[LRflex] Re: Future R system

  • From: Robert Lilley <speyerdom@xxxxxxx>
  • To: leicareflex@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
  • Date: Sat, 07 Aug 2010 16:07:02 -0400

Are we a "market" or are we "people"? I've never been able to get a warm 
touchy-feely sense when I've in a Big Box Store.  The products offered are so 
tightly marketed to Mr & Mrs average John Q Smith that they scream "bland" and 
"mediocre" - I feel like I'm in some futuristic 1984 world.

"Small is beautiful" in another way too.  As an amateur It has finally dawned 
on me that I don't have to be concerned with blowing up every image past 11x14 
inches and for the most part, a 5x7 inch print will do nicely in an album.  
Let's face it, just how much wall space does any one person have?  So the need 
for 4x5 inch negative resolution isn't really there.  I think that the R lens 
quality and selectiveness will out weight the the need for a big negative.  I 
find myself drastically cropping 4x5 shots in the darkroom to compensate for 
not having the appropriate lens in the field.  I've been so concerned with 
image quality and resolution and I've been missing shots right and left because 
of it.

Rob
On Aug 7, 2010, at 12:29 PM, David Simms wrote:

> You bet...there is a pattern. Once again, I must quote someone else because I 
> seem to lack the imagination to come up with something that, so wonderfully, 
> encapsulates the thought in a minimum of words.
> Thanks to E.F. Schumaker for "Small is Beautiful"...and the subtitle of that 
> famous book "Economics as though people mattered". Who needs to say more?
> 
> With regard to photography, doesn't "small" take us back to the fundamentals 
> of 
> market economics, used in PR campaigns by large corporations, to brainwash 
> the 
> plebs into accepting a system that is the exact opposite? But, with the 
> sell-off 
> of production equipment for film and paper, etc, etc aren't we getting that 
> expanded array of choice and perhaps a bit of competition that will benefit 
> us? 
> 
> 
> Dave, Clearwater, BC
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> ________________________________
> From: Robert Lilley <speyerdom@xxxxxxx>
> To: leicareflex@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
> Sent: Sat, August 7, 2010 7:47:38 AM
> Subject: [LRflex] Re: Future R system
> 
> I use Adox, Efke, Fotofoma and Bergger photographic materials along with 
> Svetlana vacuum tubes.  Hmm.. is there a pattern here?  
> 
> 
> Rob
> On Aug 7, 2010, at 10:11 AM, David Young wrote:
> 
>> Dave Simms offered:
>> 
>>> I wouldn't want to appear like a Luddite but, I think that Big Business is
>>> really putting the hard sell on digital. On the other hand, smaller, more
>>> marginal companies like Adox etc, are buying up the old technology; 
>>> the film and
>>> paper fabricating machines and techniques from the big operators 
>>> like Kodak, to
>>> fill the void.
>> 
>> 
>> Dave, Andy, et al...
>> 
>> You know, you can still by vacuum tubes (valves in the UK)... and the 
>> transistor revolution started in the late 60's and was pretty 
>> much  complete by the mid 1970's.
>> 
>> Yet you can still buy tubes.
>> 
>> No, they're not made in Schenectady, NY, or Pittsburgh, like they 
>> used to be.  These days  they are made in Cambodia, Vietnam, Ukraine 
>> and Belarus.  As the main makers no longer found their manufacture 
>> profitable, they sold their equipment to small makers, in countries 
>> with low-cost labour and facilities.
>> 
>> Film will go the same way... with small firms, like Adox buying last 
>> generation coating machines from Kodak & Fuji, etc., and in turn, 
>> somebody we've never heard of will buy the gear when Adox no longer 
>> finds it profitable.
>> 
>> So, film won't go away... though it may prove difficult to come by... 
>> perhaps only by mail for all but those who live in very major 
>> centers.  Similarly, processing will survive, but only in a few firms 
>> who can gain sufficient volume to make it profitable.
>> 
>> Of course, developing at home will always be an option, though, once 
>> again, the chemicals will probably have to be shipped to you from one 
>> of a very small number of stores who find it worthwhile to stock the stuff.
>> 
>> Of course, you can always follow the lead of Tom A' (of Rapidwinder 
>> fame)... he has a freezer full of B&W  film, and enough chemicals (he 
>> mixes his own developers) to last him the next 20 years!
>> 
>> So, use your R3's through R9's, your OM-1s and old Spotmatics without 
>> worry. Just be aware that the more time goes by, the more patience 
>> you'll need!
>> -------------
>> David Young - Photographer
>> Logan Lake, BC,  Canada
>> 
>> Wildlife & Sports: www.furnfeather.net
>> Personal pages: www.main.furnfeather.net
>> A micro-lender through KIVA.org.  
>> 
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