Old and New Friends

Larry G. with my old friend

TOP reader Larry Gebhardt (not Gephardt like the former Majority leader), a software programmer from New Hampshire, came by to visit today. I'd never met him before but I knew who he is—he's the guy who bought my well-used and much-loved '01 Miata roadster two years ago. His father lives in nearby Rochester and his eldest child is a student at the U. of R., so he'd been visiting. He was driving from Rochester back home and stopped here for lunch.

Larry has revitalized his interest in printing recently. He had an Epson 3800 that had been broken for five years, so he bought a new P800. Then he figured out how to fix the 3800, so he got that working again and dedicated it to black-and-white. Then he was having so much fun with the P800 that he shopped online till he found an older large-format 7000-series Epson printer for not much money. He says he never frames and hangs large prints, but he likes to look at them. So within a short space of time he went from having no working printers to having three.

He's making good use of them. He showed me some great prints. Hopefully he'll send me a few JPEGs in a few days so I can share the images with you. The images I liked best are Reichmann-esque.

Meanwhile, how would you like to be able to drive, one more time, your favorite car from the past that you no longer own? We drove to Bully Hill Vineyards, high above Keuka Lake, for lunch, and I got to reacquaint with my formerly-beloved '01 Mazda. What a blast!

Three observations: flower pictures are much better in prints than as online JPEGs (Larry had brought a few flower pictures along because his stepmother loves them); the answer to every automotive question really is "Miata"; and, as I'm frequently reminded, all TOP readers truly are well above average.

If you're ever in the area, please do stop by.

Mike
(Thanks to Larry)

UPDATE Monday morning: Here are a couple of Larry's images he showed me:

It's surprising to me just how much better the prints looked than the JPEGs here...it's one of the few times recently when I saw the prints first and the JPEGs later. These pictures look a little nondescript as small JPEGs, but the prints were luscious, luminous, and lovely. —Mike

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(To see all the comments, click on the "Comments" link below.)
Featured Comments from:

Graham Byrnes: "Actually, the photo question is: given he already had a P800, which by all accounts does a very nice B&W, how much did he gain by having a dedicated B&W printer? Or was he just yielding to that particular disease of 'it must be better because it's fiddly and difficult and I invested 1,000 hours getting to work'?

"On the other hand, I admire his straightforward justification: '...he likes looking at them.' More people should be so simple about their photography."

Larry Gebhardt replies: "Graham, I got the P800 because the 3880 died and Epson was having their good year end rebates. But I have a hard time throwing away things that probably can be fixed. So I decided to try to fix the 3880, figuring if I succeeded it would only cost me $140 (what the ink assembly cost shipped from China) and I had at least $300 in ink left in the printer. Once I fixed it I set about printing a large backlog of pictures. I think in two months I probably printed more with it than in the previous two years. Once the ink was mostly gone it didn't make sense to keep feeding two 17" color printers, so I decided to try out the Piezography system since I do print a lot of black and white. I didn't know what to expect, but its turned out to be excellent, and not too fiddly. As to how much I gained, I admit it's minimal compared to using QuadTone RIP for black and white printing. Slightly smoother highlights, gloss overcoat eliminates bronzing and gloss differential on glossy papers. You lose the ability to vary the tone since the ink is fixed. Piezography ink might be cheaper, but not enough to worry about.

"The 7900 was bought because it was cheap (broken orange head), had mostly full inks, and was local. It was supposed to be just for larger black and white, but turns out it works with the 7890 driver for color too. Too bad I didn't really think through the framing and hanging of large prints through. I have a little wall space for a few 16x20s, but the larger prints live in a box for now. Someday I'll make room on the walls for a few of them. Still it's very satisfying to finally see larger prints from large format film."

Comments

[Dana]

Mike...my favorite car was a 1951 Champion Studebaker I bought from a fellow that said, " it don't run". I paid $75 for it and had it running
the next morning. I drove it everywhere which included
trips to the Blue Ridge where I had to add another pint of STP to
get me over the next mountain. Life was lovely and gas and the additive
were plentiful and cheap. What do you want? I got there and people
marveled at the mystery car and the smell of burning oil.

