colin's intertube

LOL COLON LOL. King of comedy, folks.

So yeah, these are the clowns you'll be dealing with at digitalrev.com.

A few days ago, some guy posted an ad on Craigslist for a lens. Post has since been removed, but he said it was less than a month old, was asking $450 for a lens that normally sells for $500 new. Sounds reasonable to me.

Next day, some guy posts a link to the same item on a site I've never heard of, DigitalRev. He said that this site charged the same, and encouraged buyers to buy new instead of used. Out of curiosity, I looked them up on ResellerRatings. Not good. I also saw that their cheapest shipping option was...wait...$30. Their domain is registered by somebody in Hong Kong, so for that $30 shipping, it will probably take your item about a month to arrive. That is, if it isn't conveniently "out of stock" because you didn't have $500 worth of accessories in your shopping cart. WHAT A DEAL!

Anyway, the post was quickly flagged, and the ad reposted shortly after. And again. And again. After seeing this ad posted about 20 times in the past few days, I sent him an email. Instead of replying, he decided to paste the email and his thoughts into a new Craigslist ad:

If anybody can figure out what the hell his point is, I'd like to hear it. I'm not really sure what my mentioning other stores has to do with anything. Or what the 1/10 of a second it takes for me and my "buddies" to flag has to do with him wasting his time. And seriously dude? Its not actually your website, you just love OMG DIGITALREV BEST STORE EVER so much that you feel the need to post the same craigslist ad 20 times? Riiiiiight.

If one potential buyer researching the name of the store sees this post and decides not to give these clowns their business as a result, I'll consider it a victory for mankind.

UPDATE: I emailed him again. Apparently he 1) can't read, and 2) can't find the reply button in his mail client.

Again, I'm not sure why he's pointing out things he found on my site that have nothing to do with what I was asking, or his agenda. But hey, if he wants to send traffic to my site, and make himself look worse in the process, more power to him.

Went to Milwaukee last weekend, with hopes of getting more use of my Kiev 4A. Unfortunately, I didn't have any B&W film in my bag. No worries, I figured I could just pick some up while I was out there. I made my usual antique store stops, and then made my way over to Mike Crivello's in Brookfield. They always have some great deals on just-expired film (as in, just expired last month!), and this visit was no different. I picked up a 5-pack of Provia in 120 format for $12, as well as several rolls of Velvia 50 for $3 each. In the midst of that excitement, I somehow managed to forget some B&W.

Those who have ever driven anywhere with me will know that I don't like driving in the opposite direction of where I'm heading. Another camera store (Art's on 76th St) was a little out of the way, but at least I wouldn't have to back-track. I asked for a couple rolls of Plus-X, and was shocked to hear my total come to $20! I knew that Freestyle sells rebranded Plus-X for just over $2/roll, and knowing that made this even more painful.

I do try to buy film from local stores when possible, just because that's a service I really don't want to see disappear. Most of the time, prices are reasonable. On the other hand, for $20, I can almost get an entire 100' bulk roll from Freestyle. I'll continue to use these stores, but if the price of the emulsion I'm looking for is too out of hand, I'm going to have to hold off.

On an unrelated note, I just loaded my last roll of Kodachrome a few days ago. I'm only about half way through, but already anxious to see the results. Hell, I might even skip the cheap WalMart-Dwayne's proxy* to get it back sooner!

* If you weren't aware, you can get really cheap processing of certain types of film via Wal-Mart's dropoff kiosks. It is never touched by Wal-Mart employees, they just send it out to Fuji Labs. They charge 90 cents for 120 and 220 C-41 processing, and $5 for 35mm E6 and Kodachrome. In the case of Kodachrome, Fuji just passes it along to Dwayne's, and then passes their bulk discount on to the customer. Its a great deal, if you can deal with the two-weak turnaround.

For awhile now, I've been looking for a 35mm rangefinder to add to my "take everywhere" rotation. Currently, that consists of SLRs - a Nikon N90, and a Pentax K1000. I'll lug around one of my medium-format cameras when possible and/or practical, but I've come to appreciate the convenience of 35mm*.

* Film and convenience together sounds funny, doesn't it? Don't get me wrong, I'd love to have a good digital camera - problem is that I have yet to find one that 1) I enjoy using, and 2) I can afford. If Nikon were to make a digital FM or FE, I'd be all over that.

The first rangefinder I tried was a Yashica Electro GSN, with a very sharp 45mm f/1.7 fixed lens and aperture priority. Awesome lens, good metering, but I've found it to be a little too bulky (feels heavier than my 35mm SLRs), and I didn't like the low-contrast rangefinder window so much. The ergonomics could be better - I'd rather see the aperture ring be closer to the body, and the focus closer to the end of the lens. I use it from time to time, but not as much as I would like.

