Philippines Filipino RF users!!!

[eddie con]

JAY,
please give me contact no of rational.
and my oldest filipiniana 78 was pressed may 1913 of a blind visayan tenor dondoy singing "jarana". it is an okeh phonograph recording. no lead groove, no lead out groove for the needle but has two sides. shiny shellac still but not that clean sounding. and very rough singing, he and, sometimes, the back-up orchestra go out of tune, giving it a lot of character.

 

[ZorkiKat]

JAY,
please give me contact no of rational.
and my oldest filipiniana 78 was pressed may 1913 of a blind visayan tenor dondoy singing "jarana". it is an okeh phonograph recording. no lead groove, no lead out groove for the needle but has two sides. shiny shellac still but not that clean sounding. and very rough singing, he and, sometimes, the back-up orchestra go out of tune, giving it a lot of character.

Hi Eddie

I'll look for their number. The last time I went to their store, they still have several Paterson type adjustable reels. These reels are OK for 35mm, but a PIA for 120. They may still have some double tanks left.

I have Marlene D on cd and got a DVD of "Die Blaue Engel". Interesting to watch, since it is an early sound feature- camera gets immobile in the talking scenes; all the scenes where there is a lot of movement is silent. Also interesting to note the 'mixing' technique then- the orchestral score was recorded live with the dialogue. Fade unders achieved by placing the orchestra in a different, off-camera stage, draped with heavy curtains! 😀 You should see her sing "Ich bin die fesche Lola" or "falling in love again" in that movie. Also interesting, is that she, a German played an American goodtime girl...

My oldest 78 filipiniana features soprano Isabel Llewelyn on one side ("Maawa Ka", sung classically, arranged with a bit of tango in the middle), and Jose Mosesgeld Santiago ("Isang Gabing Mapanglao", also sung in classic style) on the other. Record is a bit cracked, but plays clean, without the hisses typical of shellac recordings.

Jay

 

[retrocam]

@ Nick: Hey there! Welcome to the Group! You'd like it here. So, feel free to convert, este, invite your lomo-toting friends...😀

@ Jay: Glad you liked the dip pen. 😀 I still have my fountain pens but I gave up using them. I'm left-handed so you can just imagine my pathetic handwriting...😛 I would like to listen to your 78's as well.

@ Pinoy RF'ers: Katuwa naman ang grupo natin. So apparently we like the way things were..when they were made with better care. 😎

I have a couple of old jazz/blues CDs naman...Louis Armstrong, Ella Fitzgerald. It's been a while though since I kept up with my old jazz/blues music. I don't have Marlene D's CD but I like her rendition of "When have all the flowers gone...", I forgot the title. The German version sounds good to. I think I saw her sing it in a docu in AMC TV. Then, I have some copies of old movies too - Hepburn, Bogart. I'd only buy a DVD if it's $6 or less at Target. Or kapag maganda yung collection, sa Costco naman. 😀

I have been looking into this bike for some time now. Maybe someday. 🙂
http://www.sundancecatalog.com/shopping/product/detailmain.jsp?itemType=PRODUCT&iProductID=8853

I.T. consultant ako pero after-office hours, anti-tech na. So go figure. 😀 And with a compulsive behavior like mine, it only makes sense that I stay
away from the evil bay. :bang:

BTW, in the party, please discuss which BW films you'd like. I need to know the top two aside from the Efke 25 and Lucky Pan. 🙂

Lastly, I got another Contax IIA, with Black Dial naman. 😀 I think I pressed on the focusing metal thing too hard while playing with it. The focusing wheel rotates but the metal thing behind it is jammed now. Need to have it fixed....🙁

Well, have great day...talk to you later...

 

[nickvesq]

Thanks for the welcome, guys.

Annie and Jay, I use a fountain pen (but not the dipping kind). Comes with the territory (I'm a lawyer). And I'm left handed.

What's the diff between shellac and vinyl and their players? I have several Frank Sinatra LPs, Bill Evans' Sunday at the Village Vanguard and Explorations, and an assortment of LPs my dad purchased during the 60s and 70s. I have been looking for classical filipino LPs. Where is Rational? Does it sell these kinds of LPs? I've tried buying from online stores and my experience is that they still come out cheaper than the ones being sold at Montage. My Bill Evans' LPs were even rated mint condition.

I have my wife partly to thank for my "retro" interest. I've loved photography ever since but she was the one who brought up going back to film, more particularly black and white. She was also the one who gifted me with a turntable, knowing that I had a lot of LPs lying around in my parents' house.

