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Rangemaster · Posted: Tue Jun 22, 2004 1:41 am Post subject:

I can't explain it to you Adrian, but I do know that a brand new $7,000.00 Kia will get me just about anywhere that a $250,000.00 Lotus or Ferrari will, but.......

I have several graphics, and old view cameras, but there is something about holding a brand new with the new smell Wisner that gets me going, does not mean I would spend the money to get one as I know I can get the same picture with any of my cameras that they can get with the Wisner, but......

Dave

RichS · Posted: Tue Jun 22, 2004 2:51 am Post subject:

There's a split in the road that's difficult to decide on.

I could be easily tempted by a new camera. Perfect condition, never used, no scratches or cracks, adjustments work and lock, bellows doesn't leak, untouched, untested, unproven, and _replacable_!

Then the old camera... Scratches, cracked, a bit loose here and there, some parts replaced, better slide the dark cloth over the bellows when shooting in the Sun, double check the focus especially if you used any movements, damn that spot on the GG, did I just hear something crack?, I thought it was in focus...

The brand shiny new against the old beaten up experienced... And worse than that, what happens if your old camera gets damaged when out on a trip? A new could just be replaced, but not that old one... On top of that, after figuring out what the real final restoration costs were on my latest camera, I could have bought one of those new ones...

But which one would I be happier with???? What's the right choice???

There's still some magic to working with history. I'll never know who scratched the case, replaced that knob or cracked the bed. But some other photographer was using this camera before I was born, almost before my father was born. It saw good times and obviously some bad times. It's now been glued, screwed, pressed, oiled & polished and ready for more work. I sincerely hope that 80 years from now someone else will be saying the exact same thing about this camera. And if so, I will be happy and I will know that I made the right choice

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"Ya just can't have too many GVIIs"

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Adrian · Joined: 02 Jun 2004 Posts: 10 Location: Philadelphia, USA

heh...

Fair enough. I must admit that I look at my neighbor's Kia every day and think "If I were logical, I could spend that little on a car."

(Actually I do, but that's only because I'm willing to buy a 10 year old car and pour parts into it.)

LIke you, it's not as though I wouldn't love the absolute best of everything, but...

As far as the graphic, I love the fact that it is a tough high-quality machine that I know will last.... and yet, if I did manage to lose or break it, it would not be a big financial loss. That encourages me to get out there and use it, which is the point after all.

Rangemaster · Posted: Tue Jun 22, 2004 5:08 am Post subject:

I could not agree more, I am always in awe and sit around telling my wife that I should write a story with a camera as the main personality in the story, what have they done, who did they see, what piece of history did it capture, I love my old caemras and they take up a very special place in my home as well as my camera bag, I have had my heart broken when one of old trusty reliable graphics took a 1000 foot nose dive off the side of Going To the Sun Road in Glacier National Park, but it was not the money that hurt, it was the history that was gone, and even in a smug way the history that could have been made! My graphics get used, my Wisner seems to spend a lot of time on display.

Cameras are fun and seem for a lot of us to be an obbsesion, I know they are for me, my wife just shakes her head every time a new one shows up, she was happy when I told her I was going to build a shop so the cameras could have their own home and she could have her's back!

Dave

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Focus on the Picture, Not on the Glass.
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Nick · Joined: 16 Oct 2002 Posts: 494

worldphoto · Posted: Sun Jul 04, 2004 6:58 pm Post subject:

Thanks to everyone for their comments.
I have been gone to Europe for several weeks. I had my film xrayed only twice, once at lax in Los Angeles and on returning from Heathrow airport near London. Our cruise ship allowed us to pass our film past the xray machine each time while boarding. No, there was a third time when we first boarded the cruise ship at Dover, England. We traveled to five countries other than England and not one country required our film to go through an xray machine.
The biggest impact or change from our trip in April of 2002 was the loss of value of the US Dollar against the Euro Dollar. In 2002 the US Dollar was worth 1.10 to the Euro Dollar. This trip the US Dollar was only worth 0.80 to the Euro Dollar.
St. Petersburg(Leningrad), Russia was the only exception. They accepted Crisp new US Dollars as the same value as Euro Dollars.
Harry

[ This Message was edited by: worldphoto on 2004-07-05 01:37 ]

RichS · Posted: Mon Jul 05, 2004 3:50 am Post subject:

Welcome back! Hope it was a good trip!