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Feb. 22, 2001 - Bill Cooper
58:08
Wow! Good Photo Calls
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Good evening, ladies and gentlemen.
You're listening to the Hour of the Time.
I'm William Cooper.
Well, tonight's Photography Night, and what I thought we'd do tonight is open the phones and just talk about photography.
For those of you who just do it for, you know, whatever reason, I don't care.
And those of you who do it as a hobby or those of you who are really advanced amateurs, maybe you've got your own darkroom.
Some of you may be even professional photographers.
I don't know.
Probably some of you are.
But I would imagine that a lot of you have a lot of questions to ask based upon the last four broadcasts that we've done on Thursday night.
You may be thinking about Getting a camera and maybe you don't know which one to get or what the difference is between a rangefinder and an SLR and a TLR or a medium format, you know, or a large format.
So, tonight's the time to ask all those questions.
If you've got questions about film, tonight's the time to ask those questions.
Now, it doesn't mean that I'm going to be able to answer every question that you might But I'll do my best.
And if I can't answer it, maybe somebody else out there in the listening audience can.
I'm sure that somebody has a question that I probably won't be able to answer.
And if that's the case, then let's hope that somebody else will be able to call in and answer that question.
Also, you don't have to ask a question.
I mean, you may have tips of your own.
You may have some expertise that maybe you haven't heard of in the last This is strictly for our enjoyment.
There is no right or wrong of it.
That may be something that we haven't talked about yet that you'd like to talk about.
And so you're welcome to do that.
Remember, this is for fun.
This is strictly for our enjoyment.
There is no right or wrong of it.
Photography is an art form, which means the way you do it is just as good as the way I
do it or anybody else does it if you're satisfied with your results.
If you're not satisfied with your results and the way you're doing it, then that means
maybe there's something that you should be doing differently.
And in that case, maybe you can learn something from either me, when I am trying to teach you a few things that I know, or from some of our callers, from the listening audience, who may have the solution to your problem.
We all have problems in photography, I've got to tell you.
And, uh, meters don't solve all those problems.
You know, there are problems in composition.
Some people don't have an eye for photography.
And for some reason, um, I've known people, ladies and gentlemen, who just love to take pictures, but they don't have the eye for composition.
They don't know when there's a picture to take.
And so you go through their scrapbook and they got a lot of pictures of, of, uh, well, you know, They've got a lot of pictures that make you wonder why they ever took those pictures, but remember this.
It's their pictures.
Don't ever criticize somebody else's photography unless they ask you to do it.
And if they ask you to do it, always be kind, because they really don't mean when they ask you to critique their photography to tear it to pieces.
That's not what they're looking for.
What they're looking for is for you to say, oh wow, that's a neat picture, man.
How did you take that?
I mean, that's really what everybody wants you to say when they say, what do you think about my, you know, my photography?
Now, if they know that you have some expertise and they're looking at their photos and they say, you know, I just have a feeling my photos could be a lot better.
Is there anything that you can, you know, any tips or anything you can tell me to make my photos better?
Then that's the time to be very kind, but show them That if they were just in a different spot, or maybe they used the river as a leading line instead of taking a picture of the river, you know, going right straight through horizontally the center of the photograph, or something like that, that they might get better pictures.
But always be kind, because remember, the world does not hinge upon anybody's photographs.
Okay?
It's not like when we're talking about the truth in politics, or the truth of who's running things, Or the criminality of modern police tactics and the way the Constitution is being subverted.
Those things are weighty and really important and we cannot allow people to get off track from those.
But when we're talking photography, we're talking something that we all just like to do.
It's something that makes us feel good.
Something that we love.
And if we're not that much into it, it's something that we do to preserve the memories of the events and the important things that happened to us in our family and with our friends and in our lives.
So, remember, always be kind to people when you're talking about their photographs.
No matter how good or how bad they are, they want to hear you tell them that their photographs are good.
So, you know, do it.
It doesn't hurt a thing.
I have never made anybody feel bad ever about their photographs, no matter how bad they really were, simply because I wouldn't be accomplishing a thing in this world by doing that.
I wouldn't be making the world better, and I certainly could make it a little worse for somebody, so remember that, folks.
So I'm going to open the phones right now.
I'm going to play a little music while we're waiting for the first call, and I'm going to open the phones right now, and we're going to take calls tonight.
And you can either give tips, you can ask questions, we can talk about something and explore something.
Whatever you want to do is okay.
I think after four broadcasts where I've done nothing but talk about what I know about photography, maybe you'd like to talk a little bit about what you know about photography.
Or get some of your questions cleared up.
Or maybe you're thinking about buying a camera and you don't want to buy the one that we're offering.
Maybe you want to ask some questions about cameras.
Maybe you want to know if the one you're looking at is really, you know, one that you'd be happy with after you purchased it or not.
I know an awful lot about cameras and so do a lot of people in our listening audience.
So you not only will get tips from me, you'll get tips from people out there listening.
I happen to know for an absolute fact from talking to a lot of you on the telephone who
just really are so happy that we are doing this on Thursday nights and appreciate it
and you've been in the photography for like years that there are some really good knowledgeable
people in our listening audience who know an awful lot about photography.
