[Leica] which medium format?

[firkin at ncable.net.au (Alastair Firkin)]

> Not quite everyone......... Some of us are really enjoying  the
> availability of lenses and bodies at bargain basement prices.....
>
> As of about a year ago, Samys camera in LA had a bunch of 201 cameras new
> in the box that they could not sell.  Of course, they
> wanted full list price......  Yes, inventories are high and dealers are
> dumping new inventory through EBay.
>
> I think Alastair that you have a Hasselblad 205?  That is a really pretty
> complex beast.  I have a 201 ( almost completely
> mechanical, about as mechanical as an M7 without a meter) , and I expect
> that it will be serviceable for a while, maybe 5-10 years
> if I am lucky.... My 501CM will probably be serviceable for as long as an
> M3.....  There are a lot of 500 parts out there.....  And
> a lot of repair expertise in the non-factory sector.

The 500 series will go on (film may become scarce ;-) ) and the 201 may be
mechanical, though I believe my 205 will operate fine without the metering
etc. The blad is beautifully built and I would expect (given the lack of
repair needed for most of my equipment bar the leica) it will last for
years as well, but there will be a very limited supply of parts: already
the 205 tcc is OUT. Hasselblad in Australia won't touch it, so I had to
find an FCC. This they will fix for a while yet, but not much longer I
suspect. Hopefully it will not need "help", but I would not be paying big
money for a digital back for it --- as I had thought about before the TCC
problem.

I'm suffering a bit of the sads about the rapid demise of my darkroom. I
know it could continue for years, but the jobo has no spare parts in Oz,
Durst are out of enlargers now -- interesting that some say the darkroom /
large format is having a re-birth, but we don't see it in Oz and the shut
down of these guys does not bode well. I sat working on testing
films/developers over teh weekend looking at the colour analysers, colour
heads, filters etc etc packs of paper and chemcals all rotting ;-) yes
just a dose of the sads. Used to be I was one of the few people who could
make his own images. Now anyone can. I'm not denying their right, only the
lack of effort required ;-)

I'm off to Tasmania in 3 weeks to do a b/w landscape workshop with Richard
White and Bruce Barnbaum. I'm working like a devil to be ready and to try
to improve my printing, BUT it is obvious to me that if I really wanted to
get prints like those guys, a cheque and a little help from Epson would
speed me past the post ;-)

Cheers

Alastair