Just seen a MPP MKV111 at £345, with hood and lens panel,good condition. Any comments on this model, and comparisons with a Arca Swiss(F-line or older). Using for landscape,architecture and occasional table top stuff. Lee.

-- leepengelly (leepengelly@aol.com), March 18, 2002

Answers

Response to Still looking for LF

There's no comparison between the MPP and the Arca F-line. The Arca's a current monorail type camera, and the MPP is a discontinued metal bodied folding technical/view camera with a flatbed focusing rail.

The price asked for that MPP seems a bit steep to me, without a lens. For that sort of money I'd at least expect a cheap Xenar or similar lens to be thrown in.
The Mark 8 was the last version of the microtechnical made, from the early 1960s, to just before the company went out of business in the 1980s. It's generally a very versatile camera, but not very suited to using wideangle lenses. Lens panels are increasingly difficult to come by, especially the recessed or cone type.
Cameras fitted with a rangefinder command a higher price, but I'm not sure why, since the rangefinder cams, which must be matched to each lens, aren't obtainable either.
An early Mk8's original bellows will be getting near the end of its life these days, so check the condition carefully. A new bellows will set you back about £60, unfitted, from Camera Bellows Ltd. of Birmingham, UK.

There's a good website devoted to the MPP, here.

-- Pete Andrews (p.l.andrews@bham.ac.uk), March 18, 2002.