 

[ZorkiKat]

Thanks for the welcome, guys.

Annie and Jay, I use a fountain pen (but not the dipping kind). Comes with the territory (I'm a lawyer). And I'm left handed.

What's the diff between shellac and vinyl and their players? I have several Frank Sinatra LPs, Bill Evans' Sunday at the Village Vanguard and Explorations, and an assortment of LPs my dad purchased during the 60s and 70s. I have been looking for classical filipino LPs. Where is Rational? Does it sell these kinds of LPs? I've tried buying from online stores and my experience is that they still come out cheaper than the ones being sold at Montage. My Bill Evans' LPs were even rated mint condition.

I have my wife partly to thank for my "retro" interest. I've loved photography ever since but she was the one who brought up going back to film, more particularly black and white. She was also the one who gifted me with a turntable, knowing that I had a lot of LPs lying around in my parents' house.

Nick:

Years ago, in college, I was using both fountain pens and rangefinder Leicas. Everyone was wondering why I stuck to the old stuff..one prof even asked, 'gumagamit ka pa ng tinta?' Years later, I felt vindicated when both pen and RF resurged 😀

Vinyl and shellacs refer to the material used for the records. Shellacs (actually mostly clay and shellac used as binder) were used for 78s. They were hard and breakable. The material had to be hard since the old acoustic gramophones had heavy pickups ('soundboxes) which used thick steel needles- parang pako. The practice went on long after electrically amplified phonographs came along. Thus all the early 78s were breakable. All 78s can be played on modern players with lightweight pickups, but the stylus/needle has to be thicker. The acoustic players will chew even the later 78s since these were pressed on softer material.

Vinyl records (LPs and 45s ) are made from softer, thinner, non breakable material. These will not play in the old acoustic players for two reasons- one the pickup will destroy them, and second, the old gramophones ran only in one speed, 78 rpm (though actual playing speed can be shifted from 60 to 90 rpm).
The vinyls also require smaller diameter styli because they had smaller grooves.

Rational is a seller of photographic goods- mostly darkroom. In its day, it had Ilford film and paper and lots of good quality fibre based paper from China. They also carried a lot of darkroom gear like Meopta and LPL enlargers, colour processors, chemicals (they had their own brand), and processing equipment like tanks and reels. They carried the "daylite" brand studio flash -quite good, mine is almost 15 years old and still work. Now they have mostly Chinese-made studio flash (not too good, their ICs burn too quickly) and some old stocks of Paterson or Paterson-type darkroom sundries.

Jay

 

[nickvesq]

"Years ago, in college, I was using both fountain pens and rangefinder Leicas. Everyone was wondering why I stuck to the old stuff..one prof even asked, 'gumagamit ka pa ng tinta?' Years later, I felt vindicated when both pen and RF resurged 😀"

Reminds me of my honeymoon. We were in a venue with a bunch of other tourists. Several japanese were staring and/or pointing at my Nikon SLR and smiling, parang "nakyukyutan". My wife and I were wondering why. Then we looked around. All of the people had compact digital cameras, ako lang ang naka film SLR. 😱 So the next time I was out of the country, I bought a compact digital camera. he he he 😱 Now I want to go back to my roots.

Thanks for the info on the shellac/vinyl distinction. You learn something new every day. I think I know how the shellac players look like. Those are the big boxes with big flower shaped speakers attached, right?

I thought the mention of Rational was part of the discussion of analog music. Sorry. :bang:

Ang tagal dumating ng canonet at BW films ko!

 

[wamjam]

vinyls are made of, believe it or not, real vines!...hence the term 'vinyl'. saw it on sesame street more than a score ago.

i guess the questions "why are you still using film? and why still LP's?" will forever be asked in our case.

i was even asked once, "if your still into film, why a rangefinder and not a SLR?...your camera doesn't even have a meter." i'm sure jay can relate to this. 😀

heck! a few months back, i was actually looking at my budget to get a volkswagen kombi! well, i'm still saving up for that. ganda nun noh? driving a kombi, tapos pagbaba mo, may nakasukbit na rangefinder sa neck mo!....lakas ng dating!

naudlot yung vespa ko eh...my partner doesn't want me driving a 2-wheeler🙁

 

[eddie con]

wam,
kombi, vespa ... for a while there earlier in the thread, i thought you won't be able to connect with the discussion on 78s and LPs. you have an old soul, man! btw, mong alcaraz is a son of friends. i know him too personally. do you belong to same genre/band? he is with chicosci (tama ba spelling?) and sandwich. i occasionally listen to my CD of sandwich, radioactive sago and late isabel. they are excellent musicians. but i have to admit that i won't last longer than an hour listening to them.

nick,
i hope you can join us on the 29th. it looks like it is going to be a long night of listening to music (c/o jay's collection), discussing the merits of film and fountain pens and analogue music, and rangefinders ... and, by the way, the photo exhibit.

jay,
i will appreciate it if you can get the contact number. thanks.

annie,
that's a nice leisure bike. i do biking too. most of the time, road bike. occasionally, the mountain bike.

