David, Thanks for the retro trip. My memories (too far back to totally relate here) begin with sitting by my father in his basement "darkroom" , nostrils full of the smell of chemistry, and being amazed each time an image developed in the tray. First camera, Baby Brownie in about 1942. Took it to school to show off and (Mom was right) it got stolen. Crushing day. Still have the first picture taken.
Jack --- David Oswald <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > > Jack Davis wrote: > > How much longer will starving film cameras demand > 35mm > > color pos/neg films be produced? What level of > > production and availability would qualify as "in > > production"? > > What's the likelihood of film's resuscitation > through > > some manner of structural breakthrough? > > Un-answerable, but care to muse? > > > > I was thinking the other day about things I remember > from my childhood > (I was born in 1968): > > Visiting the "As-Is" section of a local thrift > store. "You can buy one > thing up to $1.00". I found some relic of a > malfunctioning bellows > camera. I wonder whatever happened to that. > > My first (functioning) camera: A 126 with flashcube. > > Sitting in the back seat of the stationwagon while > my parents pass > through the "PhotoHut" drive-through to pick up > their prints and slides. > > Family gatherings with the slide projector. Dad > always messing around > with the focus until we were all dizzy. Slides > always getting stuck in > the mechanism. Remember how they pop out of focus > if they get too hot? > > Our Polaroid One-Step; a photographic > disappointment. > > Junior High School Photography class: Developing B&W > negatives and > processing my own prints. Building a pinhole > camera. Opening a new > world of creativity. > > Dad got himself an Olympus OM-2n and began acquiring > lenses. I can > still name most of them: 50mm f/1.4, 85mm f/1.8, > 135mm f/2.8, 24mm > f/2.8, 28mm f/2.8, 35-70 f/??, Vivitar > teleconverter: 2x, and 1:1 macro. > I had a lot of fun with that camera too. > > Taking my own slides and prints on an extended trip > to Portugal > (1987-1989), with a hand-me-down Canon A1 (or > something like that; a > split-image focusing camera that looked a lot like > an SLR but wasn't). > > My PZ-20: A chance to dig a little deeper into the > hobby. > > My ZX-5n: I tried new film almost every month there > for awhile: Royal > Gold, Gold, Max, Porta 400VC, 160NC, Supra 100, 400, > 800, NHG 800, > Superia 400, Reala 100, Tri-X, and so on... pushing, > pulling, filtering, > rewinding with the leader out so I can swap but > still finish the roll > later, etc. > > A kid born in 2008 (when I turn 40) won't ever > process his own prints, > won't experiment with film, won't pick up prints at > PhotoHut, won't > watch family slide shows on a projector screen, and > won't know that 24 > Exposure rolls really have 25 shots on them if > you're lucky. ;) > > __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Tired of spam? Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around http://mail.yahoo.com