In a most epic anticlimactic unboxing my friend opened the package with the pre-owned MF-two only to find an M-Monolith 6x9. A great studio piece and in very fine condition indeed, so in theory a good deal as it's a more expensive camera, but studio view cameras are very difficult to sell (for reasonable prices) so the camera will go back to the dealer together with a firm recommendation to label the products correctly before selling.
Anyway, pre-owned MF-two's are very rare in the EU so plan B is most likely getting a new F-Universalis which is about the same price as a pre-owned MF-two.
The Monolith felt very solid by the way. The only disappointing part was the orbix tilt, no tilt scale and no rubber coating on the knob, but it seemed to have a good solid zero position which is the most important part.
We know that the F-Universalis doesn't have geared swing which sort of makes you need three hands if you are a ground glass user (one for the loupe, one for swing, and one for the locking knob), and we know it has smaller movement range, and we know it's lighter built.
The only question we have is if the F-Universalis is really designed to carry a sliding back or not, I know it fits, but will there be wobbliness issues? I haven't actually seen any photos where the F-Universalis is used with one. The lighter build should lead to some drawback right? Or is that just smaller movement range?