I haven't talked to anybody yet who is doing it professionally but I'm sure that there
probably is.
So whatever you know, the phone is open.
520-333-4570.
Thank you.
It's 520-333-4578.
Just to make sure everybody gets that number, it's 520-333-4578.
While I'm on the subject, I want to thank everybody who sent in their donations for
February, and if some of you have not done that yet, please do it now.
We need every single penny that we can get here, folks, and we're still behind.
Believe me, we're still behind.
520-333-4578's the number.
To send your donation, remember, we can only accept cash or blank money orders.
Send them to HOT, H-O-T-C, in care of 101.1 FM, that's 101.1 FM, PO Box 940, that's PO
Box 940, Eager, spelled E-A-G-A-R, Arizona, 85925.
That's Eager, Arizona, 85925.
Phones are open, 520-333-4578.
We're going to take your calls tonight, and remember the subject is photography.
If you want to talk about anything else, I'm going to cut you right off.
And remember, Paul sits just for fun.
🎵 You're on the air.
Yes, hello, Bill.
This is Mike in Philadelphia.
Hi, Mike.
Yeah, I wanted to ask you about photography, since you know a little bit about it.
You talked about it.
What about the moon landing pictures?
Don't they... I mean, to me, it doesn't look like something's not right.
I mean, when they show, like, one around, like, the moon's orbit, it looks realistic.
But when they show the moon landing, I don't know.
What do you think?
Well, it's not what I think.
It's what I know.
I know from my education in photography that those photographs that they show us that they claim were taken on the moon weren't taken on the moon at all.
They were taken by professional photographers in a studio where all of the lighting was perfectly controlled and every single picture is just absolutely perfect.
They're the best possible things that you can do.
And even if you set out to do that in a studio, you couldn't possibly get those results all the time.
They did it over a long period of time.
They did it in the desert in Nevada.
That's pretty clear to me.
But what about the pictures of them going around the moon orbit, though?
To me, though, not knowing anything about photography, that did kind of look realistic, though.
Well, let me tell you something.
It's absolutely impossible.
They did not go to the moon in the Apollo space program.
Now, if they went to the moon, they went by some other method, and there is no record of it that they've ever showed the public.
Okay, well, thank you for having me.
All of those photographs and videotapes they've shown us are fake.
They're easily provable fake.
I've proven them fake.
Many other people have proven them fake.
Anybody who has a college education in photography or who has spent their whole life engaged in photography and understands lighting and the latitude of a film back at that time, not today, but back at that time, and even today, they couldn't produce those results with modern film.
I hope that helped you.
Okay, thank you very much, Bob.
Good night.
You're welcome.
And the name's Bill, not Bob.
520-333-4578.
Yeah, it's Bill.
Sorry, but it's Bill.
and I hope it's going to be Bill, you know, for a while longer maybe.
So, thank you for having me.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Good evening, you're on the air.
Hi there, how are we doing?
Good.
I have a camera question for you.
Uh-huh.
I do a lot of traveling, like with backpacks and things like that, and I'm lugging around a full-size SLR now, and I thought I would like to get one of these little compact SLRs, but I'm afraid of losing picture quality by doing that.
Well, I don't know anything about them.
I just see that they look an awful lot lighter than the thing I'm lugging around.
I don't know what you mean by compact SLR unless you're talking about the new APS format.
No, I don't want to do that.
It's still a 35 millimeter, but not an SLR.
You mean not an SLR?
Then you're looking for a rain finder.
Yeah, yeah, the little... That's what we have on the website.
That's the best one that you can get unless you want to go into something that costs you a couple thousand dollars.
Yeah, what about the optics on those things?
The optics on this one is the best lens that Canon ever made in its history and you can't tell the difference between a photograph taken with this camera and a photograph taken with a Leica that cost you three grand.
And they were made back in the 60s and 70s.
These ones that we're selling were made in 1972.
It's the best lens that Canon ever made.
It's the best Canonette that Canon ever made.
They made cannonets with higher numbers, like the 19, the 20-something, and the 28.
And when they did that, they went down in quality.
I don't know why they went down in quality, but they did.
Is there other compact SLRs out there?
Not that I know of.
SLRs means you have a camera that can change lenses, you can use zooms, and by their nature, there are small SLRs, but they're Well, now you might want to look into something like the OM-1 made by Olympus.
That's a pretty small camera, but you have to watch your selection of lenses because if you're going to put a zoom lens on there, then you're not compact anymore.
Right.
I want something that has a nice, solid lens.
What kind of photographs do you take?
I take mostly slides.
I mean but what kind?
You take scenics?
You take landscapes?
I take everything.
Landscapes and portraits.
And I need a good quality because I'm a freelance writer and sometimes I sell photos with articles.
I'm not a professional photographer but it's good to have good quality photos.
Well absolutely.
Especially if you expect to sell them.
If they're not good quality you're not going to sell them.
I don't care what they're of.
Right.
You might want to look at range finders.
You don't have to look at the one that we have.
There are lots of range finders out there to look at.
But make sure you are not buying any of these plastic doodads that they are making today.
The older it is the better quality it is going to be.
