It's here! It's here! It's finally here!

[mc2imaging]

You've laid your plans carefully. You did your best to follow the rules. Most

of the time you knew you were good, but still took a few risks. You know what

you wanted and you are pretty sure that the best stuff on your list will be

waiting for you. As the anticipation builds, you may have doubts. There are

many variables with this magical time, and while you are rarely disappointed,

there is always a chance that something may go wrong. As the time grows near,

you think about things to come. The joy that will be shared as that package is

opened and everyone sees your reward inside. You may even find that the one you

were looking forward to the most is overshadowed by a surprise gift, a

serendipitous discovery. When it's all over you are energized, on fire, ready

to do it again; but, alas, you must wait! For this kind of joy is too great to

experience every day. Fortunately you don't have to wait until Christmas to

experience this kind of excitement, you just need to grab that film camera off

the shelf and squeeze off a roll every now & then. Yup, you'll feel like an

idiot every time you snap the shutter then look at the back of the camera to

see what you got, only to see nothing (except maybe the date). But the giddy

feeling of waiting for the film to run is like Christmas: You never REALLY

know what's in that package until you open it!

[personalphotos]

So I'd assume the Tequila in your area is stronger than in mine?

[personalphotos]

So a 645NII, an LX? Do we have to wait till Santa leaves as well?

[miserere_mei]

That type of Tequila is illegal in Massachusetts.

[stemked]

Matthew,

 

Is there more a point to this thread? This isn't exactly the type of thing we leave in the archives.

[john_ferguson3]

What's here?

[andrewg_ny]

While the thread may seem to lack news or a question, I'd rather see stuff like this from time to time than yet another discussion on K*D pricing and rebates. Even though this is more of a gear forum, a little joy of photography material from time to time among friends isn't going to hurt anyone.

 

Of course, the post title made me think that Christmas came early and either Pentax had a big announcement or Matthew got something cool courtesy of UPS.

[mc2imaging]

It's not tequilla, it's silver halide!

[michael_kuhne]

Maybe a dream/premonition...

[walter_degroot]

must be a full frame 20 mp pentax K mount camera.

 

for $500.00

I cannot think it would be anything else.

[xpiotiavos]

i mean if we're gonna dream, we might as well dream big, right?

 

forget 20mp at $500, why not a 2,000 MP sensor with a usable ISO 2^32, fully waterproof to a depth of 3 miles, big, bright viewfinder, and a 10-1500mm zoom lens with f/1 constant max aperture and flawless optics.

 

oh yeah, and it's free and it will fit in your pocket.

[xpiotiavos]

forgot to mention... the lens is also waterproof.

[denys_meunier]

No No NO guy's its Pentax,they bought nikon and canon,the deal is, buy a D3 and get the mark 3 free.

[alisa_stieg]

Personally, this gave me the biggest laugh of the day! THANKS!

 

I was sure it was a Pentax announcement from the title of the thread. Then as I read on, I thought Matthew got a package from Santa early.

 

What Matthew says is completely true, though. We are so spoiled using digital cameras that the thrill of opening a freshly developed package of film is a thing of the past. Honestly, though, I really enjoy the instant gratification of digital! And the joy of knowing I can delete all the garbage and don't have to pay a dime for any shot I take! LOVE THAT! Especially since I shoot plenty of garbage, beginner that I am!

 

Thanks, Peter, for making me laugh out loud!

 

Lisa

[michaelc]

I'd forgotten how much I used to sweat just before I opened up the paper envelope with my prints. Did I use the right F Stop, dammit maybe I should have used side lghting.......on and on. If I was lucky there would be one maybe two really good pics. That would make my day and make me feel like I really did accomplish something...... We now live in the era of instant gratification.

 

Who says you can't go back......load that SLR or maybe your Haselblad (SP), use that light meter, manually do the settings, adjust the manual focus, breathe deep and squeeze the shutter.

 

Merry Xmas

[mountainvisions]

I agree. I still love either getting a roll of provia back from the pro lab or better processing it myself. There is nothing like viewing your results on the light box.

 

I know it's messy, causes cancer and kills ducks. And it's expensive, wasteful, and doesn't give isntant gratification, but there is still a sense of satisfaction and enjoyment of seeing your work for the first time on film.

[mc2imaging]

Thank you Alisa and Michael for actually READING the post!

 

Some say that digital has made us lazy because we now know when we missed the shot,

so we don't take as much care in setting it up. We shoot it to death 'till it works.

 

I think this is actually a valueable LEARNING tool because you INSTANTLY know what

works and that is reinforced immediately. With film you might have tried a few things, but

if you didn't take notes, you may not remember what you did by the time you see the

prints. This makes the learning curve steeper.

 

My first DSLR was a Kodak DCS 200 (a Nikon 8008 with a 1MP sensor and an 80 meg hard

drive). The LCD display told you how much battery and drive space you had, and that was

it. I teathered it via SCSI to a PowerMac 7200/75 and played with my studio lighting to

find out what I liked and what I didn't. Just a few years previous we were using Poloroid

backs for that kind of stuff, but this was much cheeper (I traded some stuff I wasn't using

for the camera plus $50 - this thing was MINT and sold for $5000 new). I've since parted

the camera out, selling the digital components for $150 and I STILL have a now film

shooting N8008...

 

As cool as it is, there are some things digital will never replace, one of which is the 'Joy of

Christmas' I get every time I drop off a roll for processing.

[mc2imaging]

Thanks to Justin too, your post showed up after I started typing...

[andrewg_ny]

Justin, it's OK--chemical photo processing only kills the <i>extra</i> ducks.

[mountainvisions]

True...

 

Andrew BTW...I got your email (was a bit busy with a trip out of town, and restoring my PC after my power supply failed)...i am addressing it. I will get back to you about it. thanks for the heads up.