Or they are sick of having them repaired all the time....:+}
I have a 1DsMII as Back up now..
James I was not trying to make any kind of insult... Just was wondering...
I guess if they are that cheap you could always just buy another Contax Body for back-up really.
I had Mamiya after my Contax for many many years and never really had any troubles apart from a shutter curtain went out on me after about 10 years..
And I was a lot less "careful" than I am now with digital.
You do nice work with whatever camera you have, I just was wondering how many have invested $$ in Contax which apparently has no future. Might be hard to flip a Phase Back in the future to a format that is or will be scarce??
Just non important thoughts...
Snook
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I rarely get my feelings hurt and obviously I have no stake in Contax success, because there really is no Contax. I see that as a plus rather than a negative.
My biggest conern on set is does it work reliably and if something goes wrong can we seamlessly change it. As I've said I have 4 bodes (though we only carry 2) and two backs.
Actually I'm much less concerned with a mostly analog Contax breaking or having issue than any of the new cameras that will probably need some type of firmware upgrades. I love the fact that the contax does not have a port for firmware upgrades.
You already hear that the mamiya 28mm needs a firmware upgrade, some mamiya 645's do, some Rollei lenses do, etc. etc. This may not be accurate, but if they do need constant upgrades to find the fixes, add on the lenses, that is just hours and days out of our lives that we don't need to spend.
I do have an intrest in selling photography, not selling equipment and quite honestly they are much different business models.
Obviously we want the cameras and everything that goes with it to improve, but I personally think all of the new medium format cameras and especially the lenses are too expensive.
Maybe I would feel different if some client actually asked for more detail, or cared what camera I used, but so far they don't. There is a lot of things clients ask for but at this stage file size is usually just a given.
As far as investment, all digital cameras don't seem to be high on the list of a good investment unless you use them to make money. All of them eventually crash in price and we all know cameras have moved from the 10 year analog business model to the 18 month electronic business model.
I personally don't think the camera makers have decided what business they are in. One one hand lenses come out two per century and on the other hand the camera backs are updated about every 2 years.
This may be a little off topic, but there comes a point that there is only so much even successful photographers can absorb and as the cameras get more expensive, the rates are tightening, the usage is getting longer, the number or setups per day is increasing.
This doesn't mean our industry is bad or in a downturn, but it does highlight the fact that more is asked of us than ever before and if money isn't an issue, time investment is.
Regardless, most medium format cameras were made to last a long time and buying used isn't really an issue. The manufacturer's know this also because it's obvious Hasselblad is trying to get all the H-1/2's off the shelves.
JR