Oh yeah?
Absolutely.
The reason I kind of shy away from those is because I don't have a lot of photographic
skills.
The only thing I can do well I think is composition.
My friend, there's nothing that you can do with an SLR that you can't do with a rangefinder.
It's not about photographic skill.
See, if you don't have any photographic skill, it doesn't matter what camera you have in your hands.
Okay?
And whatever skill you have, it doesn't matter what camera you have in your hands either.
You're going to use that skill to the best of your ability.
But if I'm composing a picture with an SLR, I'm looking at exactly through the lens.
The rangefinder, I'm looking at a different view is what I'm getting at.
No.
No.
What you have to have is a, oh gosh, parallax corrected viewfinder.
Right.
The one that we sell has that.
In other words, as you focus, you'll see the lines in the viewfinder change position.
And you're always looking through the viewfinder at exactly what you're going to see when you take that photograph.
Now... I thought there was a difference between... There are.
This is one of the only two cameras ever made that have that ability.
There's only been two rangefinders in history that have been made that have that ability, and this is one of them.
Oh, okay.
See, we wouldn't offer this if it wasn't the best that there was, I'm telling you, because my name goes with it.
Well, listen, thanks for your help.
I appreciate it.
You're welcome.
Look around.
If you want an SLR, I'd suggest you look at the Olympus OM-1.
The Zericho lenses are very good.
Look at the one that we have on the website.
There's another one that has the Parallax correction in the viewfinder.
I'll look up and see what that is, and I'll tell you on Monday night.
I have a Minolta X700 now.
It's a big camera.
It's a manual setting which I like.
Yeah, but it's a big camera.
Yeah, it's heavy.
Believe me, I've done a lot of trucking with heavy cameras hanging around my neck.
The problem is if it's going to be a pain to get the camera, I don't take the picture.
I lose a lot of pictures that way.
Not only that, but you get tired carrying that thing around your neck all day.
Yeah.
You really do.
It starts out, you know.
It doesn't feel very heavy but I'll guarantee you, you know, halfway around Disneyland that thing gets heavy and you wish that you could go back to the hotel and dump it somewhere and you can't.
And you can't give it to the children to carry because you know what's going to happen then.
And the wives don't give a damn.
Well I wrap it up and it still doesn't get damaged and buried in my pack and I don't feel like pulling it out to take a picture.
The thing is, if you want to take photographs, you've got to have it out.
It can't be in your pen.
Alright, well thanks for your help.
You're welcome.
And good luck.
I hope you find exactly what you need.
520-333-4578 is the number.
SLRs, by their nature, are big.
There are not too many small SLRs, folks.
So if you're looking for something really small and that won't get heavy carrying it around, it will be handy to take pictures.
An SLR will be your answer if you don't have to, you know, truck yet and a whole bunch of lenses around all day.
Good evening.
You're on the air.
Good evening, Bill.
Hi.
I'm Ed out of Connecticut.
Hi, Ed.
I got a couple of questions for you.
You've done a lot of black and white work, haven't you?
Yes, I have.
I like that best of all, although I do like color.
Well, yeah, the color is what you like to show people that give impression, but black and white is how you satisfy your own, your own criteria.
Have you ever messed with divided development where you soak the film for a long time in a concentrated developer that does not have any of the alkaline activator in it, and then you put the film in the activator to complete the development?
No, I've never done that, ever.
In fact, this is the first time I've ever heard of it, so you're way ahead of me in that department.
Why don't you talk about it a little bit, because you got my interest up.
Okay.
First let me ask you, what would be the purpose of doing this rather than using developer the normal way?
Well, the big purpose is to flatten the gamma curve of the emulsion a little bit.
And the idea there is to encompass somewhat broader range of light values.
So it's sort of like Ansel's zone system, only it's a shortcut, sounds like.
No, you've still got to use Ansel's zone system.
But if you want to get detail in the highlights and detail in the shadows, if you apply all the developer to the film and let it soak in, When you take it out of the developer and put it in the bath with the alkaline activator.
What do you mean by bath?
Okay, you've got to, this is why they call it divided.
In one bath you have only the developer itself plus probably a little bromide to restrain.
Is it diluted at all?
It would probably be maybe a little bit more concentrated than you would use in a one band.
Okay.
Okay?
Now, the film, the emulsion can only soak up so much developer.
The developer in the highlights gets used up quicker because where the film has been exposed, the developer gets used up more quickly and the highlights do not come out Quite so dense.
Uh-huh.
Whereas in the less exposed portions, the developer has a chance to work fully.
Okay.
I understand what you're talking about.
Okay.
What you're doing is you're stretching the latitude of the film.
You're stretching.
You're stretching.
You may give a half stop on either end of the gamma curve.
Yeah.
Effectively.
Yeah, well that's the goal is to make sure you've got detail in every part of the photograph when you're blocked up in the highlights and all you have is the white of the paper showing.
Yeah.
And you didn't quite get enough exposure in the shadows and so that's, you know, just totally black.
It's, you don't have a good photograph.
Yeah.
Well, the first part of that developer would be the MECO or hydroquinone or whatever it is that you use as a developer, plus some probably bromide as a fog restrainer.
