Hipsters and hasselblads

removed account4 · Dec 2, 2020

grat said:
It's disingenuous at best, and just plain insulting. And that ignores the reality that the general public is convinced cell phones are good enough, and those have full-time live view.

not trying to cause trouble but why is it disingenuous and insulting to say a cell phone is good enough, it is good enough. we use film and whatever other light sensitive chemical medium not because it is vitally important to our survival or because it is imperative to have a negative caused by light reflecting off of a referent or that a chemical print made in a dark ( or dim ) room has to be made, but because its fun ( at this point ). for most people a cellphone camera IS good enough. it is attached to the phone that everyone from the age of like 6or 7 to 100 has with them, its not hard to use, you can delete photos that you don't like, you don't have to pay for processing and you can share it with your friends and family ( or make physical prints if needed ). at this point chemical photography is done because it is fun not because it is for whatever reason "superior". if this is not true, if a cellphone for most people isn't good enough to take snappies of friends, family, fun times, delicious food ( more fun times ) the traffic accident caused by the clown behind you at the stop light, the breathtaking sunset or rainbow ... why is this not true? they say ( and have said for decades ) the best camera is the one you have with you ... its always with us, and it works at least as good as the millions of 35mm cameras that were made for general purpose ...
the whole digital drools film rools argument kind of died about 10 years ago. .. sorry ..
and before you suggest I am disingenuous or some sort of film / digital biggot, I make my own photo emulsion, I make my own cameras and I make prints with film and paper for state and federal archives. for the most part that is a specialized situation... and for IDK 10+ years state archives don't want film but digital files burned to a cd and ink jet prints... even the HABS project at the LOC accepts ink prints ( they want the film though )..

Sirius Glass · Dec 2, 2020

grat said:
It's disingenuous at best, and just plain insulting. And that ignores the reality that the general public is convinced cell phones are good enough, and those have full-time live view.

Good enough to be used in courts. Good enough to seriously reduce the sales of digital cameras.

Cholentpot · Dec 2, 2020

DREW WILEY said:
Back to the original post ... I haven't seen any hipsters with Hassies. I have seen old rich fogies stumbling around a short trail at Pt Lobos with a cane and Hassie around the neck, pointing here and there almost randomly, assuming that because they have enough money to live in that neighborhood, and can afford a fancy camera, it makes them the next Edward Weston, who was actually poor and couldn't afford the best gear.

I mean Hassleblads can be found for a decent price these days. I think?

If I need to go and show off I'll go out with my Retina IIc. Yeah. Anyone who knows anything knows that that camera is top of the line.

Vaughn · Dec 2, 2020

If one is learning, then checking a shot will tell you how a particular shutter speed affects the image at different angles of attack, how that interacts with changes of depth of field and that sort of stuff. Dang...the cars are just going around in circles, plenty of time to try different possibilities. As grat mentioned...if they are pros, they already know, so no need to chimp. I chimp like a monkey on a hot tin roof....might as well until I figure out how to shut off the auto replay on the dang thing. And I use LF cameras up to 11x14...big time chimping out going on under the darkcloth! Just happens to go on before the shutter is snapped.

grat · Dec 2, 2020

jnantz said:
not trying to cause trouble but why is it disingenuous and insulting to say a cell phone is good enough, it is good enough.

I do not wish to offend, but why did you combine phrases from two separate sentences into one thought?

I was referring to the practices of infomercials, and simian-related slurs as being disingenuous and insulting. I then, somewhat improperly, but quite fashionably, started a second sentence with a conjunction, implying an additional, rather than continued, thought-- which is that the entire argument of insulting digital camera users with simian-related slurs, totally ignores the current reality that most people do not use digital cameras per se, but rather, prefer cell phones, which by nature, do not require the previously described behavior of "chimpin'". While I am aware that some languages move their verbs to the end of the sentence, I am unaware of any linguistic construction that recycles adjectives from a previous sentence.

