W/NW: medium format street photography

More MF "street" photos...

4. "Bran Live" Lorient/Summer 2005
Flexaret IIIb TLR (1950) - Meopta Mirar 80/4.5
Ilford Delta 3200
f/11 - 1/300s

5. "Nicolas" Lorient/Summer 2005
Flexaret IIIb TLR (1950) - Meopta Mirar 80/4.5
Fuji Neopan 100 ACROS
 

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ruben said:
Could you detail a bit, beyond the gear ?

Thanks
Ruben
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Sorry Ruben did read this until now...

eindhoven, netherlands, bus/train station, close to midnight. The box is a distribution box of the free METRO newspaper. The girls of islamitic origin were probably waiting for a bus, one of them seems more "westernized" in her look but they look a bit alike, probably sisters.
 
fitzihardwurshd said:
A poor mans Rollei ?Don't get me wrong, Ricardo, I do not suspect you to mean it in a derisive sense because you use a Mat124G yourself , but I am always amused about how common this saying is among the English speaking photogs.
I once read in another forum "...it's easy, if you are rich, buy a Leica. If you are poor, buy a Bessa" (sic !) 🙄

Every TLR , if not Rollei, is a poor mans Rollei, and every RF camera, if not Leica, is a poor mans Leica.

In my own mother language (German) this would be taken as an very derisive remark ( "Rollei für Arme") because over here nobody is considered automatically as beeing rich just because he owns an expensive camera , well, let me say at least not among grown ups. 😉

BTW my personal experience gained in photo courses I have held myself is also the other way round, those with the most expensive stuff are very often the poorest of the crowd. They live in Grandmas house, eat her food, no cars no kids, don't go to dentists and have therefore any probs with girlfriends, and they wear their Jeans until they must get removed by an emergency operation. But to the course the came with a huge back filled with finest assortment of cameras and lenses, often worth ten-thousands of Euros !

This shall not be understood as any kind of cricticsm, just an observation I have made, of an linguistical phenomenon. MY English is too poor to really know if there is an derisive element at all in the English "poor man "saying and if so, how serious it is.

I myself used and still use rich AND poor makes, and I hope this excludes the assumption I would suffer from the "Sour Grape Syndrome" 😀


Regards,

Fitzi
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Fitzi

I think what the term (a poor man's.......) actually means is that the piece of equipment referred to is as good as it's more expensive cousin, but costs less. You could use the term in such a way as to imply that the expensive equipment is overpriced for what it can actually achieve.

I do not think the term is derisery in any way. I myself own a rather battered Yashica GT, which is often refered to as 'a poor man's Leica' due to the outstanding 45mm, f/1.7, Color-Yashinon lens. I am rather proud of this term in relation to my GT. 🙂
 
I use the term "poor man's Rolleiflex" in the sense that it has all the attributes of a Rolleiflex (solid build, good optics, etc) but at a fraction of the cost. I often hear the term thrown around for products whose value far exceeds their price, when that price point is well below the established leader in that market segment. I don't view it as too negative of a term especially because in this case I am the poor man!

I think in English if I said "its a TLR for the poor" that implies something else. The point is the reviews of the Yashica Mat 124G are very good and you get everything a Rollei does at a fraction of the cost. What is their not to love? I love my Bessa R and Yashica Mat. They allow me to enjoy my hobby and not commit huge sums of money (at least to me) to do so. The Bessa R in particular is an example of wonderful product execution and engineering at its price point.

As a mechanical engineer I also very much appreciate a fine piece of mechanical machinery. I view Leica's and Rolleiflex's a little works of mechanical art and perhaps one day I can get one as a gift to myself after a lifetime of work but first I have to save up for a Porsche!!! Ha ha!!!
 
fitzihardwurshd said:
In my own mother language (German) this would be taken as an very derisive remark ( "Rollei für Arme")
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You know, Fitzi ? It's the same in Dutch (my mother tongue), but it's the first time I notice. I took it for granted in English all the time without thinking about how it would sound in Dutch. I guess I've used too much English over the years. But since it sounds like a rather heavy statement, I'll probably start using it tongue firmly in cheek in Dutch too. ("You drink regular beer ? That's Trappist for the poor !") I'm guessing we'll have a few laughs over it 🙂

Sorry for the OT. I don't have an MF camera, but I'm thoroughly enjoying this thread. Nice work. My favourites are Toby's West Bank posers and a number of Simon's shots (particularly the girl near Angkor Vat and the 3 boys). I'll promise myself an MF camera as soon as I get the feeling I'm repeating myself with my most recent purchase.


Peter.
 
RicardoD said:
I think in English if I said "its a TLR for the poor" that implies something else.

As a mechanical engineer I also very much appreciate a fine piece of mechanical machinery. I view Leica's and Rolleiflex's a little works of mechanical art and perhaps one day I can get one as a gift to myself after a lifetime of work but first I have to save up for a Porsche!!! Ha ha!!!
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It's a kinda standard, "detoxified so to say ! 🙂

The Flexes and the Ms and all the many other, less well known cameras and lenses from the 50s and 60s are btw not only little works of mechanical art, they are also witnesses of a time we have lost for ever. And tho they were not that golden in reality there are things we miss : Living slower, less noise, less fear, stability and reliablity,self limitation for more quality, these cameras are long term companions and thus they balance someway our hectic life.

fitzi
 
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Fujifilm GFX 50R, Fujinon GF 63mm f2.8 R WR lens
Astia film simulation
Yokohama, Japan - August 2020

All the best,
Mike
 
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