And the second path is nothing but water plus maybe a little bit more fog restrainer and your borax activator or your alkali activator depending upon what kind of soup you want to make.
They also call it water bath development.
The other scheme I've heard of for doing this kind of work would be You know, I read about this a long time ago, but it was a long time ago.
Yeah, well, if you were reading in the late 50s, early 60s, you might have seen something like that in the photo magazines.
But the pyro developer, now that's a peculiar developer.
Photographers cuss at it and cuss at it and cuss at it until they've learned how to use it.
I have talked to a couple of people that since left this world, but they got familiar with
doing it and they were able to achieve remarkable results across a somewhat wider range of 10
stops.
Using this pyro split developing method.
Well, the pyro developer is also done in a split fashion.
Exactly the chemistry of it, I don't know.
Anybody that has been successful at it and wants to maintain a reputation kind of keeps
it secret how it does.
But the developer works in a different fashion than your meatball hydroquinone developers.
It's a staining developer.
Instead of causing the grains to clump as the development proceeds, it puts a stain in the emulsion.
And the end result, I'm told, gives you greater visual acuity.
That is, you get better detail.
It also is very good for either preserving detail in the clouds or picking up detail
in the shadows.
But photographers toss that simply because A, it's nasty stuff to work with, it stains
your hands, and when you use this pyro, bears come out of the beach.
It doesn't matter what you use.
If you spend much time in the darkroom, your hands are going to be stained.
And your fingernails.
And so you don't want to be, you know, going out to dinner in fancy restaurants.
Right.
People are going to be looking at you real funny.
I've never been able to get the sulfite smell out of, you know, from the hypo.
That's the hardest thing.
Get out of your hand.
The rest of it's fairly easy, but hypo.
Hypo seems to stay around.
A little bit of hypo is forever.
Okay, well, one other thing.
I have noticed that the man who spends more money on film and processing disposables or
consumables than he does on his photograph or photograph, the initial camera or anything
like that, is usually a better photographer.
He gets more practice at it.
Well, that's the machine gun approach.
That's like, you know, when I was in Vietnam, there were guys that would tell me that they were, you know, better at getting the enemy than anybody else.
And, you know, it just wasn't true because when you When you count up how many rounds they expended in order to hit one person, it was not at all indicative of excellence or expertise or economy or anything like that.
And the same with photography.
Here's the rule.
When you're learning, shoot as much film as you can possibly afford.
And because that's how you learn, and you're turning that around, and you're looking at your results, and you're learning that way.
but when you get to be really good uh... you shouldn't be spending
that much film although you should not be conservative with your film if you
have an assignment uh... to cover
or if if you give yourself an assignment to cover something
uh... you need to go out and shoot it
every way that it possibly can be shot and uh...
and bracket when you're in doubt but you shouldn't be taken photographs when you know
you don't even have a photograph to take i mean that's in my estimation
not too smart but you know if you like to do that and and i know people
who do like to spend money on film and go out and shoot film like
crazy and they just go through it and uh... they pick out the best ones and they put in their
album and they don't show anybody the other ones
and and uh... they're you know that it really looks good and it is good
And by golly, if that makes them happy, that's exactly what they ought to be doing.
I'll buy that.
And of course, there's the other end, when they get good enough.
Now, I understand Ansel Adams went out to the field with no more than four, maybe five plates ready to be exposed, and he had to wait for the exact moment that he wanted for the light.
Sometimes he'd wait days.
Exactly, exactly.
Well, I was up in New Hampshire one time, and I was going up that doggone road that crosses the bottom of New Hampshire, goes over a big mountain, and I saw this waterfall beside the road, and down on a rock in the middle of the river, a guy sat up with a view camera, one of these fairly modern, I think it was made by Horseman, you know that brand?
I stopped and went down there and I got myself wet and got over to his rock and we started
rapping and he said well I've been waiting down here for three hours and it doesn't look
like I'm going to get the light because he wanted to take a picture of a rock face and
the New Hampshire rock, the granite and the lichens and all the rest of the stuff on it
was kind of colorful.
See, he's a real photographer.
He understood, he saw in his mind what he wanted.
And he wasn't going to settle for less.
Exactly.
And that's a photographer rather than a snap shooter.
A picture shooter.
A picture shooter, snap shooter.
Remember, photographers make photographs.
Snap shooters get lucky once in a while.
I hear you.
I'm used up my nickel.
You have a good one, buddy.
Thanks for calling.
Cheers.
That was a good call.
I enjoyed that.
I like talking photography, and he knew something that I never did before.
He's done something I've never done before in the darkroom, which is interesting.
I'm going to investigate that.
520-333-4578 is the number.
0333 4578 is the number.
And it's probably time for you to call, whoever you may be.
You know?
Thank you.
Good evening.
You're on the air.
Bill Cooper.
Yes, sir.
That's me.
Great to talk to you, sir.
I'm calling from Massachusetts.
Uh-huh.
Really enjoying your photography show.
Thank you.
I've been a photographer all my life.
I'm 46, I started when I was about 10.
Right now I use a camera called a Zeiss SuperEye Carta B. I want to recommend it.
