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Post by raybar on Jul 30, 2016 21:35:29 GMT -5
"It's starting to look like a store around here" she said, referring to the cameras and lenses all over the place. "You should talk" I replied, referring to her own and her mother's and her grandmother's and her aunt's china and silver.
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Post by raybar on Jul 25, 2016 9:29:38 GMT -5
Where was your actual focus point, and what was the distance from the camera?
I ask because the images include things at various distances. I can only guess, but it looks like it might be 10 or 12 meters from the front edge of the scaffolding to the window glass in the brick wall.
In particular, I am wondering about the corner scenes. Were you focusing at the corner of the image to see how sharp the lenses could be at the corner? Or were you focusing somewhere in the center to see how well focus held in the corners?
(This is my ninth post. I will never catch up with you.)
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Post by raybar on Jul 24, 2016 12:49:21 GMT -5
We had an expression in the camera store where I worked in my youth - - - REFM - - - pronounced "ree-fum." It means "read your f***ing manual." We never said this out loud to customers, of course, although we surely wanted to while answering an endless stream of questions that are covered in the first few pages of every camera manual. We also use refm as a noun, as is "The refm's back - I'm taking my break before he corners me again."
So, you should always refm, or at least page through it, but you never want to become a refm in the eyes of your camera store.
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Post by raybar on Jul 22, 2016 11:03:50 GMT -5
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Post by raybar on Jul 21, 2016 18:20:23 GMT -5
Does anyone but equipment at full price ? Only if i really want it and I want it now. For "new" stuff, I generally prefer refurbished or lightly used.
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Post by raybar on Jul 19, 2016 17:24:57 GMT -5
Mickey -- Probably nothing wrong with the bellows, and there's probably a nice lens under the cap, and the back shutter probably works, and so on. But it is curious that such an outrageous price is listed without providing a wealth of information about the merchandise, both in text and pictures. And thanks for not mentioning that I called this Speed Graphic a Crown - long day.
Sid -- No, not money laundering since there would be a paper trail, although he might not declare it on his income tax. Maybe he thinks he has a historic national treasure. Or maybe he lists an absurd "buy it now" price along with a "make offer" button to see how high the bids might go. There is another one listed at $4000, and in response to the question "Are sure that you have the right price for this?" the seller said "Make me an offer, what is the right price?"
-- Ray
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Post by raybar on Jul 19, 2016 0:11:44 GMT -5
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Post by raybar on Jul 16, 2016 13:49:13 GMT -5
"Digital Camera Binoculars" are available from several manufactures. A search on amazon.com showed such products from Barska, Bushnell, Eoncore, Gemtune, LDGJ, PowerLead, Pyrus, and Vivitar, priced from (US) $20 to $160. Both B&H and Adorama stores in New York have several offerings. Or, if you don't care about price and want something claimed (without supporting evidence) to be the best, try Hammacher Schlemmer www.hammacher.com/Product/Default.aspx?sku=87967&promo=Exclusives-Electronics&catid=4275
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Post by raybar on Jul 15, 2016 13:56:39 GMT -5
That sort of thing happened occasionally in the camera store, usually when someone was selling a bunch of things and said "this one doesn't work," and it was something old and obscure that we couldn't remember how it operate. We would buy the lot, figuring that we got the "broken" one for nearly nothing, and give everything to the repair department for a more detailed inspection. A few days later one of the technicians would tell us what idiots we were.
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Post by raybar on Jul 8, 2016 22:10:12 GMT -5
I worked in a camera store during that time - the long gone Schaeffer Photo and Camera in Hollywood California. I remember the Canon AE-1 as a "tipping point" between being happy working in the store and becoming exasperated with the continuous stream of new SLRs arriving from all the major manufacturers.
Prior to that, most mechanical 35mm cameras were basically similar. It was a mature technology, the "odd balls" had mostly disappeared from the market, and the arrangement of controls had evolved into almost a standard form. If you knew how to operate one model, you could operate nearly any other model after playing with it for a minute or two.
That all changed as electronics replaced mechanics. There was no longer a "standard" set up. The wind lever, shutter button, and the shutter speed dial usually remained on the top right. For a while, at least. But other controls could be anywhere. For example, on all four cameras pictured above, the self timer is beside the lens and works the same way. On electronic camera, it could be anywhere. And what was worse, many of the new cameras had unlabeled buttons. The AE-1 had four unlabeled buttons - self timer, battery check, exposure preview, and backlight control. (I know this only because I have both a camera and an instruction booklet in front of me.)
The poor camera salesman had to learn a new camera every few weeks, and keep the details of a couple dozen models in memory so as to be ready to answer any reasonable (or unreasonable) question from customers. And we also needed detailed knowledge of all the other cameras in the store, from 110 snapshot models to medium and large format as well. At least we had a separate darkroom department so I didn't have to know every enlarger and timer on the market too. My head hurts just thinking about it.
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