Graflex.org

[Graflex Sid]

Im hearing from my correspondence in the States,that the highly prized camera amongst the rich kids on campus is,the Super & Speed Graphic.They are also having them converted for $$$ to Digital.
Can anyone elaborate?

Great to know the Graphic is back in fashion-as I've said before,thanks to all the latest Hollywood movies.

Digital backs,well,food for thought.The story is True!

[ This Message was edited by: Graflex Sid on 2006-03-12 07:57 ]

[Dan Fromm]

[troublemaker]

A friend of mine runs the labs at Loyola Marymount's photo department and she took a Speed I fixed up for her to a lecture there on Weegee. The kids liked the camera, and a few asked to ohold it and where they might get one. She also told me I could probably get top dollar for my cameras listing them on the board there (rich kid campus). She also told me they are adding a large format course back into thier carriculum this semester. I didn't hear anything about digital conversions.
I'll ask for an update when I chat with her soon.
This same friend is supposedly pretty hip to trends in the photo world, and she thinks film and large format are feeling a surge of interest recently. Personally I think it may be wishful thinking, or at best a sort of digital backlash.
When I left Cal State Long Beach a year ago I was still seeing photo students around campus with the view cameras, and met a couple students using manual 35's in the basic level courses.
One day when I was using one of my Century Graphics on campus between classes I got a long curious gaze from an instructor from the photo dept, but I never saw anyone else with a graphic in four years there.

[glennfromwy]

Yes, I have run across a couple of posts on other forums from folks that have put digital backs on Speeds and Crowns. Not my cup-o-tea. What is interesting, however, is that there is indeed a faction that is starting to regain interest in film photography. Most notably, large format film photography. I had seen reports some months ago indicating that digital sales had pretty much peaked in the consumer market, and may be starting to decline. The new interest in large format is what intrigues me, though.

_________________
Glenn

"Wyoming - Where everybody is somebody else's weirdo"

[Graflex Sid]

Thanks for the reply.
The Brits are a strange race-it's called follow the leader.Put a NEW digital camera on the market,they will buy it.

Like buying the expensive car,but never taking it out of the garage.Gives me the pip.
...or buying camera X $$$$ just to photograph a pot of flowers.

Then spend hours on forums here,talking about the wonders of digital & how 'film' is old hat...yet the photography they produce is total rubbish.They wouldn't know a good photograph if they saw one.

Sorry,I'll stick to the Graphic any day.So simple to operate and still outclass anything on the market.

[glennfromwy]

Ha! Sid, I wonder how many people these days know what the pip is.

_________________
Glenn

"Wyoming - Where everybody is somebody else's weirdo"

[Graflex Sid]

I was being polite,Glenn...the other words I thought of would not be allowed on this forum.
The English Dictionary says:PIP (British Slang)for bad temper or being annoyed.

I've spent too many years working on newspapers and magazines(behind the camera) to become very cynical about photographic discussions,excluding the Graphic site.

[Henry]

You're right, Sid, our super-refined American sensitivities are much too delicate to endure the lusty Anglo-Saxon vulgarities with which your race has endowed our beautiful English language. I swoon at the very thought....

[glennfromwy]

Sid, over here there is a disease that chickens get that makes their beaks turn green. It was (is?) called the pip. May be archaic now. Like me.

_________________
Glenn

"Wyoming - Where everybody is somebody else's weirdo"

[rvhalejr]

Film is for old farts, go get a life and don't copy old people.

39 Megapixel Big buck backs have about 10Million Red, 10Million Blue and 20Million Green Discrete Sites (PhotoTransistors ?).

WOW, imagine all the postgraduate engineering students (optical communications, ee, solid state physics, etc.) standing in line to buy a 10 Full Color Megapixel Big Buck Back.

Makes total sense, because old farts only get 16 Full Color Megapixels out of the 35mm proofs they scan. AND tango medium format fluid scans are to smelly to even talk about (ugh).

Dumb ass old people are boring anyway and let stuff like science get in the way of
sexy innovations.

Some old people use 4-6 megapixel digital cameras (on a regular basis) to proof exposure, lighting, filters, and other old fart photo stuff (ugh).

No sexy college student will worry about gray cards, histograms and photoshop color casts because if its "in" and costs big bucks its going to be good.

Like all the smart marketing people tell us in private, never underestimate the ignorance of the general public.

And don't listen to old farts.,.

[paulownian]

All you have to do is watch the prices on ebay. In the past two years, the price of a good 4x5 has skyrocketed almost out of reach of us regular folks. I'm just glad that I bought my equipment before all of this new attention came about.

On another topic, did I see that some members are from Pa.? I am in York. Give me a shout at:
paulownian@suscom.net

[clnfrd]

[Rangemaster]

[Dan Fromm]

[clnfrd]

Did I really say that? Must have had a momentary lapse. That sometimes happens to us old farts. Fred.