You're one of these guys with lots of money, and you've got one of the best cameras ever made.
It doesn't take a lot of money in the big scheme of things.
It's a lot cheaper than a Leica.
Well, it's still one of the good ones.
Well, I'm recommending it to everyone, and you too, and I like what you're saying about the Canonette.
It's all true.
Yeah, it is.
I made my living with those things.
That poor little camera has been so abused.
When they did away with the mercury batteries, people couldn't get batteries for that camera.
And so they stopped using it.
And they were giving it away, throwing it in the trash.
I don't know how many of them were thrown in the trash can because they couldn't get batteries for them.
Gave them to their children to play with, and the children tore them to pieces.
And the ones that are left, when you can find good ones, They're priceless.
If you can find them, you've got to buy them.
Yep, that's right.
I've been listening to your show probably since some of your earlier broadcasts, and you're my favorite, all-time favorite, and I'm going to get off here and make some room.
Okay.
Thanks a lot.
Well, wait a minute.
Tell us about your camera.
I mean, you can't get in and dangle that thing in front of people and walk away.
Oh, okay.
I take all black and white pictures.
I'm a railroad photographer.
That's my specialty, and I like the Super Icon, the B, and it has a Tessar 2.8 lens.
With a decoding.
The one that I used was made in the early 1950s.
Yeah, people don't believe me when I tell them the best cameras are the older cameras.
Absolutely.
These new cameras aren't worth beans unless you're going to get up into the professional area with the Nikon F5, the F100, the N90S, the Canon EOS-1V.
You're absolutely right.
And for the price of one of those, you can have a whole show full of classics.
That's right.
You can.
And there's a magazine called Shutterbuck that's very good.
It goes all over the country and it's full of advertisers.
But the Zeiss Supericonta, quite a machine.
Oh, it's one of the best, yeah.
And I love your photography shows.
I hope they continue.
Okay.
And thank you, sir.
Thank you.
Thank you for calling.
Bye.
5 to 0, 3, 3, 3, 4, 5, 7, 8, 7, see?
You're hearing it from other people who know photography.
And I told you, there's some people in this audience who really know photography.
Some of them, I would venture to say, are probably much better than I could ever hope to be.
We do this on Thursday nights for fun.
To get away from the heaviness of all of the rest of this broadcast, And relax and enjoy something that we all like to do.
Good evening, you're on the air.
Good evening Bill.
Hi.
I find this photography subject just fascinating and I have been unable to take notes on everything you've been covering but I did open up my local community college guide and there's at least eight courses on different facets of photography and anybody that has a local community college could take some of those courses.
Everywhere in every city and every town in this whole country there's somebody who gives photography lessons or some school or some community college or some community center or something and all you do is look for them and you're absolutely correct.
Yes, my local one has eight different classes starting from basics, what it's all about, to advanced techniques.
And let me mention something here before you go on, and I do want you to go on.
For all of you who have been taking pictures like all your life but you've never taken a basic photography course, if you go to one of these things and you look at the courses, don't skip basic photography because I guarantee you, you're going to learn a lot that you don't know that you may think you know, and if you skip it and you go into intermediate, you're going to look like the class dummy, believe me.
I agree.
I'm going to sign up for a basic and start from scratch.
Say, my girlfriend, she is a doctor and she has an x-ray machine and all that in the darkroom.
Would the darkroom, is the equipment the same as for doing just general photography to develop some of this stuff?
Well, x-ray is film and it's developed exactly like film, but I don't know if they have different developers and, you know, I don't know what kind of film they're using or anything.
Basically, if you ask me, is it basically the same?
Absolutely.
They're taking pictures.
Only they're not using light.
They're using x-rays.
And they're going in a dark room.
They're developing film.
But they don't print the film.
They look at the negative.
Well, I guess I can find out by taking the basic class.
See, an x-ray is just a negative.
That's all it is without being printed.
Well, I'll find out for sure in the basic class, I guess.
Say, I got a bunch of this old Super 8 movie cameras and projectors and all that stuff.
Should I put that stuff in a garage sale and buy a camcorder?
Or is that stuff quality enough to keep around and use?
Don't put it in a garage sale.
Keep it?
Well, it depends.
If you're going to use it, and you like 8mm format, and you're really going to use it and take 8mm movies and show them on a projector, Then keep it.
If you're not going to do that, then a lot of that stuff has collector value.
And if it's in real good condition, not beat up and not all scratched up and all that kind of stuff, if you'll call me tomorrow between 12 and 5 my time, I'll tell you how you can reach that market.
And maybe turn it into some cash that you can use to purchase something that you will use.
But if you like that and you want to use it, then keep it!
Is that a good quality format?
8mm?
No.
8mm is like a consumer thing.
It's like the APS format now.
It's not 35mm.
It's like half the format of 35mm and so you can't blow it up very much.
I think.
But you know if you really wanted to do good quality you need 16mm.
A lot of movies were made with 16mm.
But you can't make a movie with 8mm.
But it's not that.
That's not what matters.
What matters is do you like it?
Do you get enjoyment from it?
Is it within your budget?
And if it is then you should keep it.
If it's not and you're not going to use it and you don't know what you're going to do Maybe there's somebody out there who would.
