I think it would be a Pentax 645 digital... but yeah, you are right. I was half joking.
daveleo
what?
I'm going to side with some others above . . . the film process may be wonderful for you, but digital is horribly simple. The hardest part of digital is learning how to turn off all those features you paid for 
Calzone
Gear Whore #1
My 2004 Mac needs to be upgraded. LOL. Even word runs slow, and it seems like it takes about 10 minutes to boot up.
For the price of a M9M I have been lurking in the Pentax Forums to glean info on the 645D. The rare 75/2.8 AL that I currently own for the P67II is suppose to be a killer lens on the 645D with an adapter but these guys are landscape nuts. They kinda whine about not having F32 and F45 on some of the Pentax glass, but when I look over some of my gear I see that the Plaubel and the Fuji's go there. Hmmm.
Anyways my girlfriend once offered to buy me a M9 when they first came out. That morphed into a more current offer that she would contribute to help me buy a M9M if I want one. The M9M is a crazy camera, but even crazier is that its accually a great camera that almost seems like Leica especially built and designed for me.
Right now she is kind of annoyed with me because I had one of my negatives printed 18x18 and had museum framing performed. Now she stresses that she wants more prints and for me to build a printed portfolio of large prints, but she kinda draws the line that I can't print in our small one bedroom apartment. Anyways I'd kinda be limited to only printing 11x14's I figure in a one bedroom.
Also she has become a big fan of medium format. Took Maggie to the Leica Gallery Saturday and she kinda dissed the work of Central Park that was shot in 35mm, but she also recognized the three Bruce Davidson prints that were part of the group show because of their contrast.
In the meantime somehow I tried to cull down what John calls my "Camera Museum," but ended up with some new cameras anyways. Then there's the freezer full of film, and the refrigerator door full of more film that's for more immediate shooting and that needs to be processed.
So now Maggie is showing me a loft in Yonkers that's cheaper than out current rent that has 20 foot ceilings and is a converted building that use to be a trolley depot close to the Hudson River. I take notice that it has two bathrooms so I could wet print again and print big, but then I'd have to commute to Madhattan and Metro North would be about $250.00 a month for each of us.
Hmmm. If I really annoy my girlfriend further I might end up with a nice Ebony and go LF. Meantime, I'm holding out for the real crazy camera. Moral of the story is sometimes its good to be annoying like me. I know I drive myself crazy at times, but this craziness seems to wear off onto other people at times, and I know I can make my girlfriend crazy. Now she's constantly stressing that I should concentrate on MF and move away from 35mm.
Cal
Calzone
Gear Whore #1
This just came up in the "Photos from the Gallery" section of the site:
I see the F3 non HP that I no longer own with Noct-Nikkor and MD-4 motordrive. Funny thing is that my fully rigged Son Of Godzilla is only about a pound heavier.
Still got a Nikon F3P though to mount that Noct-Nikkor. What an evil camera, especially with the hand strap.
Cal
Cal
Particular
a.k.a. CNNY, disassembler
Perhaps Leica can do a 'M9C' (Calzone) special edition in Titanium with extra battery compartments and grip, to flesh it out a bit.
The problem I have with digital is that I often forget to charge the batteries. I'm envisioning a rapidwinder with a dynamo to top up the battery on an M9.
I would definitely look into renting a darkroom before moving to Yonkers. Some even let you rent a scanner (god forbid).
My offer to have a go with my Technika 4x5 still stands. I think the speed and volume you can achieve with MF probably suits your style more though. I somehow can't imagine you getting on with a wooden camera like the ebony. You know, it would be a camera, but made out of wood.
I just found some old boxes of unopened APX100 4x5, as well as a stash of bulk rolled technical pan, so I may be doing a bit of black and white soon.
The problem I have with digital is that I often forget to charge the batteries. I'm envisioning a rapidwinder with a dynamo to top up the battery on an M9.
I would definitely look into renting a darkroom before moving to Yonkers. Some even let you rent a scanner (god forbid).
My offer to have a go with my Technika 4x5 still stands. I think the speed and volume you can achieve with MF probably suits your style more though. I somehow can't imagine you getting on with a wooden camera like the ebony. You know, it would be a camera, but made out of wood.
I just found some old boxes of unopened APX100 4x5, as well as a stash of bulk rolled technical pan, so I may be doing a bit of black and white soon.
Calzone
Gear Whore #1
Christian,
I still have a bad Linhof fetish. Can't help but love German cameras, even cameras that were once made in Germany through association like the Plaubel.
I'm thinking if I go large format why not go 8x10. From the results from my negatives I'm seeing 4x5 might not be big enough of a jump, but then again seeing Joel Meyerwitz's work done at Ground Zero in his book "Aftermath." and seeing his technical skill performed in 4 foot by 5 foot prints is rather humbling.
Anyways I attempt to get large format quality on even my 35mm shooting, but there are some physical limits to where that can go. In 120 I can take it a lot further. Your analogy of 35mm for sketching and larger formats for painting was taken to heart. Not sure if I'll ever get to Large format though, although I admire all those qualities.
When it basically comes down to it shooting film, the whole process has become a lifestyle for me, where I need it to live or feel alive, and somehow I live in those moments trying to capture something very fleeting. That's one of the reasons why I shoot so much film.
I looked into some of those public darkrooms, but I share the same feelings with public darkrooms that I have for public restrooms; and I know I would only go when I have to.
