Speaking Frankly

From The Keppler Files: May, 1969

Many customers don't seem to realize that it usually takes just as long and is just as difficult to disassemble and repair an inexpensive camera as an expensive camera. Labor costs are just as high. Parts cost is usually (but not always) the least of a major job. It's like overhauling a car clutch. The clutch part costs pennies but your bill can run into the sky for labor.

Is my linear mind colliding with the digital era?

My father gave me my first "good" camera on my 10th birthday in 1935, a 2 ¼ x 2 ¼ Reflex Korelle SLR. I've written about this camera many times and I needn't tell you how magical it was and is to see the world through the lens on a ground glass.

What I haven't mention before is a second gift, fresh on dealers' shelves and a bit exotic for a 10-year old: a Weston 650 Universal, selenium cell exposure meter, invented by a brilliant electrical engineer and photo enthusiast, Dr. Edward Weston (but not Edward Weston, the famous photographer).

From The Keppler Files: November, 1967

A good single focal-length lens can be a thing of beauty carefully designed around one focal length to eliminate as many aberrations as possible. To ask a zoom lens, which changes focal length to equal the best performance of a single length is out of the question.

From The Keppler Files: February, 1995

Think for a moment. If I asked you what are the greatest photographs you've ever seen, would you name color pictures or black-and-white ones? Almost every great picture you remember probably was black-and-white: Ansel Adam's incredible landscapes, Weston's nudes, Churchill scowling at portraitist Yousef Karsh, Rosenthal's flag raising at Iwo Jima, W. Eugene Smith's picture of death in a Spanish village or his Minimata pictures, almost the entire body of Cartier-Bresson's work might be among them. Can you name for me the great color shots?

Inside Straight: Hot Heir

Ko Torigoe, head of Pentax's Imaging Division, leaned forward and asked in a conspiratorial manner, "Can we have a little secret conversation? Please forget about what I'm going to ask you."

I assented.

"What would you think of a digital successor to the Pentax K1000?"

"Go do it," I replied.

From The Keppler Files: December, 1970

When should you listen to the store clerk and follow his recommendations against your own inclination and intuition? Never. If you feel a camera is easiest to use, is solidly made and we have it listed, you're on safe ground. If you are hung up between two cameras, then perhaps you can listen to what suggestions the salesman may have. But remember -- he's getting a commission on the sales and the commission varies from camera to camera and you don't know just how it varies, so... listen with a grain of salt in the ear.

From The Keppler Files: November, 1965

Cameras are not put together with common sense, as you could easily see if you lifted the top lid or side panel and took a look. They often appear to be assembled with the sole idea of making repair work as complicated as possible to the uninitiated.