OK.
I've got several of those.
And by the way, I'm not interested in buying it, but I know how to tune you in to how to get in touch with people who might be interested.
OK.
Well, I sure appreciate the words of wisdom.
Thanks much, Bill.
Well, you're welcome.
But remember, the important thing is what you like, not what anybody else likes or not what format it is or anything.
If you're pleased with it, then that's all that matters.
Is that stuff readily available, the film and everything?
8mm, yes, still available.
Okay.
Alright, thanks very much.
You're welcome.
Thanks for calling.
520-333-4578 is the number.
Remember, photography, we do it because we love it.
We do it to preserve memories.
We have goals.
If we're not meeting our goals, then we need to explore how we can meet those goals.
But there's nothing wrong If it suits what you like and what you want to do, it's not wrong no matter what it is.
Good evening, you're on the air.
Yes, I just wanted to talk a little bit about cameras.
I agree with what you said about the newer cameras.
They're junk.
Yeah.
I went out and bought a brand new autofocus compact, which is an expensive camera.
Uh huh.
It's expensive, but it's, you know, if you'd have bought an older Contax, you would have had something much better.
Well, it's true, and what I ended up doing, I've been a hobbyist and worked in photography for probably 30 years or, you know, just not constantly, but I have an old Konica auto reflex system.
Uh huh.
And I resurrected that thing, and it's there.
I'd like to recommend those.
You have to fill a regular tank.
Fill like a tank!
It's solid.
They're metal.
I mean, if anything goes wrong with it, you can take it down to a qualified camera repair technician and they can fix it up just like the day that it was built.
Well, that's true.
And it don't cost you an arm and a leg.
No, and the lenses, the optics, are equal to the vice on the contacts, I think.
I mean, that's subjective, but... Well, a lot of people would argue with you on that, but if, you know, if that's what you see, then that's all that matters.
And that's the truth, really.
Yeah.
I was going to ask, did you have your Canon rangefinder?
Konica made a couple of rangefinders back in that same era.
Yeah.
The Konica 3S, I believe?
Yeah, S2 or something.
No, the S3.
The S3 is the best.
Okay.
If you can find an old S Konica S3 you've got yourself a top notch good range finder.
I was going to say that might be one that I know you take them and rework them don't you?
Well we always do.
I wouldn't sell a camera to anyone.
See these cameras are 28, 30 years old.
Yeah that's right.
You can't buy a used camera even if everything works and turn around and sell it to somebody with a clear conscience because they're old and even if it's working right now next week Something might start sticking or might not work right because they need lubrication.
They need to be adjusted.
The meter needs to be calibrated.
All of those things have to be done in order to sell a camera to somebody with a clear conscience.
Otherwise, you're a shyster in my book.
And I'm not a shyster.
I wouldn't do that to anybody.
Well, the Tonica might be one you might consider because I think they're not expensive.
Well, the lens isn't up to the quality of the Canon, but you know a lot of the people who just take pictures of their family and stuff wouldn't know the difference anyway.
Right, okay.
But I was just curious if you were aware of it and you are.
Oh yeah, I am.
I'm not pretending that I know everything about photography because I don't.
And there's a lot of people who are professional photographers who know so much more than I could probably maybe ever hope to know.
But I do have a college degree in photography.
I have been a professional photographer.
I practice my craft.
I study my craft, I read everything that I can get my hands on about it, and so I'm knowledgeable.
Let me put it that way.
No, I agree.
I've been listening and you do know what you're talking about.
It's a wonderful hobby and I really like your show.
It's something I'd encourage everybody to do.
To pick up as a hobby because it's very rewarding and it's a lot of fun.
Yeah it is and I'm really enjoying these calls tonight.
We had some just wonderful calls.
Yeah I've enjoyed them too and I don't want to take up your whole night but I wanted to plug the Conica because compared to the new stuff it does pretty good.
These new cameras I'm going to say it again are junk and if you're spending three, four, five, six hundred thousand dollars For one of these digital cameras you're out of your mind.
You've lost your mind.
It's better to spend that money on a good film camera where you can really take good quality pictures and if you want to digitize it buy yourself a film scanner so that you can digitize those.
Oh my god, don't spend that much money on something that can't even.
I mean, what you're producing is really what you're seeing on the internet.
It's junk!
Yeah, that's true.
Do you have any traditions on a tripod?
I think that's a pretty good thing for people to have.
Yeah, and I'm going to tell you, most tripods are also junk, unfortunately.
When you set up a tripod and you put the legs down, And you put your hand on top and wiggle it, it shouldn't wriggle.
Yeah.
If it wiggles, you've got junk.
Now do that before you buy a tripod.
The best tripods I've found are Gitzo's.
Yes, okay.
And they're the big Gitzo's that cost some money and they're solid.
They're, you know, built like a tank.
They stay planted to the ground.
Yeah, they stay planted to the ground and you're not going to wiggle them all over the place.
See, because you go out and you set up a camera in the wind, If you've got one of these cheapy little tripods, I mean, you know, might as well put it on your shoulder and go home because, you know, or hand-hold it because you probably can hand-hold it better than the tripod if the wind's blowing.
