Comments on: What the heck is a Wirgin — a look back.

By: Is Film better than Digital? - Alphatracks - Tom Bonner

Is Film better than Digital? - Alphatracks - Tom Bonner — Mon, 01 Mar 2021 21:49:29 +0000

[…] the last fifty (yes fifty) years, I have shot thousands of photos on film negatives. During the last decade, I have switched almost exclusively to digital photography. True, I […]

By: 4 rx.com reviews

4 rx.com reviews — Sat, 09 Jan 2010 19:22:22 +0000

Not so long ago I came your website and have been reading along steadily. I decided I might leave my first comment. I dont know exactly what to say except that I have really enjoyed reading. Cool blog. I intend to carry on coming back to this blog now and again. I have also subscribed to your feed to get any updates.

By: schoo006

schoo006 — Thu, 07 Jun 2007 12:38:57 +0000

Dear Alphatracks ;D. You cannot really put a firm and clear line between consumer/ prosumer / professional -cameras. Image quality is ofcourse NOT the only factor that is of any relevance. A lot of crappy images have been shot by “professionals” (people that take pictures for a living). It depends on what kind of photography you’re talking about. A wildlife photographer has very different demands for his pictures AND his camera than a studio photographer that takes pictures for glossy magazines. The first wants a very sturdy, waterresistant, reliable and quiet camera..(a pop-up flash is therefore completely out of the question) and needs the images quality to be very good as well….the second primarely wants his pictures to be very very very sharp and does’nt mind a pull-up flash and LCD menus in his safe studio environment. To me the key-rule is “can the camera withstand everyday intensive use without constantly malfunctioning?”. A few things that make or break this reliability are:

1. hardware-knobs/selectors and buttons instead of (or as a redundant add on to) menus on an LCD (= very sensitive to falling/breaking and malfunctions under extreme temperatures)..

2. other manually operable features like flash/focussing/zooming instead of completely relying on little sensitive servo’s and stuff like that.

3. Support of tons of periferal hardware (connectivity and actual connectors on the body) like flashes, slave units, batterypacks and so on. Consumers-cameras mostly have a very short “life-span” (are quickly replaced by the next model that has poor or NO backwards compatibility) and are very poorly supported with Add ons/ options/ periferals.

I think the A100 more a “pro-sumer-camera” because it does have a pretty solid design and the reliable hardware knobs/selectors, but lacks a vertical grip / batterypack and has a ‘pull-up flash’.

By: wirgin

wirgin — Tue, 28 Nov 2006 13:37:23 +0000

like a wirgin!

By: Can the Sony Alpha be considered a PRO camera? : Alphatracks

Can the Sony Alpha be considered a PRO camera? : Alphatracks — Mon, 21 Aug 2006 16:03:33 +0000

[…] Thus it is hard for me when someone asks if a specific camera could be used to take professional pictures. If the definition of a professional picture is one that is sold for money — then indeed any camera could be considered a pro model. A few weeks back, I wrote about how I got my start in film photography with an old Wirgin stereo camera. I wasn’t a professional at the the time, so I consider most of the images shot with the Wirgin as training shots. However, many years after I made the move to professional photographer, I sold a magazine article that was illustrated with some of the old shots I had taken with the Wirgin. Does that make the Wirgin a professional camera? I have also sold some shots taken with an old Kodak 110 pocket camera. So I believe almost any camera can be used to take salable pictures. After all, if an UFO landed in your backyard so Elvis could grab a burger at the local fast food joint, do you think any publication in the world would care what camera you recorded the scene with? As long as the images were recognizable and could be proven to unaltered, you could retire off the sales of that single picture, regardless of the camera involved. […]

By: Minolta SRT102 — better than the rest : Alphatracks

Minolta SRT102 — better than the rest : Alphatracks — Tue, 18 Jul 2006 14:24:24 +0000

[…] In my previous discussion on how I came to shoot with Minolta, I explained how I started toting my dad’s old Wirgin stereo camera until I out grew it’s capabilities. I was taking an advanced darkroom class and my mentor suggested I pick up a nice Pentax. […]