A Seasonal Game

If anyone wants to play a little speculation game, I've got two questions for anyone who wants to play along:

1. If you could buy yourself one photography-related present this holiday season, what would it be?

and,

2. If you could ask Santa (anyone in the photo industry) to make one special present (product) just for you, what would that be?

Don't feel obligated to answer both.

_____________________

Mike

Comments

[carpeicthus]

1) A shipping note for my D3, but a 24-70 would work, too.

2) Good-quality grids for speedlights for fairly cheap. I don't feel like gluing straws together, or showing up at jobs with lashed-together cardboard boxes.

[Matthew Miller]

I'll answer #2. A weather-sealed Pentax K mount prime lens in the 30-35mm range with a nice wide maximum aperture.

I guess failing that, for #1, someone could get me the DA* 16-50mm.

[John A. Stovall]

1. A Noctilux for my M8.

2. Leica to make me an M8 with the high ISO preformance that my 5D has.

[Janne]

#1: I guess would be "Light, Science and Magic: An Introduction to Photographic Lighting" (which, conveniently enough, should be on my doorstep by Saturday or so). If we widen the concept of "buy" just a bit, I'd get myself a good, solid handson photography course with a focus on the artistic, rather than technical side, of photography.

#2: A small-body K-mount Pentax camera (think ME Super or smaller), designed for use with prime lenses, and especially the pancakes, as a second or always-there camera. Not necessarily an SLR either; have an optical viewfinder with an overlaid display that can 1) show you grid lines for the current focal length; and 2) at the press of a button show you the live view throguh the lens, including a zoomed-in, enlarged view of the center for focusing help.

[Bill Corbett]

1) The Nikon D300. Even though many of us are probably waiting on some final reviews, I've never owned/shot with a Nikon! I think it's time and this might be the one.

2) A "street" camera... I mean, come on. How hard can it be for someone to do it right: small body, truly wide fast prime, a really good sensor, quiet shutter... etc. It just doesn't seem that it would be that hard a thing to do. I can only suppose that no camera maker believes there is a market for it. I think whoever made a really nice one would be pleasantly surprised!

[john robison]

An eight times improvement of my photographic "eye", I already have too much hardware and not near enough vision.

[Player]

1.) I'm waiting on it: a Ricoh GRD2.

2.) 35mm Film Scanner/ Negative Burner

[Cateto]

Straight to my answers:

1. I'd buy the wonderful top-notch prime lenses for my Pentax K10D.

2. I would ask for a Pentax K20D (or any other name) with the same set of features found in the K10D, plus live view, plus the abilities under low light that you can see with a Finepix F30. That would be a dream come true.

[Petr Bohacek]

1) Canon EF 70-200/2.8 IS L or Canon EF 50/1.2 L

2) Canon 5D Mark II

[Don Jagoe]

1) a Canon 1DSMKIII to replace my 1DMKII for portraiture...

and, not withstanding the engineering challenges/implausibility,

2) a rangefinder built around the 5D sensor and Digic III processing. Oh, that would be sweet.

Oh, and for my stocking? TOP to continue with this great content throughout the new year. The posts have been terrific.

[Dennis Mook]

1) a good quality flatbed scanner to digitize all of those old photos of grandparents, parents, children, siblings and other family photographic treasures that only exist as prints.

2) a dslr which is the equivalent of a Nikon F2, Canon F1, etc. In other words, a no frills dslr that is built tough to pro standards with manual exposure, manual focus, minimal battery use (of course it would have to be electronic by its very nature) and a large bright viewfinder. I don't need all of the automation, buttons and whistles.

[András]

1) I would get a D3 for this christmas

2) I would want a speedlight with li-ion batteries (like the ones you have in cameras) and Nikon CLS done with radio (think built-in pocketwizards)

[Claire Senft]

A coupon to buy 20,000 square feet of B&W glossy VC Fiber paper of the highest quality at $.01/ square foot cut to order would suit me just fine.

20,000 square feet of very high quality RA4 color paper that has a surface & LE that qualities of an archivally processed air dried fiber paper for a total price of $200.00

[Martin]

My wish for santa or christmas is a REAL "street photography device", a SPD (I don't mean a german party!) wether a Ricoh GRD II or—who remembers?—a Sigma DP1.

A Leica M8 could be a good choice, if Leica had taken the risk to build a real new and real digital device, perhaps as a Four/Thirds Camera.

The actual compromise with sensor-size is what I call "the Leica-Paradoxon".
What a pity!

[yz]

1. Leica M8
2. A Nikon FM3a body with a D3 cmos inside

[Jeremy]

1) A couple of Speedlights and some radio remotes.

2) A street camera, like all the others want, with the same spec.

