Popularity of TLRs among general public, children!

jay moussy · Jun 11, 2022

I took my Super Ricoflex and Pentax SP1000 to a local old cars and planes show.

The TLR made quite an impression with most people I encountered, including a few children.
A little boy said "I like your camera.."! I should have let him handle it, but it did not come to mind in the moment.

It was deemed as an 'antique" by a friendly lady keeping a vendor booth, to which I replied that I was a little bit older that the "antique".

Maybe us folks in that age bracket should wear t-shirts reading "CAUTION, Antique - Handle with CARE"... leaving the viewer wondering if it applies to both the machine AND operator?

gone · Jun 11, 2022

I was on my bike in Daytona Beach w/ a TLR on a strap that was slung over my shoulder. While going around a corner onto another street, a woman shouted to me "Great camera!" People do love them. They love them more than I love shooting them though.

So I bought a little bitty Konica C35, and everywhere I went people said "Cool camera!", especially women. Almost as good as walking around w/ a dog on a leash or pushing a baby stroller, women are drawn to those like flies are drawn to.......

OK, I'm off to eBay now to look at C35's.

AgX · Jun 11, 2022

You both have still a way to go...

Once a boy came up to me me, whilst sporting my crazy-design S-8 Bolex camera, took a photo of me a with his digi-snap, then asked me for an autograph.

Dan Daniel · Jun 11, 2022

jay moussy said:
A little boy said "I like your camera.."! I should have let him handle it, but it did not come to mind in the moment.

Maybe not handle it, but look? People get fascinated by the ground glass image, once they catch on that you look at it, not through it. My favorite was a 20-something hipster looking at a Maxwell screen- 'whoa, what a great LCD!!' He was even more impressed when he understood what was going on and that it didn't need batteries.

mooseontheloose · Jun 11, 2022

Dan Daniel said:
Maybe not handle it, but look? People get fascinated by the ground glass image, once they catch on that you look at it, not through it. My favorite was a 20-something hipster looking at a Maxwell screen- 'whoa, what a great LCD!!' He was even more impressed when he understood what was going on and that it didn't need batteries.

This reminds me of my last trip to Cambodia (hard to believe it was 10 years ago) - I was shooting with my Autocord and the local kids were quite fascinated by it - they loved looking at the screen, were a bit confused when they moved the camera around and realized the image was reversed, and could not comprehend why there was no photo to view after I actually took a picture.

Cholentpot · Jun 12, 2022

I let people look at the viewfinder. I tend to bring along a classic looking film camera on paying gigs. It's really good advertisement, it stands out and people remember it. It also make me look as if I know what I'm doing. Another side benefit are people that recall that they have something sitting in a closet or attic and want to get rid of it. I've scored many a camera like this.

Sirius Glass · Jun 12, 2022

I too let people look through the prism of my Hasselblad and sometimes I get comments like, "Its just like high definition television,"

Rick A · Jun 12, 2022

I let someone look through the view finder of one of my Yashica TLR's, she shrieked and yelled at her girlfriend "Holy $h!t you gotta see this!"

Glausuche · Jun 12, 2022

These are all the reasons I want a TLR. But even with my humble Holga, I've gotten comments.
I think people, along with myself, are fascinated to connect to a working piece of history.

DWThomas · Jun 12, 2022

Yes, my experience has been that TLRs in public provoke positive attention. "Oh, my father/uncle/granddad had one of those." Maybe part of it is that they are (in the public's mind) more obviously not new-fangled digital gizmos. A lot of 35mm and point and shoot cameras aren't that visibly different over a span of thirty years or more. In 2019 I had a brief chat with a Japanese tourist -- in Lauterbrunnen Switzerland -- triggered by my TLR. (Held it up to give him a better look -- "Ah! Yashica! Very good camera." accompanied by a broad smile.) He was the photographer for three generations of family who all stood around smiling as we talked. Definitely a warm fuzzy.

In line with my theory of obvious visual difference, I had a father and son passing by on a local rail trail stop just past me. The dad dragged the kid back to where I was shooting with my Ercona II 6x9 folder and pointed it out, "Now there is a REAL camera!" And in a conversation with three 20-ish guys while out with my 8x10 pinhole camera a few years back, they asked all sorts of good questions, called me "sir" a number of times, and left me with wishes for good results. (I hardly knew how to act!)