Unfortunately.
Well, I've enjoyed talking with you and I'll let someone else get in, but very good show.
Thank you.
Okay, good night.
Thanks for calling.
520-333-4578 is the number.
It's your turn to call, wherever you are out there, with whatever you've got to contribute.
Remember, this is just fun stuff, man, because we all love it.
At least I do, and all of the callers, you know, that we've had do.
And that's what makes it neat and fun and wonderful, because we can be creative, and we can produce things that we like, and we can record our family's history and all the good stuff, you know?
And it's a lot of fun.
It's not just, you know, we don't have to do anything.
We don't have to do it anyway.
Good evening, you're on the air.
you want to buy some of these cameras that they make today that I'm calling
junk and if it makes you happy to own that camera and you're happy with the
pictures that you're taking there's nothing wrong with that.
See I'm talking from an advanced mode here. Good evening you're on the air.
Oh William. Hello. I've been enjoying your program.
Well, wonderful.
I've meant to try to catch the Thursday night broadcast for a few weeks now, and this is the first time I've been able to actually sit down and listen.
Well, good.
I'm interested in your take on photography.
I used to be into it pretty heavy, but I haven't been active for the last nine years because of my health.
But you're right about the little Canon camera you're talking about.
I've had a couple of those.
And they're excellent little cameras.
They sure are.
I thought maybe I might suggest another one to you that you might consider.
I've still got a couple of them.
They're twin lenses made by Yashica.
They take 120 film.
Yeah, which one are you talking about?
Medium format?
Which one are you talking about?
Well, I've got the last model that they made called the G. Yeah?
And then I've got an older one.
I don't remember what model it is.
It doesn't make any difference.
But if you can get a hold of a few of those, they are excellent cameras and they're easy to work on.
They are?
Yeah.
The only thing that people have to adjust to is the different view in the viewfinder than what the lens is looking at, especially if you're taking a portrait of somebody six feet in front of you.
They have to learn to raise that tripod Exactly the number of inches between the center of the viewfinder lens and the center of the lens that's actually going to take the photograph.
Yeah, once they learn to do that, well you measure from center to center and once you've got that measurement and you learn how to do that, then you're not chopping off heads and all kinds of stuff.
Which a lot of people tend to do when they first get there.
But that's the only thing.
The lenses are great.
The cameras are great.
You've got medium format, which is a much bigger negative.
Which means that if you really want to blow it up to 16x20 or 36x whatever, you can do that.
Especially with today's modern films that it's almost impossible to see the grain with a microscope.
Yeah, they're great cameras.
They really are.
And remember, folks, here's the rule.
If you're looking for a great camera, the older the camera, the better it's gonna be.
They used to make them with real metal.
They used to make them so they'd last forever.
And they will last forever, as long as you can find a qualified technician that can take care of the little things that may go wrong.
The camera will literally not die on you.
And if you don't scratch the lens or clean them wrong, You know, rub the coating off and all that kind of stuff.
These cameras will take the most spectacular pictures you ever saw, and they won't cost you near what you're paying for these new pieces of plastic junk that couldn't take a good picture if they wanted to.
Yeah, that's right.
But, uh, of the 35mm stuff that I've kept, about all I've got now is a couple old Nikon F's.
Everything else is medium format.
Uh-huh.
I've got a couple 6x7's and I've got, uh, Uh, several twin lenses.
I've kept all my Rolleys.
I've got all them.
Yeah?
And those two Yashikas.
Those Rolley lenses are fantastic.
Oh, yeah.
Well, I got on to using those when I was working in show rings.
And, uh, using the Rolley twins.
Uh-huh.
And I just used the open viewfinder.
And it doesn't take much, a little experimenting, and pretty soon you get the hang of it real easy.
Yeah.
And, uh, that's the reason I've kept those.
Well, good for you.
I hope you get back into photography.
Well, I'm thinking on it because I'm coming close to retirement from my permanent job.
Then you need something to do.
Let me tell you something.
People who retire and don't get active in something die within two years.
It's a statistical certainty.
I don't know what it is, but human beings need to work at something.
Even if it's a hobby.
If you're working at something, it will keep you alive.
The minute you stop working, you've got about two years to live.
If you don't get seriously involved in something, And work.
Even if it's working at a hobby.
Even if it's going fishing every day.
You gotta do something.
Yeah, well I'm thinking about going to view cameras.
I'm thinking about going to 4x5.
Well, I'll tell you what.
I love that format.
I have a view camera and I love it.
But I can't work the show rings anymore on account of I have emphysema.
Yeah?
And I did a lot of horse shows.
Uh-huh.
And there's a lot more work out there than you'd believe until you get out there and try it yourself.
Well, you're probably absolutely correct.
I mean, if it's like any other kind of animal owner, they want pictures of their animals.
They want pictures of their animals winning, and in the contest, and in the ring, and all that kind of stuff.
And they'll pay big money for it.
But I understand what you're talking about your emphysema.
There's no worse environment to be in than a place where there's horses stomping around in straw and hay and horse manure and hair and stuff like that floating around in the air.
If you've got that kind of problem, you're in trouble.
Yep.