 

[wamjam]

hi ed...thanks for the compliment.

i dont know mong personally. sandwich, i know the rest of the members. radioactive, freinds of mine...jammed with them on some ocassions. late isabel, i only know wawi, the vocalist who is also a great photographer.

my former bands are Brownbeat Allstars and Indio I. both with reggae backbone, but with brownbeat, neo swing and the old swing and latin beats are more evident. we (Brownbeat and Radioactive) were under the same record label=Viva records.

the 'rock' music industry here is small. bands would be playing together in big events such as mtv summit, NU rock awards, and most especially, the 1 week celebration of UP fair!...etc. great photo ops!

i'm not much into pens but i collect vinyls, and drum & percussion instruments. and now i'm trying to start my camera collection. i would also love to collect rare zippo lighters and in the future, hi-end vintage watches and paintings...i would love to get the original painting of The Annunciation by mati klarwein...this was used on the cover of Santana's Abraxas album.

hahaha! i somehow veered away from our original vintage/retro topic but managed to take it back to LP's again.😛 😀 😛

 

[nickvesq]

eddie and the rest, thanks for inviting me to the party on the 29th but I'm sorry I won't be able to go; will just be arriving that day from abroad; besides, I'm such a greenhorn sa RF wala akong macocontribute sa discussion 🙁 ha ha

wam, I've been trying to get info on a pinoy reggae song I used to hear on NU; the one that has a line that says "kailan ko pa ba sasabihin sa yo" or something like that; Would you know who the band is and what the title of the song is? BTW, I also have the Abraxas LP. You wouldn't believe it but that was one of my dad's LPs.

just an idea: when you get your combi, how about doing a Philippine tour ala Ken Kesey and the Merry Pranksters? Only this time, it's a photographic journey 😕

 

[wamjam]

sayang nick...but you're still welcome to drop by.

does the song say 'di mo lang alam' on the chorus?

 

[eddie con]

eddie and the rest, thanks for inviting me to the party on the 29th but I'm sorry I won't be able to go; will just be arriving that day from abroad; besides, I'm such a greenhorn sa RF wala akong macocontribute sa discussion 🙁 ha ha

wam, I've been trying to get info on a pinoy reggae song I used to hear on NU; the one that has a line that says "kailan ko pa ba sasabihin sa yo" or something like that; Would you know who the band is and what the title of the song is? BTW, I also have the Abraxas LP. You wouldn't believe it but that was one of my dad's LPs.
😕

i am just one page ahead of you, nick. so i am going to listen to the guru (even on shellacs and vinyl) jay. and have some fun. that abraxas album is a classic -- from cover to content. i have one too stashed in my library. i just forgot which section i put it in. was it rock? or classical? 😀

 

[wamjam]

i am just one page ahead of you, nick. so i am going to listen to the guru (even on shellacs and vinyl) jay. and have some fun. that abraxas album is a classic -- from cover to content. i have one too stashed in my library. i just forgot which section i put it in. was it rock? or classical? 😀

it's should be under "classic rock" hahahahaha!!!!

 

[retrocam]

Type nyo pala si Santana, ha. I like some of his tunes too - Oye Como Va, Black Magic Woman and Game of Love. 🙂

Wam, our first car (back in Manila) was a White late 60's Beetle. Yun ba ang type mo? Like Eddie says, you've got an old soul. In the 80's we had it painted metallic blue and christened it Blue Thunder. Kasi, akala ng mga tao, helicopter yung dala namin. 😀 We sold it eventually. Then, in a hobby store in Pinas, I found a model of a White late 60s Beetle. Feeling nostalgic, I bought it. I brought it with me when I migrated but I haven't had the time build it yet. 😱
Eddie, it's hard not to like biking here in Colorado. But I haven't tried the trails yet - yun lang open space malapit dito sa 'min na madali i-bike.