A further thought, which I deemed unnecessary at the time, was that anyone therefore using either a digital camera, or indeed, a film camera, probably knows enough about the subject of photography to have chosen their image capturing device of choice, and therefore can be expected to know which end to point in which direction, and should not be accused of behaving as an imbecile-- ie, missing a perfectly good shot because they're checking their previous shot.

Further, it is my personal belief that while cell phones produce some very nice images, in my experience, everything is either too far away, or not far enough-- and I am philosophically opposed to digital zoom (aka "cropping") as a replacement for a nice 18-135mm IS zoom.

I admit-- I'm not at my best today. I've been sick enough that I'm getting tested for covid tomorrow. So it's possibly I'm slightly less coherent than usual. But I hope that clears things up.

Arthurwg · Dec 3, 2020

Don't chimp because I don't have a digital camera. Heck, I don't even have a smart phone, only a cheap flip phone. But I just discovered what may be the coolest Hipster camera bag for my Hasselblad, the Wotancraft "Pilot."

cerber0s · Dec 3, 2020

Arthurwg said:
Don't chimp because I don't have a digital camera. Heck, I don't even have a smart phone, only a cheap flip phone. But I just discovered what may be the coolest Hipster camera bag for my Hasselblad, the Wotancraft "Pilot."

I'd also argue that the flip phone lands firmly in the hipster category

PhotoBob · Dec 3, 2020

jnantz said:
Maybe that guy was thinking about Victor Hasselblad's Universal view cameras ( made by Szilárd Szabad )
https://sites.google.com/site/prittsel/szilardszabad

I learned something new today

removed account4 · Dec 3, 2020

grat said:
I do not wish to offend, but why did you combine phrases from two separate sentences into one thought?

huh, my bad I thought they were the same thought. .. there was a line break between these 2 sentences and the pasta colander reference and I must have misread it.. oops, sorry about that. as I mentioned cellphone cameras are good enough for many people laypeople and professionals. I agree with what you have said nothing replaces a normal camera /lens but for the most part I don't think most people really care... just us shutterbugs geeking out on gear.
sorry you aren't feeling well, hope you feel better!

grat said:
It's disingenuous at best, and just plain insulting. And that ignores the reality that the general public is convinced cell phones are good enough, and those have full-time live view.

Sirius Glass · Dec 3, 2020

Cholentpot said:
I mean Hassleblads can be found for a decent price these days. I think?

If I need to go and show off I'll go out with my Retina IIc. Yeah. Anyone who knows anything knows that that camera is top of the line.

Hasselblad prices are still low compared to the new prices but not as low as ten years ago. Also lower than they will be next year.

jerrybro · Dec 3, 2020

Sirius Glass said:
Hasselblad prices are still low compared to the new prices but not as low as ten years ago. Also lower than they will be next year.

Why is it that the only stuff I own that goes up in value is the stuff I don't want to sell?

Pieter12 · Dec 3, 2020

Granted I'm not in Brooklyn--hipster central--but I think I have seen more hipsters with Rollei TLRs, Leicas and Fuji X cameras than Hasselblads. Of course, now I pretty much don't see anyone.

Sirius Glass · Dec 3, 2020

jerrybro said:
Why is it that the only stuff I own that goes up in value is the stuff I don't want to sell?

Because quality is valued.

grat · Dec 3, 2020

jnantz said:
huh, my bad I thought they were the same thought. .. there was a line break between these 2 sentences and the pasta colander reference and I must have misread it.. oops, sorry about that. as I mentioned cellphone cameras are good enough for many people laypeople and professionals. I agree with what you have said nothing replaces a normal camera /lens but for the most part I don't think most people really care... just us shutterbugs geeking out on gear.
sorry you aren't feeling well, hope you feel better!

No problem. Feeling better, just waiting for test results, and staying at home until then. Honestly, I think I had the plague back in March/April, but being sick after being exposed to people who were exposed to people who... well, you get the idea.

The biggest annoyance is that the weather has been crap when I've felt fine, fine when I've felt crappy, and I've got this new (to me) camera I want to test.