But there's lots of other things to photograph, my friend.
Well, good talking to you.
Thank you for calling.
I'll try to catch you a regular from now on.
Appreciate your call.
520-333-4578.
I love tonight's broadcast.
I love these calls.
This has turned out to be just one of the most enjoyable broadcasts that I think I've ever done.
I'm having fun.
I don't know about you.
you. 520-333-4578 is the best.
Good evening.
You're on the air.
Hello?
Good evening.
You're on the air.
Yeah, Bill.
This is John from Michigan.
Hi, John.
Hi.
Have you ever done any underwater photography?
Oh, yeah.
I used to teach it, as a matter of fact, at the College of Oceaneering, along with mixed gas and deep saturation diving and underwater explosives, demolition.
Yeah.
I used to teach it.
What I'm thinking of getting into is macro.
Underwater photography.
You got any kind of tips that I could, you know, use?
That's tough to get into because focusing is a real bitch, I gotta tell ya.
Um, what I would suggest is you get something... What kind of equipment are you using?
Uh, a Nikon S2 with a 35mm lens.
Do they have a, um... Do they have a, um... Oh, gee.
They... The cannons...
have something called a speed finder that takes the place of the normal finder on top of the camera and it's like a big inch and a half TV screen only it's not a TV screen it's a viewfinder but it's big see And when you're looking at that doing macro photography, you can see what you're doing and focus real well.
But when you're underwater and you've got your camera inside a housing or using a Nikonos
With with like a sports finder or something I don't know how you're going to focus in a macro mode
underwater without some kind of What I just described to you that I've used with cannons
Yeah, but you have you're yeah, but you have to know when you're focused
you.
See, the trick with macro photography is you get the lens real close to the subject.
Right.
But if you're underwater, you're not looking through the viewfinder.
You can't tell if you're focused and you might take a picture of something in focus and you might find out that three quarters of your roll of film was out of focus.
What you ought to do is call Nikon, tell them your problem that you want to do macro or micro photography underwater.
Every camera company in the world calls it macro photography except Nikon.
They call it micro photography.
So call Nikon and tell them what your problem is and ask them how you can do that with an IKONOS system.
Because I don't know how in the world you can do it with an IKONOS system.
Because I've never seen a Nikonist that you could look through a viewfinder and focus that close to the lens.
Yeah.
And I'm, you know, you know what I'm talking about.
With a Nikonist you have to judge the distance and you have to set the distance on the focus on the camera.
Yeah.
You're not looking through a viewfinder.
Would you have any advice on position of the strobe?
Is it best to put it right directly over top or should it be off to the side a little bit?
I would be off both sides.
Aiming just exactly in front of the lens, and I'd make sure I had a good lens hood.
That's what I would do.
If you're directly over the top, you're not going to get the kind of lighting that you're looking for.
Unless you've got three lights.
If you've got three lights, put one on each side and one over the top.
And if you need shadows, take one of the side lights away.
That'll give you a little depth.
You're a Navy diver, aren't you?
Pardon?
I was one of the pioneering divers.
I wasn't a Navy diver, but I was a diver, yeah.
You ought to do a show on that one day.
That's kind of an interesting subject.
Well, that's me and old Bob Swan.
We were in on some hellacious adventures, I got to tell you.
We were in on the pioneering days of diving.
All right.
I'll let you go, Bill.
Thank you.
Thanks for calling.
520-333-4578 so remember you have time for one more call if you make it real short. If not
then we going to hang the own out of this place bro. Good evening you're on the air.
Yeah Bill I have an old camera here it's called an XGFA.
You ever hear anything like that?
Yeah. It's like a little small fellows type camera. Yeah it's a rangefinder camera it's
one of the older ones made a long time ago. Yeah is it worth is there film do they still
make film for that?
Uh, well, I don't know which model you have and I don't know what kind of film it takes.
It says, uh, B2.
I still, that doesn't give me a clue.
Yeah, okay.
Uh, I don't know if it's a 35, you should be able to open up the back and tell it's a 35 millimeter or whether it takes, uh... No, the, the, the bellows on it's probably about like, uh, about three inches.
Three by three.
Well, that doesn't mean anything.
Depends on the lens.
You might, it might take $120 or $220, but you should be able to tell that by opening up the back if you have any photography experience.
If not, just take it down to your local camera store and somebody in there, they're not going to charge you a penny, they'll be happy to explain it all to you because they're going to sell you some film.
I see, okay.
Okay?
Alright, well thank you very much.
But that's, you know, if you got, let me tell you something.
Any of those old cameras are good cameras.
But you need to take it to a good, qualified camera tech and have him do what we call CLA.
Clean, lube, and adjust.
That's what I need to do?
Yeah, all of them need it.
Okay.
When they're old, they all need it.
Alright, that's great then.
Okay?
Thank you very much.
You're welcome.
Thanks for calling.
Yeah, good night.
Bye-bye.
That's it, folks!
That's it, my cracky!
What can I say?
Good night.
God bless each and every single one of you.
Thank you for making this a wonderful broadcast.
I enjoyed it so very, very much.
You just don't know how pleased I am.
Good night, Annie Poon Allison.
I love you.
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