Building interest = rising prices

[tunalegs]

I interviewed a young guy wanting a photo assistant job. He suggested I fire my current assistant of many years and hire him.. because he deserved a chance. Another recent photo school grad suggested I retire because people like me were getting all the work. One kid visiting (my studio mate teaches) saw me pull a board on a MAC that was teathered to a camera to reseat it. He asked how I learned to do that. I told him I read books. He said, It wasn't fair that I knew this stuff and that I was not working in an equal playing field.

They all may have been unreasonable (or perhaps just sarcastic) - but were any of them wrong? :angel:

I've just now noticed again that ebay sold listings show the initial BIN asking price even if the item has been sold for a lower offer (on these listings that accept offers). Pretty outrageous, as that makes checking price levels pretty pointless. In case someone is looking at ltm Steinheil Culminar 85/2.8s, no, the one that just today in Germany didn't go for 180€. Slightly over half.

I've noticed this too, because I often use the best offer feature.
Related to funny ebay prices, recently a seller listed a Pilot 6 SLR for $240. I made them a best offer of $50 and explained that my offer was based on observed sale prices. They replied back that their camera was "rare" and "nobody else has one" and rejected my offer. A couple weeks passed and the camera reappeared listed for $50. Nobody bid. I guess my low offer was still too high for most people.

 

[mani]

I'm about as hipster as they come. Beard? Check. Uses old cameras? Check. Drinks craft beer? Check. And I only started photography/collecting cameras about 5 years ago.

I didn't start this thread as a resentful, bitter clique member, if anything I'm part of the young crowd that are driving prices up.

All I was doing was raising a point. Not even an interesting one. Chill your beans, you sound more like a grumpy old man than anyone else on this thread.

Hey man - I have the beard and the craft beers too. And I also got into film photography around 5 years ago. What made you think I was talking about you?

Anyways, this thread has run its normal RFF negative course. I'm happy today cuz I had to stand in line dropping off a couple rolls at my local pro lab at lunchtime. Only time I like a queue. Everyone else in the line was 20 years old, max. Film has got a great future. I'll bow out and let some of the old-timers here have the last word cuz I know that's really important to them... 🙂

 

[Spider67]

Hi Mani,
Is it necessary to make a partially valid Point and create a chasm between Generations....old timers,old guard etc.? Nobody stays young forever. Yes Age can make a Person bitter and the truism of "When we were Young...." will always exist. But why blame a Group of People simply because of their Age?
I think Lomography did a great Job getting People interested in film phozography. The People on their site write also about cameras that are not sold by LOMO. Lets not Forget they still produce film cameras and reintroduce new Versions of classic lenses.
I hope that some other manufacturer will produce an affordable Quality camera for about 300-400 € (...I am allowed to dream) or that Voigtländer could reissue something like the Bessa R again (still dreaming). At least I hope that there will be more places who repair Cameras.
I will be fifty this year,I have beard and enjoy lending my gear to People who are interested......I must admit now that I feel old Age creeping up on me I asked myself will I start to berate younger People one day?

 

[Roger Hicks]

. . . I must admit now that I feel old Age creeping up on me I asked myself will I start to berate younger People one day?

Not unless one of you is stupid. "Divide and rule" is a favourite trick among those who want to... um... rule. Or to try to look clever and pretend they have the right to rule.

Age really isn't all that relevant to logical thought, or necessarily to knowledge. It may relate to experience, but equally there's the old question of whether someone has lived through 50 years, each with its own new experiences, hopes and fears, or through 2600 substantially identical weeks.

Several of the cleverest and most knowledgeable people I know are under 40 or even under 30, and some of the stupidest and most ignorant are over 50 or even 40; and the exact opposite is also true.

Cheers,

R.

 

[tunalegs]

It's been my experience that they are never wrong. I've learned to keep my distance from them. My friend has one from an earlier class as his assistant. He's a really good guy and quite talented. He has many stories of class mates and their odd behavior. The few class mate friends he's brought around are really nice kids. I wouldn't have a problem with any of them. But, he (and the photo department head) says they are just a handful among a class of 80 entitled brats.