I met a large format shooter who kinda does what I do: he just makes negatives, but he also contact prints. A 8x10 Linhoff I could see in the future, but "Woman Factor" could be a problem, especially since my one bedroom apartment isn't so big and its already crowded with cameras.
Cal
Calzone
Gear Whore #1
The M9M to me is a very elegant camera for someone like me who almost always shoots B&W. You also know me enough that I'm too much of a slacker to scan.
I was trying to find this out of print book on making digital negatives. I wanted to figure out the possibility of making large enough digital negatives to contact print.
Anyways if I go digital there has to be a good slacker spin to it. It may be crazy but I have my reputation to uphold. Also you guys wouldn't have things to make fun of me if I didn't do something odd or crazy.
Cal
Cal's next camera!
Calzone
Gear Whore #1
Cal's next camera!
In art school we had a camera that size built into a cinder block wall. On the other side of the wall was effectively an empty room that was a darkroom. It was a graphics camera that we used to make photo silkscreens and photo etchings. I actually used a camera like that and have fond memories of art school.
Perhaps going to art school is the source of many of my problems. LOL.
Cal
Particular
a.k.a. CNNY, disassembler
I'm sure your landlord will understand if you make a hole in your bathroom wall and mount a process lens in it.
Calzone
Gear Whore #1
That's one way to get kicked out of a luxury rent stabilized apartment. Imagine the shame of getting kicked out of East Harlem.
Cal
Particular
a.k.a. CNNY, disassembler
I actually have a bunch of 300mm process lenses in a box somewhere. They were probably from a photocopier. They don't have adjustable apertures or anything, just the glass. One is a Zeiss Tessar, the others are unbranded. I have been trying to come up with a use for them. My best idea so far is to build a fixed focus 1:1 11x14 portrait camera. You would basically always shoot wide open, perhaps on paper negatives, or direct positive paper. The exposures in sunlight would be around 1/4 second or a little longer, which you can guestimate with a lens cap. You would have a string or a rod to measure the correct focus point (600mm/2ft) and a simple frame finder. I think the simpler it would be the better. It could also reuse an old suitcase as a box, and it would become a kind of giant SX-70.
As I am writing this I am thinking 'not another camera project that isn't happening any time soon'.
As I am writing this I am thinking 'not another camera project that isn't happening any time soon'.
timor
Well-known
Cal's next camera!
Or maybe this ? A bit more portable.
http://www.treehugger.com/gadgets/german-garbagemen-transform-dumpsters-cameras.html
Particular
a.k.a. CNNY, disassembler
Cal's next camera!
Or maybe this ? A bit more portable.
http://www.treehugger.com/gadgets/german-garbagemen-transform-dumpsters-cameras.html
Cool, I want one.
Or maybe this ? A bit more portable.
http://www.treehugger.com/gadgets/german-garbagemen-transform-dumpsters-cameras.html
No way, way too budget for Cal.
timor
Well-known
I don't know...he will need a solid pick-up truck to carry it around, that will up the cost. Or wait, maybe make one right from the panel van ! Could be at the same time a darkroom for developing those shots.Calzone
Gear Whore #1
Had the perfect vehicle: a 1984 Jeep Scrambler with a half cab, a 350 horsepower 400 foot pound Corvette engine, Ford 9 inch rear with Lincoln Continental disc brakes. It even featured a 200 pound cast iron Dodge truck transmission. My friends thought I would definately get killed driving this Jeep because it was so fast. Once I beat a SVO Mustang in a drag race. Boy was that driver pissed. LOL.
Of course it was all jacked up and armoured. Basically I built my own version of a HumVee before they invented the HumVee. I called it an "Urban Assalt Vehical." Under full aceleration it sounded like a Nascar on a staight away.
You gotta understand that I once worked in a Fortune 500 aerospace company that once was the fourth largest military contractor in the U.S. Basically somehow I got recruited into doing research because of my art background and because I was good at problem solving, but I kinda operated like a thug or a Navy SEAL to get the job done because I had a very powerful boss who acted like he was a Mafia Don.
Somehow I got an education in science that you couldn't get in grad school, and I got mentored one-on-one by Ph.D's.
Anyways when I got my Jeep its annual safety inspection the mechanic said, you must work at Grumman because he recognized all these aircraft parts that I used like Grade 8 AN hardware that was safety wired, welded extruded aluminum bumpers, braided aircraft hydrolic lines for fuel lines....
BTW somehow I was awarded "Inventor Of The Year" for the Space and Electronics Division at Grumman Aerospace for inventing a "3-D Binocular Optical Correlator" that I recieved a U.S. patent on.
Cal
Calzone
Gear Whore #1
John has me profiled well. He understands that I'm crazy about luxury products. Who else do you know that uses a Louie Vitton leather bag to carry his film in?
BTV my Louie can hold two Leicas rigged with Rapidwinders and Rapidgrips. Its definately the most comfortable bag I own.
Cal
Calzone
Gear Whore #1
Cal's next camera!
Or maybe this ? A bit more portable.
http://www.treehugger.com/gadgets/german-garbagemen-transform-dumpsters-cameras.html
Back in the seventies in art school I created a huge camera obscura by replacing the door of the graphics camera with a pinhole. I gave tours of my installation project.
Although technically not a pinhole camera I also added a simple lens to demonstration purposes.
Cal