[Ranjit Grover]

Mike,
If your old car is still in great condition why did you sell it in the first place?

[To raise money to move house.... --Mike]

[Carlos]

OMG... This green Miata with light brown interior... It has been part of my wildest dreams since I was a teenager back in Brazil

[charles wick]

Bully Hill vineyards! When I was at Cornell in the 1970's and my parents visited, we drove out to Bully Hill. Seemed to be staffed by scary ex special forces or CIA types. Very odd experience indeed. Wine was tasty.

[Robin P]

I would dearly love to drive an original (curvy shape) Opel Manta again but somehow common sense tells me that it would be a disappointment - sure was fun on bendy roads back in the day though......

[Michael Matthews]

The Wikipedia summary of Bully Hill Vineyard and the fractious Taylor Wine clan makes for an interesting read. It may shed some light on the comment from Charles Wick. As to driving one more time a car from the past, my first reaction was a fond memory of the '59 MGA. Then I realized that with a 2012 Miata in the garage that would be redundant. So I chose the '31 Model A coupe. Now that was fun on wheels.

[Alan]

In the UK the Miata is the MX5 and I'm on my third. My first was a new black MK1, then I got a new red MK2 and I've now had a MK2 I bought used for about seven years. I wish I'd never sold my MK1 but failing that I shouldn't have sold the MK2 I bought used.

Recently I've been missing a 4ltr V8 S Type I had for a few years and also a Lotus Elise but of them all I think that the MX5's have been on balance the best.

[Earl Dunbar]

Of all the the wineries in the Finger Lakes ... Bully Hill. Sigh. Their bottles have fun labels, though. (Ducking incoming missiles from those who like Bully Hill.)

[I'm gathering Bully Hill elicits strong feelings for reasons I'm in the dark about. But the food is good and the view is good, so it's a nice place to take guests. The veranda of Esperanza Mansion is even better, but I'm not sure it's open yet. And it's closer, so it would have meant less time for me behind the wheel of Larry's car. --Mike]

[Kalli]

Is that shot with the 14mm?

[Yes, purely out of laziness. We were leaving for lunch and I forgot to check which lens was on the camera. They look and feel similar enough that I sometimes don't realize unless I pay attention at least a little. --Mike]

[Oskar Ojala]

Flower pictures are hard! it's very easy to do a boring straight on visualization, which I think what most people associate with flower photography. And from a technical standpoint the strong and varied colors and depth of field choices set many demands for the photographer and the final medium. I believe this is one reason that JPEGs are problematic: a very limited color gamut.

[John Camp]

Hmm. When reading the Bully Hill entry on Wikipedia, the entry mentioned that you're close to Watkins Glen. Have you been yet?

That photo of Larry G -- I read the address on the house behind him as TAO, and I thought, Mike's got religion...

[I've been to Watkins a few times, but not to the track yet. --Mike]

[Graham Byrnes]

Ah, wouldn't mind my 1991 Toyota MR2 back for a while :-)

[Graham Byrnes]

Actually, the photo question is: given he already had a P800, which by all accounts does a very nice B&W, how much did he gain by having a dedicated B&W printer? Or was he just yielding to that particular disease of "it must be better because it's fiddly and difficult and I invested 1000 hours getting to work" ?

On the other hand, I admire his straightforward justification: "...he likes looking at them." More people should be so simple about their photography.

[Mas Young]

I still drive my 1989 MX5 (red of course) and I still shoot Mr Fuji's cameras. Must be a thing about 50+ yo photographers.

[Kaemu]

Of all the cars I owned, my 1992 Miata (bought used in 1998) is the only one I really miss. Drove it 30,000 miles in the first year, touring my new home state, California. Perfect car, so well thought out and put together. As my only car though, it's size and lack of real trunk was a problem. A friend who flew in for the week-end did not heed my advice and showed up with a largish suitcase. Driving back to my place was a bit of an adventure, with me holding the bag over my shoulders...

[Ken Ford]

I should make a swing your way with my '06 Miata...