RF Magazine

LeicaFoReVer

LeicaFoReVer

Addicted to Rangefinders
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Joined
Jul 10, 2008
Messages
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Has anybody heard of any RF Magazine released or planned? Why isnt there any RF magazine in the market where we have 10s of DSLR magazines?

I am sure there are 100s of people (members) here with lots of knowledge and experience to produce a magazine. There are 1000s of photos here too. I know there is a magazine called JPG produced by amateurs who submit images to the internet site.

Why dont we do such thing? Who is in? ;)
 
To me, there's no need for a print RF mag. That's what this blog is for. The many contributor - frankly, "blow away" anything any mag could do. It's searchable, has great pics, great interactions... lots of topics. How could a magazine compete with this site? As far as the DSLR rags - uggh. Hate those things - you're essentially buying a bunch of ads. You're better off at "Steve's Digicams" there too...
 
There is a magazine called The Rangefinder. It's a professional magazine that started out catering to the wedding & portrait trade. It has nothing to do with rangefinder cameras.

If somebody wants to start a magazine catering to rangefinder shooters I'll be happy to write for it, everything from 35mm to 4x5.
 
With a moniker like Leicaforever I hope you joined the Leica Historical Society of America (LHSA). They print a magazine sent to members called Viewfinder. Look for their website.
 
NickTrop said:
To me, there's no need for a print RF mag. That's what this blog is for. The many contributor - frankly, "blow away" anything any mag could do. It's searchable, has great pics, great interactions... lots of topics. How could a magazine compete with this site? As far as the DSLR rags - uggh. Hate those things - you're essentially buying a bunch of ads. You're better off at "Steve's Digicams" there too...
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then why do we need newspapers we have all the internet sites...

You are right about the ads I hate too but this is the way it goes. With a real magazine, you are essentially in front of eyes...I dont think still there is enough people who knows what a rangefinder camera is...in flicker site, when people see a photo of leica they ask the viewfinder light frame is an internal flash :))
 
Al Kaplan said:
There is a magazine called The Rangefinder. It's a professional magazine that started out catering to the wedding & portrait trade. It has nothing to do with rangefinder cameras.

If somebody wants to start a magazine catering to rangefinder shooters I'll be happy to write for it, everything from 35mm to 4x5.
Click to expand...

Thank you very much Al!!! I wish I could start such an act. Though I need more support....
 
Hundreds of people who write on forums doesn't mean that they can write professionally.

Editing costs money, and you have to have a product that can generate advertising support, because it's always about revenue. And you need strong content to draw advertising. One feeds the other.

As well, the content must be unique and compelling. You can only talk about the third or fourth version of the Summicron so many times before it becomes dull. Actually, the third time this was asked, it became dull.

And then there are the printing and distribution costs. Enormous, to be sure.

A magazine that serves film photographers is Black & White Photography (a U.K. publication), and even they are forced to write about digital. That's the reality of the marketplace.

The cost per issue would probably be in the neighborhood of USD12-USD15, maybe more.

I think this could work as a niche product, and if I had the capital to do it, I would.
 
I wrote for Miami Magazine for awhile, as well as several newspapers. I've sold the occasional article to various fishing magazines over the years, and the old Camera 35 magazine back in the 60's. About the only writing I'm doing now is here and on my blog.
 
I would love to see a magazine that concentrates on traditional methods and traditional cameras. One that has a strong film orientation without being too artsy-f*rtsy or too goth/punk or too lo-fi.

You wonder why there are a gazillion DSLR mags and no RF mags? Selling DSLRs is a hot business, and it's really the advertisers who pay the bills for publishing a magazine! RFs and film SLRs and film and even medium/large format film is really not that big a market anymore.

I would love to see JPG come back. Unfortunately they are gonna have to go more (gag) "mainstream" in order to attract the advertising $$$ to allow them to do a print magazine of that scale.

Oh well ...
 
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35mmdelux said:
Hardcopy magazines are a thing of the 20th century. A new initiative must be web related.
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I was just about to post the same comment. You can include newspapers too, they're closing every week, a few are losing $1Million per week. Most people get their news from the web nowadays.
 
35mmdelux said:
Hardcopy magazines are a thing of the 20th century. A new initiative must be web related.
Click to expand...

Well with all the respect I dont believe in this. Nothing can replace the real magazine or newspaper. So why still people go to bookshops and read magazines and books all day long?

Every weekend I go to and I see only DSLR/Photoshop magazines, 10s of them...No rangefinder magazines, why?

It is not a digital age problem. There are digital rangefinders too...

This site is perfect but for people who knows what they are looking for. People dont know what rangefinder is wouldnt come to that site right?

My only point is to make the rangefinder more known and popular. And the best way is to create a magazine that would be seen in the shelves of the bookstores, in front of eyes, in the real world, not somewhere in wwws or forums with black backgrounds...
 
I come to the computer for chatter. I like to see, find and share pictures in the real world, and I love a good magazine- but those are rare as hens teeth.
 
My other obsession is bicycles, particularly vintage and modern hand-made bicycles for touring and camping. A close friend is eeking out a living by publishing the best bicycle rag at the moment... Bicycle Quarterly.

I would love to see a similar magazine for rangefinder cameras. I know the details of his operation pretty well. Hard work, long hours, and low pay, but would be possible by someone with the needed resources.

And, yes, I much prefer a magazine to a computer screen.
 
Bicycle Quarterly looks great! In Japan they have magazines like Camera Life (I think that's what it's called anyway) which are really well produced and roughly the same price as regular camera magazines. And even the regular camera magazines feature the non-DSLR end of photography extensively.

It's a pity we don't have anything like that in the west.
 
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