CK Dexter Haven
Well-known
rxmd said:
Couldn't disagree more. Look at Leica and Hasselblad. Their cameras haven't changed since the 50s, with the exceptions of meters having been added. There are a heck of a lot of people out there who still embrace those 'values' and the simplicity of operation. Those 1950s-designed cameras took the bulk of the world's great photographs.
I love gadgets, electronics, modern design. But, i want the new Fuji GF670.
What makes you think it's meant for glass cupboards? Unless it's ridiculously expensive, I want to USE it immediately.
R
ruben
Guest
Respected sitemistic,
I have just now glanced at the thread for the first time, and I truly hear you quite hostyle to something, not yet clear. So what if Fujifilm wants to promote their film sales - should we be those to cry for it ?
I thought that we as a niche RF users, should be rather happy, if not for the camera at least for the film promotion attempt.
Unless there is a conspiratiorial theory, by which Fujifilm is testing the waters to kill its film production.
You got me really confused this time.
Friendly,
Ruben
I have just now glanced at the thread for the first time, and I truly hear you quite hostyle to something, not yet clear. So what if Fujifilm wants to promote their film sales - should we be those to cry for it ?
I thought that we as a niche RF users, should be rather happy, if not for the camera at least for the film promotion attempt.
Unless there is a conspiratiorial theory, by which Fujifilm is testing the waters to kill its film production.
You got me really confused this time.
Friendly,
Ruben
Frank Petronio
Well-known
It may share the style of on old Ikonta or Agfa but I notice that the front standard is the most robust front end ever on a 120 folder. I also see the max aperture is a very useful f/3.5. And I see an "A" on the shutter speed ring ;-)
All good. I wonder if they will low ball the price in hopes of selling more film? (wishful thinking...)
All good. I wonder if they will low ball the price in hopes of selling more film? (wishful thinking...)
iamzip
Ambitious, but rubbish
If you like it or not, that's fine. Personally, I don't think it's retro for marketing's sake, the way the new Beetle, Ford GT, Ford Mustang etc. are. I simply think that if you want a really portable MF camera, it has to be collapsable somehow, and this is the simplest way to do it. Remember, with a design like this it will be very small, able to literally fit in your pocket - like the newest and most stylish digicams!
By they way, can't anyone translate that page for us?!?!
By they way, can't anyone translate that page for us?!?!
rxmd
May contain traces of nut
Hasselblads have changed quite a bit actually, the H series is not a 1950s camera by any standard. Leica had economic trouble for years and is complaining even today that a significant percentage of Leica sales is in used Leicas and that they don't see a significant portion of the money that is in the market for their own cameras. You can get only so far by producing 1950s products and then wondering why you are competing with original products from the 1950s.CK Dexter Haven said:
That's fine. Every professional uses the tools of his day.CK Dexter Haven said:
I read that a significant percentage of people on earth have driven in a VW Beetle, a 2CV, a Renault R4, or a Zhiguli at some point in their lives, but if a company produced a 2CV with an automatic gear train today I wouldn't take it serious as a 21th century car.
Look, I don't want to get in the way of anybody's pursuit of happiness. I also don't believe in the death of film (I use film exclusively) and I also am no mindless technophile (I use a Leica M5 and a Kiev 88 among other things).CK Dexter Haven said:
However, this is a new camera. It just strikes me as completely ridiculous that the market is so, well, conservative that there is a new camera and all it really is is a 1950s camera, like an old teabag brewed all over again with fresh water. I was moderately excited when I heard that Fuji was somehow committed enough to medium format that they produce a new camera, but this commitment is nostalgia and nothing else. As I said, what's next, Kodak announcing their commitment to film by producing an autofocus Kodak Brownie? There is no commitment to creativity in this, just a commitment to nostalgia, to the glory of the past, to a dream of simplicity and authenticity in a complicated world etc.pp., and ultimately it's all about a warm fuzzy feeling of "let's make a camera like the one our grandpa had". That's fine, but the result is a camera that is completely unimaginative. The automatic exposure is about the only streak of light about this. If you guys want to buy one, go ahead; if you want to use it and take pictures and upload them to the RFF gallery I'm all for it, great. But as a camera, this is really as imaginative as a Oskar Barnack Commemorative Limited Edition M6TTL.
