What is that??

marklcooper · February 2, 2013

I normally take my D300, with either a 17-55 f/2.8 or a 70-200 f/2.8 mounted, everywhere I go. Work, grocery shopping, wandering, etc.

This morning I was reading posts in the Classic Manual Cameras forum before I went to the grocery store. Normally, when folks see the D300 with whatever lens, I get: nice/cool/great camera. Today I took my Mamiya C330f with 80mm f/2.8 and some Kodak T400CN with me to the Starbucks in the local Kroger. The first question was: what is that? The customer before me, waiting for his coffee said: a film camera. The clerk said: I've heard of that, but I was born in 1992 and have never seen a film camera before.. I showed her how everything was backwards in the viewfinder. Then I snapped a pic of her, camera looking up from the counter. A barely perceptable 'snick.' Answer: 'wow.'

Hmmmmm - doesn't even look like a camera! I bet if I had whipped out my smartphone she would have recognized it as a camera<g>.

Mark

starvy · February 2, 2013

That is a preposition. She would probably had a better chance of knowing that than a medium format film camera?

willis · February 2, 2013

I get the same response when I carry eather my WideLux or Stereo Graphic cameras.

sjmurray · February 2, 2013

About 10 years ago at a family reunion I was shooting with a Yashicamat twin lens reflex. Some of my cousins looked at image in the focusing screen and assumed it was some kind of digital screen!

tom_cheshire · February 2, 2013

That is ok. Some people ask me what a mango is on the checkout line and mangos have been around since before anyone was born.

JDMvW · February 2, 2013

My Stereo Realist always produces confusion. Not least of the problems in recognizing it is the three eyes.

Here is the Stereo Realist as it appeared in the hands of Dr. Pat Medford in the film Them - the greatest of the "big bug" movies.<div></div>

dan_south · February 2, 2013

Speaking of phones, I wonder whether the clerk would know how to use a telephone with a rotary dial.

steve_mareno1 · February 3, 2013

Wow, thanks for the tid bit JDM. "Them" is one of my favorite movies. Love them big ants! They're almost as big as the local ones here in Florida. I usually have some sort of antique and obsolete (like me) camera thrown over my shoulder, and invariably get a good reaction from people. For sure it's a lot easier to point one at strangers w/o much of a reaction. Younger folk are sometimes fascinated by my old geezer machinery, and I always explain that you can pick up a wonderful old film camera for $50 or less that will blow the socks off most any digital camera in terms of image quality and sheer fun in use. Letting someone hold the camera and play w/ the controls always brings a smile to their face. Even if they've never held an old, classic film camera, they can feel the quality.

john_robison3 · February 3, 2013

Doesn't seem to matter in my town. I can carry any one of several classic film cameras, including a Kodak Tourist II 6X9 folder and I usually get not a glance. There is a liberal arts college in town that still has a traditional darkroom and a lot of the "greener's" seem to know about film.

spanky · February 3, 2013

I know what you mean. I take my RZ67 out on a regular basis. It does tend to draw a fair amount of attention which for street shooting may run counter to what the photographer wants, but nevertheless I've had some great conversations with some old timers that reminisced about the old film days. I was even offered a job once shooting landscapes on the spot by a man who came up to me to ask about my camera.

Sanford · February 3, 2013

It's happened yo me twice, once with a Lumix GF1 and once with an Olympus EP2: "Is that a Leica?!"

MichaelChang · February 3, 2013

A friend of mine has a '74 MGB in mint condition. He gets tons of looks and questions about the back story of the car every time it's on a joy ride.

What these folks don't know and my friend won't tell is, the car is a garage queen, totally useless and impractical as a daily driver, costs a fortune if anything goes wrong, but boy does he ever look cool in it with the top down. :-)

jcuknz · February 3, 2013

In pre digital days, for me anyway [1996 ], I used my Rolleiflex T for an assignment and drew the comment about it being an old camera from a young woman ... it would have been about fifty years old then. I was taken aback becuase I had picked it up for its ease in producing quality results against 35mm :-)

User_6502147 · February 4, 2013

Speaking of museum relics (ha ha)....I got some strange looks and inquiry about my 4x5. What's peculiar is that the woman was fairly close to my age. She either was not up on the photo technology or totally forgot about it. Yes indeed, it's a large P&S with the upside down LCD :>).

Les

erwin_schaefer · December 1, 2015

Back in ’77 I was in a restaurant with my SL66 photographing my friend Tony Noichl playing the zither. A member of a group of Japanese businessmen asked me: “ Oh, is dat a Zenza Bronica? “. I was in a playful mood (2 beers) and said: “Nah, just a cheap German imitation”. Before the lighthearted sarcasm sunk in I quickly cranked the bellows out to full extension and told him that a Bronica does not have that feature. However Bronica did produce a bellows attachment that was a very desirable piece of equipment.

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