Saw my first Sony RX1 Yesterday - A little rant

[f16sunshine]

I met one two days ago at the ballard locks. Looked smaller than I expected.

 

[back alley]

3k isn't THAT much these days. Say you earn $7 an hour after tax. 430 hours is a lot of time, but will a kid work longer for the camera of his/her dreams? Definitely.

I won't bet on it actually being paid for by the young lady, but even if it's a gift, an RX1 is much better than a Gucci handbag or designer sunglasses, at least it's a tool that requires innovation and experience on the user's side.




90 dollars in 1972 is over $500 in 2013 terms, inflation corrected. Probably worth more if weighted by other factors. Not RX1, but perhaps an RX100.

i wonder where i got the money? 😉

 

[Particular]

At least it wasn't a Leica M9.

I was walking around my block two days ago to finish up a roll in my rolleicord. I asked these three teens sitting on a stairs if I could take a picture. Afterwards I was complimented on the camera, and one of the boys mentioned that he had an M9. We chatted, and he ended up asking me advice on whether to buy a summilux or a noctilux.

That image seems crazy to me too, but in the end it is just a camera. As long as he is out taking pictures with it, it is being put to good use. It is worse at that age to feel that your camera is too precious to use.
If his parents have too much money, that money is going to be spent on something, it may as well go to a nice camera.

 

[raphaelaaron]

I was walking around my block two days ago to finish up a roll in my rolleicord. I asked these three teens sitting on a stairs if I could take a picture. Afterwards I was complimented on the camera, and one of the boys mentioned that he had an M9. We chatted, and he ended up asking me advice on whether to buy a summilux or a noctilux.

I like the fact that he asked your advice. I could just be looking into it way too much, but when I was younger the people I asked advice especially about lenses or something important like that I sought people who I thought had valuable advice. I'm glad to see he is getting into it.

What did you tell him?

 

[Particular]

What did you tell him?

I think I said the summilux is more practical.

 

[koven]

She could be an amazing photographer so don't judge.

 

[coelacanth]

I guess I feel better seeing young kids actually carrying, shooting, and learning with RX1 or M9 probably their parents bought them, than, say seeing some rich dude shooting some "interesting" still-life on street with gigantic DSLR gazillion frames per sec, but hey that's just me.

 

[dannybear]

I think its unfair to assume somebody else purchased it for her, I'm a young guy and I pay my own rent, food, and utilities and would be able to find the funds if I really wanted something of that price purely from hard work and would probably appreciate it more than somebody working full time who buys all the M lenses to shoot test charts and then unloads them once they sit on a shelf for long enough.

 

[CK Dexter Haven]

This is an interesting discussion.

1 / "Sucks when other people are successful doesn't it?"
More likely, it's a parent that is "successful."

2 / Someone calculated hourly wages and how long it would take to save to buy one. Which is sorta irrelevant because simply doing so sorta carries the implication that everything else in her world is being taken care of. If you can dedicate so much to a camera, you're not concerned about paying for school, rent, food, etc. So, whether she saved the dough or not, it's still likely she comes from 'means.'

3 / I wonder if there would be this level of speculation about her finances if it had been a Canon 5D, which actually costs more than an RX1.

4 / Isn't this more a comment on the perceived 'value' versus cost of a compact camera? It's judged as "luxury" or exorbitantly priced, not relative to other full frame cameras, but against 'pocket' P&S cameras.

5 / We all have different frames of reference. I remember a couple of years ago, seeing an article about Sean Combs buying his 16 year old son a Maybach. I thought that was disgusting. Even if you have a trillion dollars and the cost of that car has no impact on you whatsoever, it seemed like incredibly bad parenting, on a number of levels. But, hey — it's all relative. And, if you have a certain level of wealth, there may be no reason to teach a child the same lessons about responsibility and 'the value of a dollar' that might be necessary for a working class kid.

 

[Lss]

I remember a couple of years ago, seeing an article about Sean Combs buying his 16 year old son a Maybach. I thought that was disgusting. Even if you have a trillion dollars and the cost of that car has no impact on you whatsoever, it seemed like incredibly bad parenting, on a number of levels.

Perhaps he wants his son to become a limo driver.

 

[Rodchenko]

At that age, when I could get work, I was being paid £2 per hour. Thanks, Thatch! My first camera came when I got a salaried job at 25 and went wild, spending £109 on a second hand OM-1. A posh camera would not even have been worth thinking about and, though my parents were comfortably off, they could never have bought me anything so posh.

However, it is heartening to see young people carrying and using 'serious' cameras, which is something I do see more and more. Including a rather chavvily dressed lass who was carefully composing her shots with a mid-range SLR, who I saw in Croydon last week.

Seeing teenagers with pointless bling, like overpowered cars, posh cameras they don't know what to do with etc etc is a bit dispiriting, though. Privilege is a cancer, and parents trying to buy love is a sad thing.

 

[Rodchenko]

Disclaimer: My middle son has a Canon 35mm SLR and a Minolta APS SLR, which I have bought him (about £30 in total), and my older son uses his mobile phone, which he has bought himself out of his earnings from his college job (in Currys). He sells digital cameras, but has very little interest in having one himself, and is completely baffled by the attraction of film. :bang:

Youngest son is five weeks old, and I am planning his first camera. 😀

 

[louisb]

I feel I am going to have to apologise for the rest of my life (or as long as I have it) for owning a RX-1.

Mind you, I am near the end of my sixth decade and still in secure, regular employment.

LouisB

 

[Rick Waldroup]

I trotted out my new Lomo Oktomat the other day in downtown Dallas. I had more than one young lady point at me and laugh. I came home depressed.🙄

 

[kendo1]

I trotted out my new Lomo Oktomat the other day in downtown Dallas. I had more than one young lady point at me and laugh. I came home depressed.🙄

You made my day, thank you!😀

 

[gavinlg]

Any time I see a young person using a real camera it makes me happy. Too many instagram people out there.

 

[EdwardKaraa]

So what exactly is the purpose of this thread? Serious question.

 

[haempe]

So what exactly is the purpose of this thread? Serious question.

We comfort each other because we cannot afford a RX1.

 

[jsrockit]

Afterwards I was complimented on the camera, and one of the boys mentioned that he had an M9. We chatted, and he ended up asking me advice on whether to buy a summilux or a noctilux.

That image seems crazy to me too, but in the end it is just a camera. As long as he is out taking pictures with it, it is being put to good use. It is worse at that age to feel that your camera is too precious to use.
If his parents have too much money, that money is going to be spent on something, it may as well go to a nice camera.

I feel the same exact way. We have to remember that, to some, buying a M9 is like many of us buying a Pentax K1000 off eBay. If you make a lot, spending is easier than it is for many of us. Also, this doesn't mean that because someone is wealthy, they are horrible people worthy of all cynicism. I admit I have those feelings sometimes, but then I have back up and think.

An 17 year old with a M9 or a RX one is better than that same person going out to the club and blowing that kind of money on an expensive bottle of booze and a private table.

 

[back alley]

better a camera than a gun...