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New mechanical panoramic film camera from Jeff Bridges

wideluxx.com

61–70 of 120 posts

Re: New mechanical panoramic film camera from Jeff Bridges

#61
post #29
post #27

> I confirm that this is a customized product and that the statutory right of withdrawal under Section 312g(2)(1) of the German Civil Code (BGB) does not apply. Interesting checkbox on the purchase page. I wonder what the implications are.

When you buy something in Germany and the EU, you typically can return it. That does not apply to custom buildouts, like this camear.

5200 € of camera and you don’t even get a guarantee? That’s bold

Re: New mechanical panoramic film camera from Jeff Bridges

#62
post #26

I've been patiently waiting for this to drop for ~5 years, and I was hoping that it would somehow be under $1000. Oh my god. $4400 is... a lot of money. $175 shipping had better include a Jeff Bridges Cameo video. Don't get me wrong: I suspect that he's spent millions of dollars getting the project to this point, and that it's a mechanically perfect instrument. Huge respect for caring this much and seeing the project…

That is bonkers pricing. There is no way they actually expect a sell out with this price.

I don't know much about how this camera is priced, but I think you're underrating the human desire for exclusivity. I won't be surprised when that first run sells out.

Re: New mechanical panoramic film camera from Jeff Bridges

#63
post #52
post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That is bonkers pricing. There is no way they actually expect a sell out with this price.

I would put this in the luxury goods category, which has been doing really well. Photography has a lot of gear horders too, so I wouldn't be surprised if on that alone it sells out. Then people who actually want to use it will stay priced out. It's my biggest peeve with artificial scarcity markets, speculators or collectors buy everything and people who actually want to use the item can't afford it.

Same. When hobby/professional products become luxury/category goods, prices of everything go up because they're now Veblen Goods.

The craziest thing is seeing companies closing because of saturation, and prices of discontinued products shooting up immediately.

Re: New mechanical panoramic film camera from Jeff Bridges

#64

It seems to suffer from an un-necessary amount of panoramic distortion, unless that is supposed to be part of the charm.

That is indeed part of the charm. The people who like swing lens panoramic cameras like the Widelux like that look. The alternative is something like the Hasselblad Xpan, or even just a panoramic crop from a regular camera. A swing lens does something unique.

I'm curious, is it generally used hand-held, as in the website's pics? I would guess that it adds wobbling on top of the distortion (maybe a less desirable feat).

Re: New mechanical panoramic film camera from Jeff Bridges

#65
It's surprising how long we've had these. On this page is a panoramic image taken in 1864:

https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=8ok-AQAAMAAJ&newbks=1&ne...

It doesn't look like a photo, because at that time, the only way to mass produce an image was for an artisan to reproduce it as a wood engraving. I don't know if the ILN (which still exists! In Shoreditch high street lol) still has the original.

The camera used was by the London Pantoscopic company, like this one: https://collection.sciencemuseumgroup.org.uk/people/cp132843...

Re: New mechanical panoramic film camera from Jeff Bridges

#66
post #62
post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That is bonkers pricing. There is no way they actually expect a sell out with this price.

I don't know much about how this camera is priced, but I think you're underrating the human desire for exclusivity. I won't be surprised when that first run sells out.

> the human desire for exclusivity

I sense some resentment for people with money.

Personally, I don't find it hard to imagine at all that there's 350 photographers who whom $4000 is not a big deal (many of them on this site), who are looking for something interesting and new.

Re: New mechanical panoramic film camera from Jeff Bridges

#67

I was trying to understand what’s new in this version compared to the old one. From the site: What Has Changed - Modern precision - Serviceable parts - Modern glass - Improved rewind - Custom finishes Which is a bit too vague for my taste.

The tech specs are also really vague. Like, what is it made of? How big is it? How is the viewfinder? This product makes sense only to someone who already has used or has an old Widelux and wants a new one

Re: New mechanical panoramic film camera from Jeff Bridges

#68

I've been patiently waiting for this to drop for ~5 years, and I was hoping that it would somehow be under $1000. Oh my god. $4400 is... a lot of money. $175 shipping had better include a Jeff Bridges Cameo video. Don't get me wrong: I suspect that he's spent millions of dollars getting the project to this point, and that it's a mechanically perfect instrument. Huge respect for caring this much and seeing the project…

[dead]

Re: New mechanical panoramic film camera from Jeff Bridges

#70

I've been patiently waiting for this to drop for ~5 years, and I was hoping that it would somehow be under $1000. Oh my god. $4400 is... a lot of money. $175 shipping had better include a Jeff Bridges Cameo video. Don't get me wrong: I suspect that he's spent millions of dollars getting the project to this point, and that it's a mechanically perfect instrument. Huge respect for caring this much and seeing the project…

I feel better now about the $700 I spent buying a 35mm panoramic film back for my medium-format Bronica SQA. It seemed like a real splurge at the time, but for the price of this new camera, you could get a whole Bronica system - including four or five lenses, an alternate viewfinder, a couple of 120 backs, and the panoramic film back - with enough left over for a year's worth of film and processing. People must reall…

You can get an identical field of view with a 30mm lens on that setup.
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