So, going back to photography...I was shooting pics with my old 500 C/M in the park nung autumn. Teens and their pop were passing by. While I was winding it, one of the kids remarked, "How crude!". Then his pop pulled him aside and said, "That is a real camera". 😀

 

[eddie con]

So, going back to photography...I was shooting pics with my old 500 C/M in the park nung autumn. Teens and their pop were passing by. While I was winding it, one of the kids remarked, "How crude!". Then his pop pulled him aside and said, "That is a real camera". 😀

the 500 c/m kit was selling for hk$20k in hk. that's US$2500! i did not bother to check what lens it went with. it was way beyond my budget. but it looked quite gorgeously mint. i was looking at other cameras. a brand new MP was selling for HK$26,900 ($3500) and the M7 for HK$33,300 ($4285). tai gui le! (mandarin for expensive). but they were cantonese so they ignored me. and i had to leave the counter because i was messing it up with my drool. anyway, i am just glad my RD1s is serving me well.

 

[nickvesq]

Where will the party be held anyway?

Wam, sorry I don't remember the other lyrics. All I know is that I like the melody and the fact that it was a pinoy reggae song. First heard it in 2001 I think when I was in Boracay then on NU (or was it the other way around?)

Eddie, any tips on good photo stores in the Kowloon area? Will be bringing my family to HK after Christmas. I already got the clearance of my Budget Secretary/love of my life that I can buy a digital SLR. Entry level lang muna. Masyadong masakit kung mag M8 or RD1s agad. I'm looking at either the Nikon D40 or the Pentax K100D but leaning toward the latter.

 

[wamjam]

party will be a jay's studio.

nick, if that's the case, that's Indio i! i wasn't part of the recording...during that time, i was part of the band management team. that song is actually almost, if not 10 years old already. 😀

 

[eddie con]

Eddie, any tips on good photo stores in the Kowloon area? Will be bringing my family to HK after Christmas. I already got the clearance of my Budget Secretary/love of my life that I can buy a digital SLR. Entry level lang muna. Masyadong masakit kung mag M8 or RD1s agad. I'm looking at either the Nikon D40 or the Pentax K100D but leaning toward the latter.

i only know one place who has been in business for 30 years now and is very fond of pinoys. suki na siya ng mga pinoy. i find him to be very honest. that is tony leung of new sankyo camera shop along mody road at tsim sha tsui area, kowloon. i will get the address and contact nos. when i reach home. my friend just bought a nikon d40 from him on the day i left. i will get price details from her. tin cheung is another. that is where i got my rds1. their prices are reasonable and i find them both reliable.

 

[ZorkiKat]

Aba, isa pang common ground- VWs! I also like Beetles and Kombis. I was given the chance to buy (mura lang) Wig Tysman's modified Kombi. It's an American Kombi with a split windscreen, modified to suit photographic needs (read: converted to a pickup, sized just right for lightstands, background papers, etc)...but I let it go. Sayang. Still regret it to this day. Beetles are like Leicas- they can go on forever. Remember those old ads? 😀 In fact in long road trips, I sometimes pass the time by counting the Beetles I see on the road. 😀

I don't have any Hassies, but I do have its Soviet clone, the Kiev-88. It's no longer being used now. It was temperamental and prone to break. Halos kumpleto lenses ko for it-, even a 30mm fisheye.

Nick: you might be better off purchasing your DSLR here. If you get them here, at least, you won't have servicing problems. The local reps of those brands here won't honour warranties, or at least won't prioritise cameras sent for servicing if these were bought outside the country. Canon provide the best after-sales service. Nikon (thanks to Columbia) has the worst. Columbia will even make you feel that you owe it to them that you were able to get a Nikon-
sakit ng ulo magpagawa sa kanila. Pentax's prime point is its larger viewfinder and mount-adapting flexibility. They have M42 lens adapters and their electronic focus indicators would work with adapted manual lenses, be they M42 or the traditional MF K lenses.

Annie: crude cameras? Hehehe. You should hear the comments of some of the kids (uy, matanda na pala tayo? hehehe) about B&W. I've actually heard them say that it's boring, if not outright pangit... Wala raw kasi kulay. hehehe

Jay

Jay

 

[wamjam]

wow jay!!!! sayang you let go of the kombi!!!!
i and my brother used to go hide n seek and used my uncle's beatle...hiding in the front trunk of course 😀
jay, you want another kombi? someone emailed me from volkswagen club of the philippines. no price, just his number in case i'm interested.