Re: dependability

[Donal Philby <donalphilby@earthlink.net>]

Kari,

You speak truth.  Of course, it depends on where you are working.  If in
a city where things are nice, anything will do.  In remote areas, it IS
nice to have mechanical.  

A problem, however, is that the whizbangs have changed the standards for
publication acceptance.  Flash fill is a case in point.  Or the pop and
blurr of lots of outdoor magazines.  We can use an R6 or M4 and a
vivitar 283, but it is not as easy or, with transparency films, as
predictable.

We live in a disposable economy.  I have this box in my living room
containing the autopsied corpses of an N90s and an SB-26 that died from
condensation (pneumonia?).  But there is no visible damage.   Two repair
shops, including Nikon, has said to just throw them away.  But it hurts.

But with the F5 being the same price as an R6, it is no longer
"disposable," at least not on editorial rates today.

Donal Philby
San Diego









Kari Eloranta wrote:
> SS puts a couple of Leicas and a couple of lenses in
> his bag and takes a local bus. Which in part enables him to be "like
> the locals" and get close.
> 
> But to the main issue. Complex equipment obviously allows more ways
> for things to go wrong. No matter what the sales reps. tout I'm
> convinced that top quality mechanical equipment is more reliable
> than electronic and this tends to show at extreme conditions.
> 
> The bottom line is that when you get your equipment tested before a
> trip/assignment an experienced mechanic can tell if a mechanical
> camera shows wear or corrosion damage inside that might prove to be
> fatal later on. Electronic ones go abruptly. Without seeing any
> advance signs of trouble in the microcircuits one of them can
> develop a tiny crack in the circuit coating/connections and
> consequently the whole shutter dies. Humidity is perhaps the worst
> enemy. Moreover I doubt that the electronic circuits are as
> resistant to extreme temperature variations. Just too many materials
> with varying temperature characteristics mixed up.
> 
> All this of course compounds. You can send a N90 to the Arctic
> Circle once and chances are it does allright. This is how the
> advertisers tend to find "the proof". But what happens on its fifth
> trip?
> 
> Mechanical SLR's can be extraordinarily reliable. Nikon F, F2,
> Canon F-1's, and some others all have long and impeccable record.
> 
> On tired moments on the road I sometimes scold myself for carrying
> more than one of these heavy beasts. For reliability reasons I
> wouldn't need to. But if I have one stolen or want to shoot color as
> well there better be at least two.
> 
> Regards,
> 
> Kari Eloranta
> 
> Photographers are the most loathsome inconvenience. They're
> malicious. They're the pits.    Paul Newman