Camera to replicate the Great Photographers

cliveh · Jan 19, 2013

If I marketed a camera with a dial on the top that read HCB, AA, ATGET, Salgardo, Etc., with these settings corresponding to different aperture/shutter settings, would the general public really believe this and would it sell? Not that I would ever dream of doing this.

Ian Grant · Jan 19, 2013

When I went on a workshop in the late 1980's an Anglo-American photographer had clearly used one of these cameras, a great Portfoloio in homage to the masters with Zero of his own personality No name but he was an heir to a company who made almost all the rare optical glass used in lenses, never needed to work

Ian

Chan Tran · Jan 19, 2013

cliveh said:
If I marketed a camera with a dial on the top that read HCB, AA, ATGET, Salgardo, Etc., with these settings corresponding to different aperture/shutter settings, would the general public really believe this and would it sell? Not that I would ever dream of doing this.

if you want to sell such a camera you have to make a digital one and not a film camera and also it may help to run the android OS too.

Alan W · Jan 19, 2013

I'll buy one if you put a Weegee setting on it.

laser · Jan 19, 2013

It would be possible to make an attempt towards this with a digital camera. By seeking the typical look of specific photographers. This would be done by altering the exposure, color palette, tonal reproduction, MTF etc. It would be even more fun if there were three accessories to accompany each dial setting:

Weegee: crumpled hat, well-chewed cigar and a flask

Ansel Adams: Big hat, big smile and a bolo tie.

You get the idea. Continue the list if you wish.

Brian C. Miller · Jan 20, 2013

cliveh said:
If I marketed a camera with a dial on the top that read HCB, AA, ATGET, Salgardo, Etc., with these settings corresponding to different aperture/shutter settings, would the general public really believe this and would it sell? Not that I would ever dream of doing this.

Would the public know who HCB, AA, Atget, Salgado, and others, were or are?

IIRC, at least one of the current Fuji digital cameras has a mode where different film responses can be set.

But the thing is, it's the subjects that made these photographers memorable! Setting the camera to Ansel Adams and then photographing a trash dump is not going to result in Yosemite. And setting the camera to Salgado and photographing lunch is not going to result in Workers.

It isn't about the camera. It isn't about the settings used on the camera. It's about glimpses into real life.

If people believe that the Picasso or Rembrandt paint brushes produce paintings like their namesakes, then sure, they'd believe it. And then you'd get sued for false advertising.

eddie · Jan 20, 2013

Brian C. Miller said:
But the thing is, it's the subjects that made these photographers memorable! Setting the camera to Ansel Adams and then photographing a trash dump is not going to result in Yosemite. And setting the camera to Salgado and photographing lunch is not going to result in Workers.

Maybe the camera should transport you to Yosemite, when set to AA... beam you to Paris when set to Atget... That camera I'd buy!

mjs · Jan 21, 2013

So what if you loaded the camera's memory with a licensed selection of the famous photographer's famous photos? It could select an appropriate match for you after analyzing what's in front of the lens when you push the button. Kodak's old "You push the button and we do the rest" motto taken literally!

Mike

Mustafa Umut Sarac · Jan 21, 2013

Not camera but software have been developed at MIT with even its softare code is free. You give your photo and the AA photo to software , it analysis the spatial distribution of noise on the AA picture and than find a function and make it work on your poor photo. Its like van gogh style from your picture idea. Other tool is to use histogram matching.
This idea is lowering the photography in to color match and noise match. I dont know what would do to soft edges

Gerald C Koch · Jan 21, 2013

It would be great for all the wanabee Bressons, Adamses, Atgets, Salgardos, etc. Those people who have no personal vision. But if one looks at great artists they all eventually find their own unique expression. They do not imitate. I think this tells us something.

batwister · Jan 22, 2013

Gerald C Koch said:
It would be great for all the wanabee Bressons, Adamses, Atgets, Salgardos, etc. Those people who have no personal vision.

Are there really Bresson, Adams and Atget wannabes in 2013? I'm pretty sure most people don't look at photography pre-Cindy Sherman.

You'd have to update the photographers for the technowiz demographic who would buy such a thing - if it were possible. With the photographers mentioned, you're unwittingly aiming at the 50+ crowd, when you should be thinking 18-30.

Will it have a detachable, wireless, 3" LED LCD, on which you can also watch movies? £30 a month internet access to Facebook? Do I get discount at Subway every 10,000 frames?

mark · Jan 22, 2013

Slap the Holga brand name on it and the lemmings will flock to your doorstep.

Gerald C Koch · Jan 23, 2013

batwister said:
Are there really Bresson, Adams and Atget wannabes in 2013? I'm pretty sure most people don't look at photography pre-Cindy Sherman.

To paraphrase the countess in Downton Abbey, "What's a Cindy Sherman?".

cliveh · Jan 23, 2013

batwister said:
Are there really Bresson, Adams and Atget wannabes in 2013? I'm pretty sure most people don't look at photography pre-Cindy Sherman.

You'd have to update the photographers for the technowiz demographic who would buy such a thing - if it were possible. With the photographers mentioned, you're unwittingly aiming at the 50+ crowd, when you should be thinking 18-30.

Will it have a detachable, wireless, 3" LED LCD, on which you can also watch movies? £30 a month internet access to Facebook? Do I get discount at Subway every 10,000 frames?

I don't regard photography or art as fashion, in the same way I would not disregard Leonardo da Vinci because he is dead.

PanaDP · Jan 23, 2013

cliveh said:
I don't regard photography or art as fashion, in the same way I would not disregard Leonardo da Vinci because he is dead.

But you have to concede that both photography and art as a whole HAVE fashions.

cliveh · Jan 23, 2013

PanaDP said:
But you have to concede that both photography and art as a whole HAVE fashions.

Of course. But just as in literature there are classics.

batwister · Jan 23, 2013

The great artists of the medium? Yes, but you misunderstand when you talk about fashion. Their concerns are bound to another age. You risk alienating 99.9% of the theoretical market, who just won't be able to associate.

Reading between the lines, I think what you really want to build is a photography time machine. Have you seen Midnight in Paris, cliveh? If that film was about photography, rather than writing, you would be the lead character!

cliveh · Jan 23, 2013

batwister said:
The great artists of the medium? Yes, but you misunderstand when you talk about fashion. Their concerns are bound to another age. You risk alienating 99.9% of the theoretical market, who just won't be able to associate.

Reading between the lines, I think what you really want to build is a photography time machine. Have you seen Midnight in Paris, cliveh? If that film was about photography, rather than writing, you would be the lead character!

I think I get your drift, as marketing is not my thing. And no, I have not seen Midnight in Paris. Do you think I would like it?

batwister · Jan 23, 2013

cliveh said:
I think I get your drift, as marketing is not my thing. And no, I have not seen Midnight in Paris. Do you think I would like it?

It's great, yeah. About both the value and problems of nostalgia.

Camera to replicate the Great Photographers

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