workflow and made 4X5 more fun, more relaxing, and allowed me to worry more about the subject than the camera. And that, yeah, that was fantastic.
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