That handful are just humoring you old farts. 🙂

 

[nickthetasmaniac]

You should have a peruse of Gumtree, there is a steady stream of people who really don't know what they're selling, and quite often in the wrong categories.

That works both ways... I've seen workhorse 35mm cameras like a K1000 and 50/f2 being advertised on Gumtree for $500aud, described as 'vintage' by people who clearly have no idea what they're worth.

 

[Chubberino]

meh, prices fluctuate. welcome to the free market fogies.

 

[Ranchu]

It was your fellow snotnose mani doing most of the crying, actually. Now that he's done doing that, he's going to go wait in a line somewhere and giggle about it apparently. I approve.

Prices are cheaper, and cameras more available than they've ever been. I have no problem with that.

🙂

https://twitter.com/tonybonesarelli/status/856970701714149378

 

[HHPhoto]

Hi Jan;

...........
Maybe your experience is different?

pkr

Hi,

with my comments concerning the "film is dead" people I have been referring to those here on rff.
Not to those in real life.
There is (often a quite big) difference between people in forums and in real life 😉.

What do I see in real life? The following:
- More photographers are open minded concerning film again
- We have 2017: Not only that film is still there, but even new manufacturers and films are on the market again, so photographers realize the "film is dead" campaign was just a marketing lie by the digital industry to sell more expensive digital gear.
- Quite a lot of middle aged people (35-55) are coming back to film: some to 100%, but most are using film and digital.
- In this group of middle aged enthusiast photographers there is a kind of "digital fatigue": They have seen that they have spent thousands of Euros for digital gear, but their pictures are not principally better now compared to film times, and they have not more fun compared to film times.
And they have realised how extremely expensive digital imaging is if you follow the industry and digital media with their agenda and pressure "you have to upgrade every three years".....
- Lots of those coming back to film have to work in front of a computer screen the whole day at their job: So in their leisure time they want to get away from the computer, they don't want to be "computer slaves" which also have to spent their rare leisure time in front of computer screens. Film photography instead of digital imaging is offering exactly that: Loading film in your camera, having real, physical pictures in your hands, viewing brillant slides on a light box and in projection, self-developing of film, making your own prints in your darkroom: Being a craftsman and artisan again.
- More and more younger photographers from the "digital native generation" are discovering film: Digital is normality for them, therefore also a little 'boring'. Film is different, exciting, a whole new experience for them.
- And in general more and more photographers realize that digital and film are very different, with their own special characteristics: Like beer and vine, or a synthesizer and a violin or a concert piano.
One cannot replace the other and vice versa.
Both are needed for a good future of photography.

That is my experience from my talks to lots of other photographers at photographer meetings, at Photokina, from my talks with labs, camera repair men and distributors.

Cheers, Jan

 

[Roger Hicks]

. . . . local photo beer network. When having a beer with a local photographer, (we all know each other) we trade assistant stories and recommend the good ones to each other. I don't think the photo kiddies are going to crack that system. . . .

One huge problem encountered by some (not me thank g..) is the photo kiddies love taking phone photos of the sets and products (maybe a selfie in front of the set) and posting them to social media in order to gain photo cred with their peers. Some are posted before the shoot is finished. No thanks.. Those people never work again in this hood. They are told not to do it and sneak it. Once the client sees it, the photographer looses a client (and may face a lawsuit) and the assistant finds work in a coffee shop. But, they are really cool man.. They tried working for the man and it was bogus..dude..

Extract 1: works with wine too! The studio where I started as an assistant in the 70s had one of the first infinity coves (fully radiused corners) so a LOT of photographers hired it and of course they came with/needed assistants. All right, in London we didn't all know each other, but it was rare that you had to go beyond a friend-of-a-friend to get a reliable opinion.

Final para: Aaaargh!

Cheers,

R.

 

[Arbitrarium]

Lots of those coming back to film have to work in front of a computer screen the whole day at their job: So in their leisure time they want to get away from the computer, they don't want to be "computer slaves" which also have to spent their rare leisure time in front of computer screens.

This is a big reason photography has become my main hobby. I used to mainly do digital painting and make music on my computer as a creative outlet, but now I work in an office all week I spend as much free time as I can going on walks with a camera to get away from screens.