'stealth machine' - now 'attention seeker'!

Dave Wilkinson

Dave Wilkinson

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Yesterday on my regular weekly visit to the ancient city of York, I travelled light - no Billingham with bodies and lenses, just my Leica 111, from 1939 and slightly older than myself!, with a collapsible lens on, it lies under my zipped jacket unnoticed. The sun came out, and the old Leica - and I strolled around among the many tourists seeking interesting subjects. Well that old camera became a 'magnet', and conversation piece! - attracting remarks and long glances from the visitors. I had a pleasant conversation with a young man from the far east who was actually toting a Hasselblad and separate meter! - the only other film camera that I saw all day. While walking along the walls, one elderly Scottish gent with a DSLR and massive zoom remarked - "now - there's a camera that makes you think! - I wish I could be bothered".
So it looks like - if I'm in a solitary or unsociable mood, the old Barnack will need a disguise!.....I wonder if anyone makes a black plastic casing? :D
Dave.
 
Little as that Barnack is it's like the 'Tardus' Dave ... it opens up an enormous world of photography that dates back to the twenties!

Some people just see it and 'know!' :D
 
maybe a "stealth" housing made by hollowing out a Nikon D3 and 70-200 Zoom
noboby would bat an eye.
 
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If you go to York on a Wednesday, do you seek out Simon from Collectable Cameras on the market?

He's always willing to talk LTM, especially with potential customers!
 
john neal said:
If you go to York on a Wednesday, do you seek out Simon from Collectable Cameras on the market?

He's always willing to talk LTM, especially with potential customers!
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seek him out? - I'm his 'second Dad'! :D.....in fact I think I've paid for his house - over the years! LOL ;)
 
Ha That is funny. I love my voigtlander and I love that I can hide from dslr toting tourists. On the other hand I've found that weird looking cameras are great for candid portraits.
 
I was at a ball game today with a DSLR and a Bazooka lens, talk about ultimate non stealth. on the other hand, this morning on the El train, I was relatively stealthy with a Nikon S2. Yin and Yang
 
Dave Wilkinson said:
seek him out? - I'm his 'second Dad'! :D.....in fact I think I've paid for his house - over the years! LOL ;)
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If we hadn't left York a couple of years ago, I think I would have put his kids through uni :eek: It was always a struggle to get back to the office on a Wednesday afternoon - even worse getting the "parcel" past the wife ;)
 
patois said:
Ha That is funny. I love my voigtlander and I love that I can hide from dslr toting tourists. On the other hand I've found that weird looking cameras are great for candid portraits.
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When I go on the street with a Horizon panorama camera, people do look, but often don't seem to realize it's a camera at all; you don't see a lens ...

If you put it on a tripod in the middle of a shopping street (only pedestrians), everybody would think you are using some kind of device for measuring buildings or a height-difference, like architects or a land-surveyor (does that last word exist; got it from systransoft ... ?).

Stefan.
 
robsomogyi said:
I get similar attention for my Rolleiflex, and do enjoy it. ;)
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Last week I was walking around a really nice part of the city when a VERY beautiful girl asked about my Zeiss Contaflex. We had a short conversation, but I reminded myself of the fact that I had a GF (and only for a week before that) so I said goodbye and left.

:bang:

Well, if my girl gets tired of my addiction to photography and dumps me, I'll be using the Contaflex a lot. :p
 
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