Thursday, August 7, 2008

the rolleiflex minidigi af 5.0!


Photographers are geeks. I should know. "I are one." As such, we LOVE our photographic equipment. I doubt painters could wax philosophic for hours about the merits of one brush over another like photographers do over their cameras. If so, I wonder if they experience the same glazing over of the eyes of the poor victim trapped in such conversations. As a warning to the unitiated, this thread is leading towards just such a discussion. If you are not interested in equipment, get out now!


Over the course of the development of photography, certain manufacturer's cameras helped define the art. In more recent times, these cameras included chronologically, the Graflex, the Rolleiflex twin-lens reflex, the Leica rangefinder, the Nikon F, to name a few. These cameras became increasingly more portable, enabling photographers to be there at "the decisive moment." But I digress. . . Recently, Komamura Corporation, unveiled its latest incarnation of the classic Rolleiflex Camera. It is a miniature digital replica, scaled to 3 inches tall, "boasting" an interpolated 5 megapixels of resolution. The replica comes in either a traditional black model or a new, hot "red" version (which was never produced by Rolleiflex, but SHOULD). Needless to say, as a photo geek, I had to have one. I have an actual Rolleiflex that I inherited from my uncle, but this new toy replica is an homage; not necessarily one that is to be employed as a serious photographic tool, but one that can be displayed prominently on a shelf for other geeks to admire and fawn over. It appeals to my Japanese sensibility as we seem captivated by ANYTHING in miniature.


The camera is shown above, although with no frame of reference, it's small size is not really given justice.

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