Personally I think that if someone wants a 1950s camera they can buy a 1950s camera and in all probability save a lot of money, even if I get a CLAd one from a repair shop that gives you warranty. Your reaction and the irate reactions of others in this thread shows that apparently there are people who want exactly this kind of camera. Makes me wonder if your needs aren't served just as well with a $150 Zeiss Super Ikonta III or something. Or, as I've posted elsewhere, a Plaubel Makina 67 for which you can even get factory service. Apparently they aren't. Well, let's see if Fuji actually produces this, where it's sold and for how much money, and then we can see if this is actually worth something or if it's just a gear fondlers' fad that ten people use to take pictures that live and breathe and fifty other people use to photograph test charts and rhapsodize how it has the best medium-format lens they have ever seen. As I said, if you want it, buy it, take pictures, I don't want to get in the way of your creativity, but don't expect me to be excited about how great it is to have a new medium format camera, because it's only a prototype anyway and it's new only in a very technical sense. It's really an admission that there is no point in producing something that would actually be new.
Philipp
monochromejrnl
Well-known
for someone who doesn't like the camera, you're devoting an awful lot of time and energy trying to convince everyone else that they shouldn't like it as well...
do you spend this much energy trying to convince others about the greatness of the things you do like????
sad really...
do you spend this much energy trying to convince others about the greatness of the things you do like????
sad really...
rxmd said:
titrisol
Bottom Feeder
Looks like a Kodak Retina in steroids!
Seems it'll have aperture priority and some other gizmos
Seems it'll have aperture priority and some other gizmos
rxmd said:
rxmd
May contain traces of nut
Thanks for caring how I spend my time. In this particular post I was spending ten minutes during the afternoon coffee break to write down my opinion of something. I'm not asking you to like it, no more than I'm asking you to dislike this camera.monochromejrnl said:
Philipp
Solinar
Analog Preferred
monochromejrnl said:
Well said - if it doesn't float your boat, just ignore it.
dazedgonebye
Veteran
Tuolumne
Veteran
mfunnell said:I thought they were demonstrating how images are created from shades of red, green and blue...
(Thumbnail link to dpReview website.)
...Mike
I call them the "Triplets" and am amasing a whole collection of their photos without even being there. Oh, how I love the Web!
/T
dazedgonebye
Veteran
Tuolumne said:
They're out of order. Should be rgb.
Tuolumne
Veteran
rxmd
May contain traces of nut
Hi John,
I have no doubt that there will be a film market in the future, but it will largely belong to companies who have successfully shrunk down their machines so that they can produce smaller volumes. You have to achieve a tradeoff between pouring slowly, improving the chemistry of your emulsion so that you can achieve constant parameters on smaller areas. Agfa had exactly this overcapacity problem; they had one of the most advanced film production plants in Europe, but it was also one of the biggest. The result is what you mention, though; in the end it's the dinosaurs dying out all over again.
Philipp
Just as a side note: This kind of manufacture doesn't work in every market. For example for film it doesn't work, because film is poured; you need relatively large areas to achieve constant emulsion thickness, and you can't pour a 400 ASA emulsion in one place and 1600 ASA emulsion in another.foto_fool said:
I have no doubt that there will be a film market in the future, but it will largely belong to companies who have successfully shrunk down their machines so that they can produce smaller volumes. You have to achieve a tradeoff between pouring slowly, improving the chemistry of your emulsion so that you can achieve constant parameters on smaller areas. Agfa had exactly this overcapacity problem; they had one of the most advanced film production plants in Europe, but it was also one of the biggest. The result is what you mention, though; in the end it's the dinosaurs dying out all over again.
Philipp
kuzano
Veteran
I will have one of these if produced!!!
I will have one of these if produced!!!
Pictures... I like it and will buy one... all other comments read and carefully considered. Everyone is entitled to react and comment as they will. This will make a nice companion to my recently re-bellowed and CLA'd/modified GS645.. the first folder in the G line.
