SilverBridges Unveils WideluxX™ Prototype 0001
It’s a good milestone since the 2023 announcement. It shows you can have a working camera. The next big question is how much it is gonna cost? And when will it be available?
Tag: wideluxx
The dude is serious: Widelux X
The Widelux X website is up.
SilverBridges is Jeff Bridges (the dude) company to revive the Widelux. It will be mechanical, planned for a 2025 release and called the Widelux X.
Turns out the dude was serious and now we know a bit more.
Previously: The Widelux Revival Project
The Widelux Revival Project
From 2023, The Widelux Revival Project on SilvergrainClassics.
It is about a new venture started by two members of SilvergrainClassic and Susan and Jeff Bridges (yes that Jeff Brigdes) to recreate the Widelux. Jeff Bridges started using it in 1984, bringing on set a Widelux F8 camera to shoot behind the scenes, portraits and others. And like any vintage camera, they are getting old and will fail, if they are not outright temperamental, with little options to get spare parts.
The design of the Widelux is rather unusual, and its Japanese manufacturer ended production in 2000. It’s a camera with a swinging lens to shoot 126 degrees wide on 135 film, or on 120 film. Jeff Bridge’s use of it was unusual as it’s a camera aimed at landscape photography to be used on a tripod as the shot take a couple of seconds at 1/15 shutter speed. This is unlike the Fujifilm TX-1 / Hasselblad X-Pan.
The Widelux F7, using 135 film, did cost US$750 in 1988, while the Widelux 1500, using 120 film, cost US$4,500.
The German Noblex and Russian Horizon were similar in function.
Time will tell if the revival happens. This require a great deal of re-engineering and the result will probably be quite expensive, both as it is niche and likely costly to make.