Cholentpot · Jun 12, 2022

DWThomas said:
Yes, my experience has been that TLRs in public provoke positive attention. "Oh, my father/uncle/granddad had one of those." Maybe part of it is that they are (in the public's mind) more obviously not new-fangled digital gizmos. A lot of 35mm and point and shoot cameras aren't that visibly different over a span of thirty years or more. In 2019 I had a brief chat with a Japanese tourist -- in Lauterbrunnen Switzerland -- triggered by my TLR. (Held it up to give him a better look -- "Ah! Yashica! Very good camera." accompanied by a broad smile.) He was the photographer for three generations of family who all stood around smiling as we talked. Definitely a warm fuzzy.

In line with my theory of obvious visual difference, I had a father and son passing by on a local rail trail stop just past me. The dad dragged the kid back to where I was shooting with my Ercona II 6x9 folder and pointed it out, "Now there is a REAL camera!" And in a conversation with three 20-ish guys while out with my 8x10 pinhole camera a few years back, they asked all sorts of good questions, called me "sir" a number of times, and left me with wishes for good results. (I hardly knew how to act!)

I used to lug around the 4x5 to jobs and take a shot or two. I've started using the 2x3 and it gets just as many looks and it has a red bellows and is way smaller. The 4x5's RF won't stay true so it sits in the preverbal barn. However with my recent tripod upgrade it may come out to play a bit more.

juan · Jun 12, 2022

i used to use my TLR for street photography. People didn’t know what it was and didn’t know I was photographing. Then, a few years ago, I was out and a woman pointed and shouted “Hey, that’s a camera like the woman in the movie had. Vivian whatever.”

Sirius Glass · Jun 12, 2022

DWThomas said:
Yes, my experience has been that TLRs in public provoke positive attention. "Oh, my father/uncle/granddad had one of those." Maybe part of it is that they are (in the public's mind) more obviously not new-fangled digital gizmos. A lot of 35mm and point and shoot cameras aren't that visibly different over a span of thirty years or more. In 2019 I had a brief chat with a Japanese tourist -- in Lauterbrunnen Switzerland -- triggered by my TLR. (Held it up to give him a better look -- "Ah! Yashica! Very good camera." accompanied by a broad smile.) He was the photographer for three generations of family who all stood around smiling as we talked. Definitely a warm fuzzy.

In line with my theory of obvious visual difference, I had a father and son passing by on a local rail trail stop just past me. The dad dragged the kid back to where I was shooting with my Ercona II 6x9 folder and pointed it out, "Now there is a REAL camera!" And in a conversation with three 20-ish guys while out with my 8x10 pinhole camera a few years back, they asked all sorts of good questions, called me "sir" a number of times, and left me with wishes for good results. (I hardly knew how to act!)

You know that calling you sir means that you are an old man to them?

markjwyatt · Jun 12, 2022

Dan Daniel said:
Maybe not handle it, but look? People get fascinated by the ground glass image, once they catch on that you look at it, not through it. My favorite was a 20-something hipster looking at a Maxwell screen- 'whoa, what a great LCD!!' He was even more impressed when he understood what was going on and that it didn't need batteries.

I went on a work trip with my Contax iia, and was setting up a group shot with the Voigtlander SC Skopar 21mm f4 using the brightline viewfinder. A young woman said, "I can take the shot and you can get in it". She did and her comment was, "looking through that viewfinder is really cool". I feel that way sometimes too, because you see way more than you do with normal vision.

DWThomas · Jun 12, 2022

Sirius Glass said:
You know that calling you sir means that you are an old man to them?

Hehe, no shame in that, I may be an old man to me (I turn 81 in a couple of weeks!)

Brendan Quirk · Jun 12, 2022

Sirius Glass said:
You know that calling you sir means that you are an old man to them?

Yes; but it feels good also!

Sirius Glass · Jun 12, 2022

I look over my shoulder because I think that they are told to my father. Even worse if they call me "Mr. G---."

Cholentpot · Jun 12, 2022

Sirius Glass said:
You know that calling you sir means that you are an old man to them?

Old and Wise.

Got a long way to go, a few more grey hair and maybe I'll get a Mr. title someday.

MattKing · Jun 12, 2022

I actually like it when someone younger calls me sir. It gives me the opportunity to tell them that it is appreciated, but entirely unnecessary. And where appropriate - and it almost always is - also invite them to use my first name instead.

Ernst-Jan · Jun 13, 2022

Some young kids (8-10 years old) in my village once asked me, one I was walking around with my C330 if this was "one of those cameras where the pictures comes out after you take it"
I was already happy that they recognised it as a camera

Popularity of TLRs among general public, children!

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