Envy
I think it all makes sense if Gibellini fabricates one camera to show off, and then others to be built one by one as orders are placed for them. At 20K per camera, makes total business sense to me. Reminds me of a craftsman/photographer/machinist who did essentially the same about 10 or 20 years ago here in the states.
Has no one brought up the threads in this forum regarding Gibellini? Their craftsmanship is trash. Their ultra expensive 8x10 holders didn't even fit in my Chamonix 810V. The camera they sold me had light leaks from day 1 and required 2 factory trips from Maine to Italy to fix it. They didn't cover my shipping costs by the way. Of course they have a 20k titanium camera that no one will buy, if someone actually buys it they will find out how deficient it is.
Heiland is going to sell their 810 enlarger for about $22k, but it's state of the art, motorized, and from a trusted company. They'll probably find a small but enthusiastic number of buyers. This Gibellini thing? Yeah right. Maybe the kid of some billionaire will blow his allowance on it and leave it on a shelf....
Meh.. more marketing horse puckey prompted by the current fashion of LF & the idea-belief 8x10 IS the ultimate film format...
Absolutely zero difference in common with other stratospheric $ "limited production" exotic cars, furniture, techno-widgets all objects to project wretched excess of conspicuous consumption.
In this specific case this beyond over priced 8x10 field folder can never produce a "better" picture on it's own, but can provide the user-owner of this field folder with the fantasy of superiority over all "lesser" cameras, no?
Regardless of the Titanium and what ever else precious metals or ... used to make this "camera", it remains a light tight box that is flexi in the center.. field folder style with each and every limitation baked into each and every field folder style view camera.
Bernice
Why not make a lf camera status symbol? They exist in every other format. And judging from what I see on the roads around town, and advertising, there's a lot of people with too much money buying luxury cars and watches and scotch whiskys and whatnot. We're still in the 'K-shape' recession recovery from 2008, where the top is gaining rapidly while the bottom is still falling. There's no point making new cameras for the working class who can barely afford a phone.
As I come nearer to 70 I care more about functionality. I don't go that far from the car anymore with 8x10". So now I use the Sinar P2 in the field, 10 yards from the car. And I shoot about 20 images a year. That forbids for me any new camera in this format. Once for my business, now for pleasure, all those years still the same machine. How it looks doesn't matter to me, if it works, it's fine. They could never sell me a camera on looks. So this one, easy to let it go by.
I own the gear, but those don't make masterpieces. My everyday experience.
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