According to Hugo the Chamonix rep, the company is no longer using dark Walnut wood. But has gone to a lighter colour Teak wood.
Has anyone got a Teak Chamonix 45-N1?
I'd like to see some high quality CC images showing both the color of the wood as well as the figuring of the grain.
TIA!
Hi,
I was asking Hugo from Chamonix the same question, he sent me an image of the camera. Unfortunatly it is not very conclusive since the light / color seems to be a bit off. I asked him for more pictures but he wasn't able to provide any... I'm not yet sure if I should order one... On the other hand, the wood color won't impcat my images
best regards,
Mike
definitely off color, unless the black is truly blue-green biased... a quick (neutral black) color correction and shadow opening yields this.
I just ordered mine, teak wood with black metal and universal bellows... I din't receive confirmation yet, but i'm very much looking forward to holding the thing in my hands !
Im not to sure what this change in wood move is based on. I do quite a bit of woodworking and prices for teak vs walnut in Maryland, USA are roughly equivalent (both expensive). Teak has its place if you are looking for a wood that is not easily affected by water and resistant to physical damage, but imho will never win a beauty contest matched against walnut. Maybe walnut is not as readily available in China.
It is a pitty, for shure.
There must be other hard woods that look more elegant on this camera's.
Peter
They're different species, as far as I know-
The American black stuff is, well, American...
Was the walnut used in the Chamonix the oriental variety?
It did look good in the pictures,
I've never seen one in the flesh...
Thanks Mike. I too got that poor quality (washed out,cyan cast, lo-res) image from Hugo. Based on that image the camera looks rather plain jane (imo), next to the Walnut version. But I like woods with character.
Eric, I work with wood too. I was told Walnut was not available. Walnut is easily available here in California. Given the world markets, I would assume it can be accessed elsewhere too - though it could be pricier than Asian Teak if there is a shortage or additional shipping costs from the west. A google search produced information that Walnut is grown in China, and accessible. http://www.made-in-china.com/product...ck_Walnut.html
This brings up another thought about the environmental concerns of Teak. Asian Teak (Burmese, Philippine, Indonesian) is an endangered species. Illegal logging and clear cutting in old growth forests is still practiced. There are places that produce sustainable harvest Teak, as well as reclaimed wood.
Originally Posted by jb7
Joseph, It looks great "in the flesh"
China does produce nice walnut:
http://www.made-in-china.com/showroo...gth-Floor.html
I hope I'm not flamed for this, but I can't help but comment here. From a functional perspective, Chamonix appears to produce some really nice cameras--I almost bought one myself. As for aesthetics, their cameras are also fairly pretty, but I can't help but think about the primary reason for buying any camera when reading this and similar threads, and that is to take pictures (or create artwork, if you will).
Regardless, if the change in the type of wood is less appealing to Chamonix' potential customers, one would think they ought to reduce their prices somewhat to make up for the difference. It's possible Chamonix made the change due to the availability of different types of wood, or perhaps as a cost-cutting measure, or maybe they ran a survey asking what sort of wood their customers might like to see used in their cameras, and most responses indicated teak.
In any event, the old saying goes "the customer is always right," and perhaps Chamonix should go back to using Walnut again.
Posting Permissions
Reply With Quote
Bookmarks