Club libraries/expensive cameras/Wollenveres

[P3D Elliott Swanson <e3d@xxxxxxxxxx>]

George posts:

My point is that the owner of the Custom Realist (or Ektar) with Seton
polarizers and Steinheil wide angle lenses (an outfit valued at over
$1500) can afford $30 to support Jess or other hobbyists that try to sell
their work in a very small market.  So, even if your club library carries
these books or periodicals, if you can afford it, please consider
buying/subscribing as individuals. 


-- George Themelis

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Elliott responds:

Would you believe George and I actually get along pretty well? I think our
conflicts are primarily Spartan vs. Athenian (you figure out which is
which, but I'm more in favor of democracy than an elected oligarchy  :) 

For the record, I've never paid that kind of money for a camera! I have a
total of $575 in the Ektar/Rochwite Realist, which includes the $125 paid
to Zak to install the lenses that were given to me (from the Harold Lutz
estate) into a 3.5 ($50). The expensive part was the polarizer, which was
$400, and that hurt for several months. The Steilheil w/a, which isn't a
permanently installed part of the camera turned up at a camera show a few
years later, with an asking price of $350, which I haggled down... shall
we say substantially... and covered the cost from a sale at the same
camera show. If you're willing to be patient, you don't have to pay
retail. If you want it now, then you do. Dalia will offer you immediate
gratification, and if you have the dough-re-mi, that's the way to fly!

Part of the reason I learned how to fix things was to pay for this
"hobby"... Why do you think George stays up until 2am with a workbench
full of tools and a jar of Mother's Mag Polish? He isn't getting rich,
'cause it takes a lot of time to do what he does, but it's how he affords
the equipment he wants to play with.

Also, for the record, I contributed a new, boxed Wollensak lens board
(given to me, but worth $70-- at least that's what Jess sold his last one
for)  towards the purchase of the Powell tapes for our camera club
library. This went to Jess as part of the deal. And I won't make illegal
copies, (but I'll be first in line to check out the Kodak tape for a
month!) 

One last thing on the subject of Wollensak boards while I'm thinking
about it...

Don't try to install a Wollensak board in a Revere. And if you see a
camera so modified, check the sharp infinity focus with an optical
instrument before handing over your money. Installing a Revere board in a
Revere is bad enough (I've done it, and actually managed to set sharp
infinity focus using my own non-Powell approach. At least the person who
bought the camera seems happy so far...) But you have to be a crack
machinist to get a Wollensak board properly installed in a Revere, unless
the trick of installing -1 diopter series V lenses actually works. (I
overheard the -1 diopter business talking shop at a camera show.) But
there are a lot of wrecked cameras from people attempting this swap, and
even Jess said it was a really bad idea, and he didn't plan to do any more
of them.


--Elliott



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