Camera Grips...

[sunshine51]

Want to make your camera different than the rest? Give it some personalisation?

No...I'm not blabbing about a battery grip from your cameras manufacturer or a 3rd

party battery grip, they're to common and quite frankly...plain. How about a snazzy,

sexy grip that is very different than what any camera manufacturers currently sell.

These are very unique. Have a look below...

http://www.jbcameradesigns.com/products/

[rhythmworx]

You could also opt for a Thumbs-Up grip if you shoot Fuji or Leica.

http://www.matchtechnical.com/Pages/thumbsup_choice.aspx

[ETatBKK]

sunshine, would you consider this is a personality ? I only see a lot of dollar signs ;-)

Edited January 22, 2015 by ETatBKK

[vaultdweller0013]

If you want personality, you need to go with the special edition:

If the Stellar(not the above) was a couple hundred cheaper (it is now *only* 999USD after a 2,300 USD price drop), I would buy it just for fun.

[sunshine51]

sunshine, would you consider this is a personality ? I only see a lot of dollar signs ;-)

hasselblad-lunar-fotosidan-se.jpg

Ahhhhhhhh...lemme see here....personality.....hmmmmm...no not really.

I reckon anybody daft enough to buy a Japanese camera rebranded to

a Hassie has only one thing...money, heaps of it. However EtB...if you

are thinking of buying one...change your mind & buy a Leica instead.

You will be much happier in the long run.

On this sorry excuse of a Hasselblad I don'tlike the grip, I don't like

the lenses, I don't like the body...in fact I like nothing about it at all!

Why Hasselbald launchedit in the first place is way beyond me,

however, I bet some slick marketing guru, possibly from California

or Italy conned Hassie into it.

[sunshine51]

If you want personality, you need to go with the special edition:

If the Stellar(not the above) was a couple hundred cheaper (it is now *only* 999USD after a 2,300 USD price drop), I would buy it just for fun.

Just think VD (God that doesn't look right...apols) for 999USD what else you could get.

But hey...it is your money...hah! The Stellar (Stellar II now) is just a Sony RX100 rebranded

and reworked. The guts specs are pure Sony.

Back to the JB grips....you could buy say a Fuji X100S & a JB grip for that much

and get pix that are just as good. Then there's the possibility that other people may

ask you heaps of questions about the grip & you can extole/expond upon the fact

that it's a one of a kind...made from some exotic wood....and who knows, make a

new friend or friends. The same applies if you buy a Sony RX100 Mk? (whatever

they're up to at the moment) and attach one of those JB grips.

These grips can be made by anybody for that matter if you have the tools needed

and the time. Choice of wood here in LOS is plentiful and relatively cheap if you're

gonna only make one for your camera. It would be nice to know some local feller

with a band saw to help in cutting the stock to your desired thickness & shape.

You can do the rest with a hand drill & some decent wood chisels the after it's

roughed out start with goarse grit sand paper & finish with 400-800 grit or perhaps

1K grit. Get some nice wood oil, rub it in real good and you have something to be

proud of!

Then again...if you want that fake Hassie....well that ub2U!

[vaultdweller0013]

Just think VD (God that doesn't look right...apols) for 999USD what else you could get.

But hey...it is your money...hah! The Stellar (Stellar II now) is just a Sony RX100 rebranded

and reworked. The guts specs are pure Sony.

But there is one thing that the Sony version doesn't have... the ability to annoy photographers. Image going up to someone with their 5DmkIII at a cliche tourist photo location and being like, "Oh, that's nice, I'm shooting with a Hasselbald digital camera with a Carl Zeiss lens." Then, when they think you're going to pull out a medium format beast, pull out the Stellar and pretend like you're a naive beginner when they try to explain why your camera isn't a "real" Hasselbald... "But, it has 20MP, just like you 5DmkIII and a fast F1.8 lens." (then turn around and take a landscape with the flash automatically popping up for the shot).

Mostly joking; I wouldn't be *that* annoying, but I have learned how to troll Canon and Nikon users using the cliche complaints about their systems because for some odd reason, when I talk to them about camera gear and it moves to price, they seem to often ask me "why didn't you buy a 5DmkII or D610?", implying that somehow Canon or Nikon is inherently superior to all alternatives, when I tell them the price of an a99. The real reason is personal preference: I like an EVF and the a99 was really the only FF camera with an EVF at the time I bought it, but it much more fun to say "Canon's colors are too flat." or "Nikon has QC problems" or "the Beercan is the sharpest lens ever."

