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Thread: deardorff cult

  1. #31
    Photo Dilettante Donald Brewster's Avatar
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    deardorff cult

    Why a 'dorff? I drank the Kool-Aid. Then again, I wouldn't have paid $2K for mine either.

  2. #32

    Join Date
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    deardorff cult

    Herb, in an attempt to answer your original question, I'll offer this. The Deardorff Co. created a classic in all respects; design, function, and style. They became an instant favorite with professionals and maintained that status. They were in business for many years so there are a good number of them around, which get cycled from one owner to another.

    I have no idea when mine was made; it appears to be a pre-front swing with front swing added. No idea how many owners it has had. I'm at least the third. Even the local digital fanatics think its cool. One of them keeps trying to convince me his digi can take good pictures. That is, he did until I showed him an 8x10 'Dorff negative.

  3. #33

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    deardorff cult

    There's often more to making a successful product than just having a great design. It was way before my time, but I suspect that dealing with the Deardorff Company was a pleasurable experience. That they were accessable to anybody who called or stopped in to the factory, and probably followed through with what they promised. Once their reputation was established, it has persisted to this day. During The Great Depression, at least, you had to be nice to your customers!
    Wilhelm (Sarasota)

  4. #34

    deardorff cult

    why they cost so much -- ebay. ebay has jacked up the prices for all niche market items (and driven down the cost of commodities). when there are a few hundred customers for a particular item spread around the globe, it's damned hard to get a good price. the demand really gets ratcheted up when you can reach all of those customers easily over the internet.

    in th eold days, e p levine would always have a few dorffs gathering dust. take em off their hands for a snip. now they don't last a week and sell for a pile on ebay.

  5. #35

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    deardorff cult

    I always love it when scientists and engineers try to "left brain" art!

    Steve

  6. #36

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    deardorff cult

    They are a bit slow to set up and you have to get used to working (or not) with the front-end. To really get front/back parallel a mirror system is mandatory as far as I'm concerned. All cameras have their idiosyncrasies, lots of hate/love situations (are you married?). However, at least the old Dds are made of relatively old wood with little chance of warping, I'm not convinced that this can be said for today's crop of wooden fields.

  7. #37

    Join Date
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    deardorff cult

    The appeal of well-engineered stuff goes higher than the "rational" utility of the item, I guess. Take something as small as the lensboard of Deardorffs. It is made in three pieces - two of the pieces have the grain running in the opposite direction to the grain on the other piece. This increases strength and prevents warping. The corners are rounded apparently because they noticed that many square lensboards ended up with their corners crushed when they were dropped/bumped etc. Compare that with a square piece of wood (OK, some of the better ones have a light trap). The Deardorff lensboard is obviously a bit more of a pain to make, but more importantly, it sort of leaves a trace about the thought that went into the design. And there is an appeal in that, rational or not.

    There is a logic to the fact that an LF camera is just a light-tight box. And there is also a logic in the notion that something that fits YOUR hands will work better and should be valued/worth more. How much more value is going to be argued endlessly given individual idiosyncracies and differences. And finally there is an endowment effect - we end up valuing an item more once we possess them than before.

    Cheers, DJ

  8. #38

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    deardorff cult

    DJ, thanks for writing the words "endowment effect."

    I've had the concept for years, never knew that it had a name. Examples include shopping for cars and for cameras of all sizes. Before the purchase they all seem much the same but after one has been bought it suddenly stands out as the best. Yeah, sure, but people do it.

    What? Me make a mistake?

    Cheers,

    Dan

  9. #39

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    deardorff cult

    Hi Dan, Off-topic except for some implications for buying on eBay.

    The endowment effect is actually one of the most robust phenomena in behavioral economics. In one famous demonstration, people were willing to pay $31 for a hunting permit but were unwilling to sell it for less than $143. Some researchers have actually investigated this phenomenon on eBay and found some interesting evidence. It looks like the very placing of a bid and being told you are the highest bidder creates a 'pseudo endowment' - a feeling of ownership (you know, screens that say, "Congratulations, you are the highest bidder" and thoughts like "Ooooh, that is almost mine"). This leads people to overvalue the item and creates a tendency, if subsequently overbid, to place an even higher bid, leading to an escalation of commitment on the part of all parties. The wierd thing is that it doesn't seem to be an excess of testosterone/bidding frenzy. Once you feel you own something, you tend to focus on the good things and ignore the bad things, and in that sense you genuinely feel that it is worth more, rather than trying to avenge some imagined slight or insult to one's manhood or something.

    You are now being returned to your regularly scheduled programming.

    Cheers, DJ

  10. #40

    deardorff cult

    One thing no one mentioned is that the Deardorff has a sliding lensboard holder, so one can use a bit of rise/fall very easily without adjsuting the front standard. Maybe it is patented, but I really like this feature and wonder why others do not use it.

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