[Nigel]

1. The photographically related present: A photo-holiday on Iceland in midsummer

2. The one special present: A 6x6 or 6x7 digital medium format camera that is affordable and rugged (in time to go with 1)

In the meantime, I must learn to see, learn to see, learn to see. The god of optics is only gracious to the deserving (persevering and talented).

[Brian White]

1. A quality scanner so I can use the great film cameras (Pentax LX, Rolleiflex, and Bronica SQai).

2. An ebony large format with lots of film so I can learn to do art portraits of my wife and 12 children.

[Darren Melrose]

1. Epson 3800/3850

2. Pentax DFA 25/1.4-1.7 Ltd. Why 25? Why not? All the Limited have oddball focal lengths and this length would suit me well.

Seems you have a disproportionate number of Pentax users as your readers

[mcananeya]

1) Too late. Already bought it. ;-)

2) Any of the following:
- A digital version of my Olympus XA (but with a large sensor)
- A digital version of my Pentax MX (including excellent viewfinder)
- An improved Nikon 35mm f/2.0 (preferably with IS/VR)
- A Nikon 16-55 f/2.8 VR or 24-70 f/2.8 VR

[Feli]

A)Nikon D3 and the Zeiss ZF 2/35mm

B) I wish Sony would put the Artisan CRT back in to production.... it wouldn't be cheap, but I'm getting desperate.

[Michel Krieber]

1- A wet B&W darkroom in my house.
2- A Focomat IIc.

The rest I'll find.

[Luke]

1) Leica M8

2) A digital rangefinder with the Nikon D3 sensor and metering system that can use Leica-mount lenses without fiddly filters and lens codings.

[Scott Dommin]

Dear Santa -

I would like a digital camera that takes ONLY black & white pictures. Converting color pictures is a bother, and just not the same.

[dasmb]

1) A sharp, wide-normal zoom for my upcoming trip to Arizona.

2) A camera that will do my work for me and rake the lawn, so I can take out my XTi and get some damned images made.

[Robert Chapman]

As someone who can (and sometimes will) buy what I want, I agree 100% with John Robison above. I don't know how he came up with an 8 times multiplier, but any improvement in vision is worth more than the most expensive camera. Without it, they are just elaborate toys...

[Gregory Roberts]

1) A medium format digital camera

2) Polaroid Type 855

[latent_image]

1. Just bought it: a Pentax K10D at an great price.

2. I want Sigma/Tokina/Tamron to produce a 17/18/19mm prime lens for APS-C sensors. I'd be happy with something slower (perhaps f/3.5) if it could be reasonably small, sharp, and very well corrected. Don't want an f/1.8 that's the size of a can of tomatoes.

[Carsten]

1. A photo-trip to Antarctica

2. A Photo-Bag / Backpack that carries much but weighs (packed) close nothing (negative Gravity?), so I could have more of my fav. glass with me without the pain in my shoulders ;-)

If that is not possible, I'd wish for a Nikon D3x with higher resolution 20MP and up), so that DX-cropping for wildlife shots would make sense - with a much wider spread AF-Sensor field compared to the D3.

Happy Shooting!

[Gary O'Callaghan]

2) A Nikon D40x with the D300 viewfinder and a focus motor

[Chris Norris]

1) I'd buy some one on one time with a photographer I respect to give me advice on how to proceed from where I'm at now. Maybe we could call it "lessons". There's a real dearth of space to talk seriously about photography and art with people better than me in my life and without that, any gear purchase seems paltry by comparison.

2) I don't really care. Dreaming about gear just makes me feel tired right now.

[Hank Graber]

1) If I don't have to pay the tab? A Littman 45 special outfited with a HY6 adapter 33MP MF digital back and a Rodenstock 60mm HR lens (as long as this is a gift might as well throw in a ALPA 12 TC with HY6 adapter and Rodenstock 35 HR for when I want to go wider and a HY6 with a 180/2.8 Tele-Xenar for fashion/portraiture).

2) A leica digital M with a quiet, responsive shutter, accurate parralax and crop correcting framelines (one frame at a time), selectable optical mags for finder (.58, .72, 1.0), external analogue controls for ISO and EV comp, griptac covering with purchase for the thumb, as reliable as a steel hammer for under $5K.

Hey if you are asking for fantasy wishes might as well dream big!

[JBK]

1) A Canon 1D Mk III with a Canon 500mm f/4L

2) A nice RV with a studio set up in the back including a Z3100, good mat cutter and all the fixins.

[Anthony Shaughnessy]

1) Don't know.
2) An affordable digital camera with a *really* good viewfinder.