But yea, 999 USD is a little too much of a premium to consider it. If it were, say, 699 (200 over a rx100), I might, because it still is a potent little camera. Then again, I like to collect obscure or unique camera items as a secondary hobby to photography.

[sunshine51]

^^^ Vault....I have owned 3 Hasselblads; 500C, 500ELM & H4D50MS...loved em all.

When Hassie came out with these reworked/rebranded Japanese cameras I had a fit.

Seemed to me the company had not just left their traditional craft but also tossed

common sense to the wind and for...for what? To lure more customers into a Hassie?

Not one of those things IMO...they're not a Hassleblad just the same as a Panasonic

Lumix isn't a Leica even though Leica reworks/rebrands a Lumix. Why not simply buy

a Lumix with a Leica lens attached? Save some money & gi have a few beers! Said lens

is made in Japan anyway. I still have an old FZ20 that has Panasonic's Leica lens attached.

It was the first and last, well until the FZ200 came out, that had a 2.8 lens throughout the

entire focal length even in digital zoom mode. Only 5MP but that lens makes all the difference.

Anyway...good hunting & collecting. I once collected old Contax & Zenit cameras for the heck

of it. Wasn't worth much but fun to source & haggle.

Let's get back OT...grips...any kind of snazzy & sexy grips...not cameras...

Edited January 23, 2015 by sunshine51

[vaultdweller0013]

Yea, sorry to derail the thread there for a min...

Thinking about it, I know a guy, actual 2 guys, that are into 3d printing that I could probably get to print out anything I wanted for materials costs. I also know another guy who could probably get me samples of braided carbon fiber with resin embedded in the fibers. So, I'm thinking 3d print a negative mold, fill it with expanding foam to create positive mold, then cover it in the braided carbon fiber and vacuum bag before putting in the oven to cure. Problem is they are all in the US. Plus, I don't have a camera that need a grip at the moment; rx100iii don't really need a grip, you just don't hold it like a normal camera because it is so small. Bigger problem is that I would need to design the grip, and that's not really my area of expertise , so it would be a long, hack-ish process that would probably end up with an ugly grip with bad ergonomics.

[MJP]

Making stuff's so much fun ain't it?

I'm making stuff at the moment for a site, big pumps, vacuum pumps, separators, flow control, level warnings and automatic waste feed cut off's.

I have no idea whether any of it's actually going to work, but it is great fun.

[ETatBKK]

However EtB...if you are thinking of buying one...change your mind & buy a Leica instead.

You will be much happier in the long run.

On this sorry excuse of a Hasselblad I don'tlike the grip, I don't like

the lenses, I don't like the body...in fact I like nothing about it at all!

ha ha ha . . . if anyone comes to me on his right hand this monster, and on his left hand the old 500CM, I simply take the 500CM and leave this monster with him. I am a shy photographer, and certainly this is not my personality :-)

take a look at this Nov 2014 news as well :

Hasselblad closes Italian design facility responsible for Sony re-badges

http://www.dpreview.com/articles/7333077708/hasselblad-closes-italian-design-facility-responsible-for-sony-re-badges

[sunshine51]

^^^EtB...Kinda difficult to be a shy photog with a 500CM hanging off ones neck or in the hand ain't it?!

They aren't exactly small even with the standard 80 @ 2.8 attached and then when one releases that

shutter...the noise let's anyone within earshot know a pic has just been taken. But then again...that's

why one buys a Hassie anyway isn't it? The large neg or transparancy & what can be done with it is

just ancillary to all else!

[sunshine51]

Making stuff's so much fun ain't it?

I'm making stuff at the moment for a site, big pumps, vacuum pumps, separators, flow control, level warnings and automatic waste feed cut off's.

I have no idea whether any of it's actually going to work, but it is great fun.

I know a local cabinet maker who does wonders with teak & mahogany and has a good

supply of both in various thicknesses. Talked to him yesterday....he'll cut a blank to shape

for me (cost-4 big Leo's) if I supply the template then I can put my collection of very sharp

& precise wood chisels, all 3 of em, to work scarfing out a cameras seat & needed access

holes. I'll have to make a wood vise of sorts outta C clamps, buy some good wood glue and

some assorted grit sandpaper...maybe I'll give it a go. If it all gels I need to make 3...one for

the XPro1, one for the EM-1 (both belong to the missus) & one for my G16 & perhaps one

for the 810 when used without the batgrip. Could be a fun project...could also never leave the

drawing board!

Edited January 24, 2015 by sunshine51