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Damn Damn Damn…

Tony Lockhart

Tony Lockhart

Avoiding Stress, at Every Opportunity
And I blame a documentary I finally got round to watching last night on the wonderful Vivian Maier.

Yep. I now ‘want’ a Rolleiflex TLR.

I’d rarely use it, I can’t afford it at the mo, and I’d have to pay for D&P.

Why do some of us have these urges?
My wife is aware, and she is laughing at me right now :)

No logic attached to this desire at all, but oh my they’re lovely

 
Tony Lockhart said:
And I blame a documentary I finally got round to watching last night on the wonderful Vivian Maier.

Yep. I now ‘want’ a Rolleiflex TLR.

I’d rarely use it, I can’t afford it at the mo, and I’d have to pay for D&P.

Why do some of us have these urges?
My wife is aware, and she is laughing at me right now :)

No logic attached to this desire at all, but oh my they’re lovely
Click to expand...
I had similar thoughts a few years ago after seeing a similar doc (don’t remember who the subject was.)

I eventually managed to talk myself out of it by giving myself a severe talking to of the ‘it’s the photographer, not the camera, dimwit’ variety - but it was a close call.

Edit: just checked, it was indeed Vivian Maier. Possibly the same programme.
 
Marchbanks said:
I had similar thoughts a few years ago after seeing a similar doc (don’t remember who the subject was.)

I eventually managed to talk myself out of it by giving myself a severe talking to of the ‘it’s the photographer, not the camera, dimwit’ variety - but it was a close call.

Edit: just checked, it was indeed Vivian Maier. Possibly the same programme.
Click to expand...

It’s terrible, isn’t it.
She was very well known for her street portraits, and I just don’t have the balls to do that. How on earth do people take photos of strangers in public? Martin Parr’s photos… jeepers I just couldn’t do it.
 
Find an original Yashicamat; a slavishly-faithful Japanese copy in period, capable of superb results. And an equal joy to use, at a fraction of the price.

Yes, I have one (the early one - not the one with the CdS lightmeter.)
 
martin clark said:
Find an original Yashicamat; a slavishly-faithful Japanese copy in period, capable of superb results. And an equal joy to use, at a fraction of the price.

Yes, I have one (the early one - not the one with the CdS lightmeter.)
Click to expand...
Yes, I was looking at them last night, just a few hundred quid, starting at. I doubt anyone would lose money on a reasonable one now.

Thank you for reminding me!
 
Take a good look through the lens with the back open before committing - some suffer from issues in the balsam adhering the lens elements - hey, they are 60+yrs old.; I thought mine might, but it just turned out to be a hint of shutter mech lube, easily /permanently cleaned-off from inside : D

I paid £80 for my minter, from a dealer, in erm, 2009! It's still a joy.
 
Hang on a mo - example: C14th Tithe barn, Bradford upon Avon: handheld c.1/15th(!), guessed exposure using my grandfathers 1952 Gossen Sixtomat CdS lightmeter... Yashicamat, on Fuji forgotten-what-it-was film (still have the negs somewhere - film shot March 2010) :

CNV00007_1280px.jpg
 
I sold my 3.5F Rolleiflex (Planar) , a Rolleiflex T (Tessar, Grey) and a lovely Rolliecord Vb (Zenar), many moons ago to fund a 500 c/m. Miss the Rollei's. A year or so ago Hassy's were going for a relative song, unfortunately they are now going the way of Rollei's, to sit on a collectors shelf and not get used!

Mamiyaflex are and Yashicamat are still quite reasonable BTW
 
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Tony,

If you go Rollei, which I completely understand, be sure to set aside some cabbage for film and chemicals. Unfortunately, time has increased the cost of both substantially.

Joe
 
Tony,

the Rollei is a thing of beauty. My great uncle had two, one he used and one he "put away for best" last time I saw it was 20 years ago still boxed. I was devastated after he died (not least we were close, he taught me how to process and print etc) but I have no idea what happened to all his gear, his sons had no interest. He had all my great great grandfather's gear and negs, had been a pro photographer at the turn of the last century and had hundreds of glass plates etc. I hate to tell you it's as much an engineers camera as an artists tool. beautiful feel to use. Sorry not helping your camera lust. I still have a Contax 645 and Bronica 645 rangefinder that I can't bring myself to part with but really should as haven't used either for years, medium format still has a real charm, especially if you can get the nice emulsions.

Jenny
 
I have had a Lubitel for 30+ years from the days when I was into B&W developing and printing. If it was stopped down, on a tripod and you took your time the images were excellent. There is something seductive about a big negative.
 
Jennifer F said:
Tony,

the Rollei is a thing of beauty. My great uncle had two, one he used and one he "put away for best" last time I saw it was 20 years ago still boxed. I was devastated after he died (not least we were close, he taught me how to process and print etc) but I have no idea what happened to all his gear, his sons had no interest. He had all my great great grandfather's gear and negs, had been a pro photographer at the turn of the last century and had hundreds of glass plates etc. I hate to tell you it's as much an engineers camera as an artists tool. beautiful feel to use. Sorry not helping your camera lust. I still have a Contax 645 and Bronica 645 rangefinder that I can't bring myself to part with but really should as haven't used either for years, medium format still has a real charm, especially if you can get the nice emulsions.

Jenny
Click to expand...

My iPad Pro is having issues, so I’m out of all markets at the moment, sadly. Just as I was starting enjoy drawing with the thing too!

And I want a new gun cabinet…

And… and…
 
Cav said:
have had a Lubitel for 30+ years from the days when I was into B&W developing and printing
Click to expand...

me too - despite my mad scanning of negative, i have yet to come across any from that camera.....
 
There's a poster on here who's a very good photographer (not a millions miles away from what Maier did), i would like to talk to him about how he approaches the people he photographs, i suspect he's got honesty, charm and integrity on his side, the people he photographs just know. If you've every been photographed by a good photographer there is a trust there, you know it's important.
As the negatives of Vivian Maier have been scanned over the years it became apparent she was remarkable photographer, i find it sad that her work wasn't celebrated in her lifetime.

I always liked the story of Billy Mudd coming face to face with Avedon's portrait of him, a photograph can be a powerful thing, scroll down a bit for the article from The Star-Telegram... http://www.johnmcalley.com/assets/pdfs/fe-packages/Avedon.ST.Web.pdf
 
Tony Lockhart said:
My iPad Pro is having issues, so I’m out of all markets at the moment, sadly. Just as I was starting enjoy drawing with the thing too!

And I want a new gun cabinet…

And… and…
Click to expand...
Totally OT, but if you are thinking of a new iPad Apple are offering 2 years interest free for the next week or so. Thought I’d mention it as I’m thinking of taking the plunge myself. It could free up some funds for you... (damn, damn, damn.)
 
I have been browsing cameras online for several days, talking myself in and out of buying one (my ancient Pentax has finally given up the ghost, but do I want/need a camera or should I stick with the iPhone, which at least I have with me most of the time)
 
Marchbanks said:
Totally OT, but if you are thinking of a new iPad Apple are offering 2 years interest free for the next week or so. Thought I’d mention it as I’m thinking of taking the plunge myself. It could free up some funds for you... (damn, damn, damn.)
Click to expand...

Yes, I'd noticed! £45 ish per month with the pencil is manageable, so I'll see what the repairers say. Soon, hopefully.

Thank you.
 
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