[Jim Kofron]

1. A set of studio lights and associated gear.

2. I'd also like to see the Sigma DP-1 ship, although I'd really like a "DP-2"---with interchangable lenses and with a fast shot-to-shot cycle time (at least as fast as the SD14---which isn't bad until the buffer is full). The Foveon chip also makes fantastic B/W photos---because all of the colors are collected 'co-spatially'. Short of that, I'd like to see someone make a monochrome 6-8 MP dSLR---if Sigma would do a camera with a Foveon chip (and crank up the body specs), it'd be great...

[sean]

1)

A good copy of Let truth be the prejudice, would make me pretty happy. (Mike, i'd love to know your thoughts on it)

2)

Something that would give me a mild to severe shock if i press the shutter while thinking of who will like the shot

[AlexH]

1. A Leica M8 plus 35mm lux or cron; alternatively (cheaper) a Pentax FA Limited 30mm f1.8

2. A Leica CM digital (40mm-e or 35mm-e, f2.4 or better, fourthirds sensor or larger)

Oh, how sweet it is to dream!
Regards,
Alex.

[Dwight]

1) Olympus 70-300 (If Oly ever gets around to releasing it.)

2) Sub-mini DSLR. Something like a digital Pentax Auto 110 with a wide range of prime lenses.

[Simon Griffee]

1) A one-week informal workshop with Mike Johnston and other photographers of all walks of life, including perhaps one or two from Magnum, with the completion of a photo essay and time to chat and enjoy good food and drink together as objectives. Maybe somewhere in Europe.

2a) An M-mout digital rangefinder with focus and aperture on the lens and shutter on a dial with aperture priority. Luminance-only sensor, long battery life (with solar-panel charger as an optional accessory) and close to instantaneous turn-on time. Optimized for prime lenses of 28mm–50mm film-equivalent focal length. Rugged construction and weather-proof.

or:

2b) A black-only pigment ink printer which prints on most any paper, including thick card.

[Tom Dills]

1) An Epson 3800 and time to use it;
2) My old Mamiya 7 with a MF digital chip installed.

[Adam Maas]

1) Either of the ZA primes.

2) Zeiss ZA 16-40 f2.8 and 25-75 f2.8, neither in DT form.

[Paul Glombick]

1) I've got enough stuff.

2a) A DSLR by Nikon built like a FM3a with a fullframe cmos sensor.

[Mark Bridgers]

1.)A Pentax DA 70 (there seems to be quite a number of Pentax users here)
2.)A Transporter, Star-Trek style. So I could just beam myself over to Greece, or Italy, or Iceland, for a weekend. And no TSA or Heathrow security weenies.

[Dennis]

1. Nothing really ... I'm still debating an 'upgrade' from the KM7D to the SonyA700, and still considering tweaking a couple lenses, but am pretty happy with what I'm shooting now. I do have a few photography-related books on my wishlist, though.
2. A digital version of the HiMatic 7sII :) Or, the infamous EVIL camera "everyone" has been asking for ... fairly compact (not pocketable) large sensor (4/3 min, FF max), with fast (f/2, would settle for f/2.8) slightly wide to normal lens.

[Ray Lopez]

1) The Wacom Cintiq 21UX Graphics Tablet

2)Making the viewfinder lens with my glasses already built in so I wouldn't have to fight 2 pieces of glass to focus....

[Erik]

1. Leica M8
2. A Leica 28mm f/1.4. And an M8 without the IR issue.

[Paul Mc Cann]

A good A3 printer and a week with Ctein to show me how to get the best from it.

Multi programmable SLR. It can't be that difficult to allow the user specify exactly what he wants so he could pick the bits of the Canon interface he likes and mix them with others from Pentax, Minolta, Nikon et al.

Paul Mc Cann

[Dennis]

1.) Nikon D3 (sure I have a D300 on the way but I really wish I had the extra cash to blow on a D3 =)

2.) Nikon 16/1.4 ... let's have fast wide primes for DX - Tokina's bring out a faster wide zoom (11-16/2.8) but I would love to have a really fast time prime in that range!

[Damon Schreiber]

1) A fast, normal-wide K-mount prime that I can't afford like the 31mm limited would be nice. Or possibly to have all my slides and negatives from the 'good ole days' in their multiple boxes professionally scanned. Thanks, Santa!

2) A digital Pentax MX type camera. A manual focus, manual exposure, centre-weighted, match-needle, split-prism gem in a 10MP APS-C stabilised body. A shutter speed dial, an ISO dial, and an aperture control wheel (for newer lenses). Would also need the full (non-crippled) K mount for legacy lenses. That would sell you some product, Hoya, let me tell you.

[Olivier]

1) A set of Zeiss ZFs (28/2, 50/1.4, 85/1.4).

2) A D300 with a D3 sensor.