A sign of the times

I dropped by one of the local pro photo places to pick
up a few things this afternoon, and noticed a couple
of press cameras on a shelf by the checkout. Both
4x5 Crown Graphics; one old (side viewfinder) and
beat up; the other newer with a top viewfinder and
apparently in good condition.

When I asked about them I was told they're rentals.
Not for taking pictures; they're worth nothing as
cameras, but worth lots as props for period movies.
Sigh...

*My* Crown Graphic isn't a movie prop. It takes
excellent pictures. I make a point of using it
handheld whenever possible.

Laura Halliday VE7LDH "That's a totally illegal,
Grid: CN89mg madcap scheme. I like it!"
ICBM: 49 16.05 N 122 56.92 W - H. Pearce

laura halliday spake thus:

I dropped by one of the local pro photo places to pick
up a few things this afternoon, and noticed a couple
of press cameras on a shelf by the checkout. Both
4x5 Crown Graphics; one old (side viewfinder) and
beat up; the other newer with a top viewfinder and
apparently in good condition.

When I asked about them I was told they're rentals.
Not for taking pictures; they're worth nothing as
cameras, but worth lots as props for period movies.
Sigh...

*My* Crown Graphic isn't a movie prop. It takes
excellent pictures. I make a point of using it
handheld whenever possible.

Another, related sign of the times is Richard Knoppow's observation that
many (most?) of the old Graflex flashguns have been snapped up by kids
who've made them into Star Wars light sabers ...


--
Don't talk to me, those of you who must need to be slammed in the
forehead with a maul before you'll GET IT that Wikipedia is a
time-wasting, totality of CRAP...don't talk to me, don't keep bleating
like naifs, that we should somehow waste MORE of our lives writing a
variorum text that would be put up on that site.

It is a WASTE OF TIME.

- Harlan Ellison, writing on the "talk page" of his Wikipedia article
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Talk:Harlan_Ellison)

laura halliday wrote:
I dropped by one of the local pro photo places to pick
up a few things this afternoon, and noticed a couple
of press cameras on a shelf by the checkout. Both
4x5 Crown Graphics; one old (side viewfinder) and
beat up; the other newer with a top viewfinder and
apparently in good condition.

When I asked about them I was told they're rentals.
Not for taking pictures; they're worth nothing as
cameras, but worth lots as props for period movies.
Sigh...

*My* Crown Graphic isn't a movie prop. It takes
excellent pictures. I make a point of using it
handheld whenever possible.

Laura Halliday VE7LDH "That's a totally illegal,
Grid: CN89mg madcap scheme. I like it!"
ICBM: 49 16.05 N 122 56.92 W - H. Pearce


FWIW, the local shop I frequent does have *working* Crown/Speed Graphics
for sale.