Baby Cooter,
I have been shooting the Pentax 645D for quite a while now.
gwitif,
Yea, we're dong pretty good, hope your doing the same.
About the 645d, thanks, that's good to know. We'll make some calls and see if we can get a body and a lens and do a quick test.
You say you dedicate it to black and white. Have you used it on color and since you mostly shoot people what are the skin tones on the 645D like?
Also what do you process in?
You know, it's funny, we were in Tokyo a few months ago and my partner and producer asked me if I wanted to go to Yodobashi the large camera chain in Japan.
They have everything and I'm sure brand new Pentax lenses.
I said, uh . . . no . . . . well yea, but uh, no because I'll only spend 10 grand or a lot more, buying the Pentax and I probably shouldn't buy it.
Maybe I was wrong.
P.S. I'm surprised that K at Samy's couldn't offer a buy back or warranty. She's been so good for our business and like you we've had nothing be great service from her.
Well, maybe Samy's doesn't have the pull like B&H.
Fred,
The two phrases I've heard in this business from the moment I picked up my first camera is 1. Things use to be better in the good ol' days (I don't believe that) and 2. Film (motion) crews think still guys make bank, still guys think cinema (motion) crews make bank and spend too much money on production.
Sure there is some waste sometimes, but in reality at least in my world, I don't know anyone throwing money around like it doesn't matter. I see the opposite. Our budgets aren't that much different, but the amount of volume we're required to produce is up 5 fold.
Also our 10 hour shoot days are now 12 to 14 hours, unless God turns off the light.
Anyway.
I understand that the world is getting smaller and it's easy to say we can all shoot on a tiny camera, tiny lights and do the next Michael Bay movie, or GQ spread, but in reality, with anywhere near serious money and high expectations on a project you have to have robust equipment.
Sure Arri, Mole, LTM, are all old meat locker technology, and weigh too much, have a hell of a power draw, but you can also toss two dozen of them into the back of truck and they won't break.
Try that with anything lighter, smaller and cheaper and I know from experience you'll have non working lights.
Actually, two years ago we bought some large fluorescents that had the biggest tube in each fixture I've ever seen. They always broke in transport, even though the maker finally came out with a hard case. Those lights still set on a shelf broken and I have no desire to replace them.
Now I do think some of the smaller cameras are fascinating and allow us to do some tricks that couldn't be done before, at least not without hours of rigging, but I also can't see me saying to myself, much less a client that uh, well, the RED went down but we have this little white Nikon that shoots video.
Maybe it's old school but that's one of the reasons I bought a second RED, one of the reasons we also have a Scarlet being delivered as I write this.
I have a problem with the word cheaper, maybe it's just a reflection of the way the market has gone the last few years with the economic downturn, but cheaper to me usually means a client wants the same if not more than they did before, just for less budget.
You know I've ridden this storm and come out ok, but me and my studios have done it by working harder and not dropping our production levels. Sure, sometimes you bite the bullet and don't make what you want, but in the end, looking to the medium term, it always pays off.
In fact we invested more during the "recession" than we did when things we're fat, (or is that phat?) and I know it's paid off.
Don't get me wrong, if someone makes a RED equivalent that sells for 3 grand I'll buy it, or if they make some camera that absolutely does what no other camera in the world will do for 50 grand, I might buy that also, but in the end, everybody says it's just about the photograph or the story or the video or the whatever, but what it's really about is delivering without problems, hesitation and excuses and the only way I know to do this is with professional people and professional equipment.
As far as dealers and their markup, I have no problem with that as long as it's fair market value. Hey, I have no problem with anyone making a healthy profit, because if they don't they won't be around and a good dealer can be a lifesaver.
IMO
BC