DREW WILEY · Dec 4, 2020

Everyone thinks I'm hip, even though I'm 71, because I've got a big wooden tripod and stick my head under a dark cloth. Of course, due to the pandemic I can't allow anyone else to stick their own head under the cloth and view what I see; but they still make nice comments. Two days ago, a young couple came up the trail, Wow! How cool! Where did you find that beautiful old camera? Not exactly a Roadshow antique - an alloy Sinar Norma monorail, but no doubt made before they were born. I suspect anything besides a cell phone would be classified as hip these days. And I'm extra hip because I don't even know how to take a picture with a phone!

takilmaboxer · Dec 4, 2020

My phone will produce 4X6 prints that easily rival any 35mm camera. I use medium format folders because they produce 8X10 prints that easily wipe out those produced by my phone. Plus they offer an aesthetic escape from terminal hipsterism. No electricity needed

markjwyatt · Dec 4, 2020

Ok, Here is a good story from today. Went to the pizza place tonight to pick up a couple pizzas, had a makeshift camera bag with me. They were just starting to make them, so I said no problem, went out and snapped a few shots. Came back with an Exakta VX around my neck, starting paying for the pizzas. Kid (maybe 22-24, guy) says "nice camera". I said, "yes, it's a classic". I said, "do you know about these"? He says, "I had one. It stopped working". "Same camera, Exakta?". "Yes". Very cool (and hipster too). He said he was hoping to get it fixed, and for now he did not have a camera. He talked about going to pawn shops and buying old cameras, and sometimes they worked. There is hope in the world. The pizza was analog, too.

grat · Dec 5, 2020

markjwyatt said:
The pizza was analog, too.

But if you ate it with your fingers, wouldn't that make it digital?

M-88 · Dec 6, 2020

I don't know if this has already been mentioned in this thread, but I think I should say it:

Hipsters, trend followers, lomographers, cultists are annoying me a lot. But on the other hand, these people are the reason film is still pushing forward. What will be the sale of film, if we "remove" all those people from film users/buyers? How many films will there be left then? 1-2 Kodak and 3-4 Ilford? Maybe less? So I just turn a blind eye on them.

removed account4 · Dec 6, 2020

M-88 said:
I don't know if this has already been mentioned in this thread, but I think I should say it:

Hipsters, trend followers, lomographers, cultists are annoying me a lot. But on the other hand, these people are the reason film is still pushing forward. What will be the sale of film, if we "remove" all those people from film users/buyers? How many films will there be left then? 1-2 Kodak and 3-4 Ilford? Maybe less? So I just turn a blind eye on them.

BOOM!
exactly
Its like tourist season ... people hate tourists but. without the tourists who's gonna pay the bills...
I've been drinking the KoolAid for years..

Sirius Glass · Dec 6, 2020

M-88 said:
I don't know if this has already been mentioned in this thread, but I think I should say it:

Hipsters, trend followers, lomographers, cultists are annoying me a lot. But on the other hand, these people are the reason film is still pushing forward. What will be the sale of film, if we "remove" all those people from film users/buyers? How many films will there be left then? 1-2 Kodak and 3-4 Ilford? Maybe less? So I just turn a blind eye on them.

For decade crappy snapshots provide Kodak, Ansco, Agfa, Luminere, Fuji and others a robust income and support for their R&D. I do not care who else buys film as long as they buy film.

markjwyatt · Dec 6, 2020

grat said:
But if you ate it with your fingers, wouldn't that make it digital?

Ha! I guess you could slice it that way.

markjwyatt · Dec 6, 2020

Sirius Glass said:
For decade crappy snapshots provide Kodak, Ansco, Agfa, Luminere, Fuji and others a robust income and support for their R&D. I do not care who else buys film as long as they buy film.

More importantly, some of the simple cameras of the past along with film technology produced good results for many snapshooters, so they continued to snap. Today, the iPhone probably does a better job and more consistently (for the snapshot mentality).

Huss · Dec 6, 2020

DREW WILEY said:
Everyone thinks I'm hip, even though I'm only 71,..

There you go!

W_Taylor76 · Dec 6, 2020

Sirius Glass said:
I do not care who else buys film as long as they buy film.

+1

Hipsters and hasselblads

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