Later, I came across the very popular Olympus XA. I loved the compact size at first, but eventually started to feel that it may be too small, as my hands were feeling cramped. It had another low-contrast rangefinder, which didn't work well for me in some lighting conditions. I also came across a Konica C35 at an antique store. Specs-wise, this is almost identical to the XA, but I much preferred the C35's handling. The camera I bought had no battery, but after installing one, I discovered that the shutter was bad, and was firing at the same speed regarless of meter reading. But oh man, that camera had the nicest view/rangefinder I've seen yet. Big, contrasty, seemed to work in most lighting. I'll definitely keep my eyes open for another.

I came to the conclusion that I enjoyed rangefinders enough to buy into a system with interchangeable lenses. That essentially meant Leica M, LTM, Nikon or Contax*. One thing that intrigued me was the high quality Soviet lenses, the most of which seemed to be available for LTM. To go with that, there are a lot of great looking Soviet M39 cameras. To me, this would be a good start, with a potential upgrade path to a Voigtlander Bessa R. Further research, however, pushed me toward the bayonet mounts. Two weeks ago, I settled on Zeiss Contax, because of the quality/cost ratio of available lenses, as well as its extremely wide rangefinder base.

* I guess this could be interpreted as the old Zeiss system, or the more modern G series. I'd consider both. And yes, I know Canon had their own bayonet, but I still consider their rangefinders to be primarily Leica thread mount.

Today, I came home to find a box covered in Cyrillic lettering waiting for me, which is always exciting. Inside was what looked like a Zeiss Contax III rangefinder, however it did not say Contax on it. This camera is a Kiev 4A, built in Ukraine in the early 1960s, years after the Soviets took over one of the Zeiss factories and moved operations back home. For all intents and purposes, this is a Contax III - my understanding is that the same factory produced models under both names.

The lens included is a Jupiter-8, an old Soviet copy of the Zeiss Sonnar 50mm f/2. Looked clean, with a few particles floating around under the front element group. In the camera body, I noticed a few quirks right away. First, the self-timer didn't work. Not a big deal to me, but maybe it could be fixed. Second, the exposure counter counted up, despite the fact that everything I've read about this camera says it counts down. I like it better this way, especially since I use a lot of bulk film that doesn't really have a set number of exposures. Finally, the shutter speed knob seemed to only work *before* advancing the film, not after as most reviews seem to say. But that makes sense, because slower speeds will require more winding.

Impressions? Oh hell yes. The viewfinder isn't bright by any stretch of the imagination, but it isn't too dark, either. It has a slight gray tint, while the rangefinder image is a bright pink for fantastic contrast. I could focus easily in bright sunlight, or in my basement. My eyesight isn't the greatest, so a good focusing aid and bright enough viewfinder is very important to me. And you know what? This might be the nicest focusing camera I've used yet. The viewfinder has no parallax correction, but whatev. The focusing knob is great, though the infinity lock mechanism is annoying at times. I may "disable" it with a toothpick in the future. Shutter speeds "feel" correct. No meter in this version, as the selenium meter in the Kiev 4 is uncoupled (annoying), probably broken, and kind of ugly. I absolutely love the wide rangefinder base, which makes for slow but very precise focusing.

Mine, unfortunately, did not come with a take-up spool. I can easily make one by cutting a notch into an old spool, but since I was in a bit of a hurry, I just taped the leader to a solid spool from a bulk canister. Hopefully that works ok. I'm not quite through my first roll, but I'll post the results when I am.

So far, I really, really like this. Its not perfect, but it seems to have all of the features that are important to me. I'd love to see an updated version with a modern, coupled meter (Dear Cosina/Voigtlander, please make a Contax RF clone now, complete with wide base, kthx). This thing has potential to be my default "take everywhere" camera, depending on how I can deal with the lack of built-in meter (sunny-16 has always worked fine for me).

Every once in awhile, I turn to eBay to buy or sell something. Every once in awhile, I'm reminded why I can't stand eBay.

The concept is fine., and the site itself is fine - I have no problem with these. Sure, the fees are annoying for sellers, but in many cases your options are to deal with them, or keep the item. The problem I have, and I know that millions of others would agree, is stupid users. A few days ago, I listed a 4x5 Graflex Graflok back. Handy item for large format shooters, but I just don't have a use for it. Its not a particularly expensive item, so I just took some photos with my cell phone. I even went as far as strapping a photo enlarger lens to my phone, which actually helps quite a bit for overall image quality. The results are obviously not the greatest, but by eBay standards, they're more than fine.

Apparently, somebody disagrees. The next morning, I find this in my inbox:

Dear rhubarbicus,

The first picture is of such poor quality that I cant see the flaws or
scratches this back may have. Totally useless. Can you post an
image that wasn't made with a cell phone?