As a Fujiphile.... I applaud Fuji for this exercise and hope it comes to market.
I will have one of these if produced!!!
Pictures... I like it and will buy one... all other comments read and carefully considered. Everyone is entitled to react and comment as they will. This will make a nice companion to my recently re-bellowed and CLA'd/modified GS645.. the first folder in the G line.
As a Fujiphile.... I applaud Fuji for this exercise and hope it comes to market.
kuzano
Veteran
Auto exposure, Aperture Priority???
Auto exposure, Aperture Priority???
I see an A on the shutter wheel, which looks to operate in Aperture Priority. Wonder if it will operate w/o batteries in manual, and/or if it will meter in manual?
I truly like the design. Form follows function. So close to the GS645 design it will be a cakewalk to pick it up and start shooting w/o re-familiarizing from the early folder. Very smart on Fuji's part to pick this camera, since people are still snapping up the early folder at insane prices considering the early mistake on a paper based bellows. I see GS645's selling on eBay at a clip of 3-5 a week for $400 to 600. Many of them make no mention of bellows replacement and buyers are not knowledgable enough to ask.
I purchased a GS645 recently on this board and immediately sent it to Frank Marshman at Camera Wiz for bellows and other work.
I think that Fuji has seen this demand for the older folder and added the larger format for a response from the marketplace on an improved combination. I'd like to know the bellows material. I can't imagine they would make that mistake again after only producing the GS645 for a little over a year because of a weak shutter linkage and the bellows problem.
Auto exposure, Aperture Priority???
I see an A on the shutter wheel, which looks to operate in Aperture Priority. Wonder if it will operate w/o batteries in manual, and/or if it will meter in manual?
I truly like the design. Form follows function. So close to the GS645 design it will be a cakewalk to pick it up and start shooting w/o re-familiarizing from the early folder. Very smart on Fuji's part to pick this camera, since people are still snapping up the early folder at insane prices considering the early mistake on a paper based bellows. I see GS645's selling on eBay at a clip of 3-5 a week for $400 to 600. Many of them make no mention of bellows replacement and buyers are not knowledgable enough to ask.
I purchased a GS645 recently on this board and immediately sent it to Frank Marshman at Camera Wiz for bellows and other work.
I think that Fuji has seen this demand for the older folder and added the larger format for a response from the marketplace on an improved combination. I'd like to know the bellows material. I can't imagine they would make that mistake again after only producing the GS645 for a little over a year because of a weak shutter linkage and the bellows problem.
anselwannab
Well-known
I guess the big question is how much? I would have liked either a wide angle or a portrait lens.
If a nice used BEssa or Zeiss is going for $500-700 on 3-bay, what are they going to sell this for $1200, $1500, $2000?
Can I get a discount if I buy a carton or two of their film?
I hope everyone else here goes out and buys one and Fuji decides to bring out a telephoto and a wide angle. A folder would fit great in my briefcase.
If a nice used BEssa or Zeiss is going for $500-700 on 3-bay, what are they going to sell this for $1200, $1500, $2000?
Can I get a discount if I buy a carton or two of their film?
I hope everyone else here goes out and buys one and Fuji decides to bring out a telephoto and a wide angle. A folder would fit great in my briefcase.
shadowfox
Darkroom printing lives
kuzano said:
I am so going to get me one of these.... droooool !!!
Thanks for the pics, kuzano, the .cz site is down for some reason.
Nostalgia? that would generate part of the demand, but I just touched film cameras two years ago and I want one, MF folders are just so practical and cool.
This will sell like hotcakes in Japan, celebrities and "hip" young well-heeled fashion crowd in Europe will be toting one, and if we're lucky, it'll make it over here in the US.
Go Fuji.
Tuolumne
Veteran
shadowfox said:
I am sure you will be able to buy it from Matsuiyastore on eBay, regardless of the intended distribution channel.
/T
dazedgonebye
Veteran
Now if I could only have back all the money and time I've spent on old folders with bad bellows, overlaping film, and light leaks...I could buy two of these.