- tios_corner

Where the hell did that come from? If he would have just sent the first sentence, I would have been quick to help him. But the rest of the message is just plain rude. Because of that, I'm starting to think that this guy probably isn't worth the hassle of selling to. Whatever, I'll tell him what's up, and see how he responds before I outright block him. My response:

Dear tios_corner,

I did take some better photos, but as I do not
own a digital camera, I had to process the film
and it was not yet dry enough to be scanned at
the time of the posting. I will have them up as
soon as I can, unless someone else buys the item
first.

Sorry for being totally useless.

- rhubarbicus

Seems reasonable enough to me. And 100% true. For whatever reason, he didn't believe me:

Dear rhubarbicus,

I dont know whether you're being serious or just being sarcastic. If you can post sharp
pictures of expired film than I'm confidant you have the means to do the same here.
Let me know once you're ready with a serious photo that's clear and representative of
the item. If that's not going to happen then I have no time to waste on silliness.

- tios_corner

On a side note, a quick search for his username seems to indicate that he has plenty of time for silliness. Regardless, this eliminated any doubt I had that I want nothing to do with this guy. In hope that maybe he'll learn a lesson from this - to not be rude to people in the future, I let him know that I was indeed serious and that he's definitely not getting the item:

Dear tios_corner,

Yes, I was completely serious. I do not own a digital camera other than my cell phone. The expired film photos were taken with the same cell phone. Other than that, I shoot film exclusively. I took some photos of this item but as I said, I don't have the film scanned yet. I'm not sure why that is difficult for you to believe.

Regardless, I don't even want to sell it to you anymore, because I know it will just be a gigantic hassle. I don't have time to deal with people who worry about how pretty an item is and whine at me if there are 3 scratches and I only said there were 2. I've been through it. You are the reason I and so many others hate ebay. You've been blocked from bidding on my items. Good day.

- rhubarbicus

and boom goes the dynamite:

Dear rhubarbicus,

No YOU are the reason ebay is a hateful experience for people who have been
here for years and years. I have 3 accounts with feedback totaling in the
hundreds. But look at YOU, Mr. 55'er. You come in as a new little shit, you
claim an item is this way or that way then you publish SHIT photos to match
your personality and then the buyer is forced to file a not as described claim
against you for your willful arrogance. Learn to read, I already told you I have
no time for stupidity. Do not EVER contact me again, you got that jackass?
NEVER.

- tios_corner

Hot diggity damn. How could I NOT reply to that?

Dear tios_corner,

Seriously, are you 12? Let me give you a tip.
If you want somebody to do you a favor, *don't*
be rude and call them names. People don't like
to help people who are rude. If you would have
been POLITE in your initial request, I would have
been more than happy to help you out. But you
didn't, you decided to be rude for no particular
reason. I have done absolutely nothing wrong,
nothing to incite these hateful comments. There
is one person here who is acting like a child,
calling names and using foul language, and that
is you.

Grow up.

ps I'm pretty sure having multiple accounts is
not allowed.

- rhubarbicus

At this point, part of me was hoping that this would be the end of it. I'll be honest though, I was really hoping to hear back again, purely for comic value. And oh boy, did he deliver. Not only did he deliver, he played internet detective and found my personal website and email address! Here's his latest email:

Okay Colin Baker - no problem, I reported you for a policy violation and just heard back from ebay about it. This will be recorded on your account. What you and your friends think of me personally is of no consequence. You're weak for even sending something like that. What matters is when someone tells you not to contact them again you might want to consider whether it's worth risking your year older account to defend your fragile ego. I've had another knuckle head bounced off ebay for similar nonsense so you wouldn't be the first. Follow policy before you get thrown off ebay. Nice blog btw, boring but nice.

Well, hopefully my blog is a little less boring now. I was a bit interested to see that he took the time to report me for a "policy violation" - as far as I can tell, the only policy I have violated is posting photos not up to tios_corner's requirements. Oh wait, that's not a policy. I was curious, so I asked:

Dearest Tio's Corner (if that is your real name),

Wow, now you're stalking me too? Incredible. So exactly which "policy violation" did you report me for? As far as I can tell, the only thing I've done wrong is post photos that are not up to Tio's Corner's standards. I don't think that's against the rules.

Oh, and for somebody who "doesn't have time for stupidity" you sure do have a lot of time for trolling ebay and harassing other users in much the same way:

http://thecommodities.blogspot.com/2009/07/question-ii-regarding-polaroi...
http://thecommodities.blogspot.com/2009/09/up-to-speed.html

Awesome. I'll bet my blog will be less boring once I start posting about you too!

I'm still waiting for my account to be suspended, btw. Haven't heard anything yet, but I sure am nervous!

Your pal,

Colin M. Baker XVII
Master of Totally Useless Ebay Photos

Welp. I think I zinged him pretty good here. And I'm still waiting to be kicked off of eBay!

Actually, now that I think about it, I should start using eBay more often. Because he's right - this blog is boring, and I could use a few idiots to write about.