The Personalized Camera

In an era of special editions, exclusive designers, and bespoke possessions, it is still rare to see what we could truly regard as a personalized camera. This is surprising - I should have expected more purchasers of the Leica cameras to have taken up that company's offer to engrave the top plates of the Leica M-9 with owner's names and other loga, and to have special covers wrapped around the body surfaces - perhaps the rather high price for this service has deterred them.


Naw, what am I saying - these are Leica owners. Perhaps the reason we do not see them is that they hide them away in tissue paper and bank vaults after they are engraved.

Well, what about the new Pentax not-so-compact mirrorless style camera  that has been designed by a famous designer that you never heard of until they put out an advertisement for the camera...well, his name is engraved on the bottom of the camera. That's sort of personalized. If you're him.

Okay - well, I can claim to have seen two exclusive cameras yesterday at the hot rod show. One was a dear old Sony DSLR in the hands of one of Perth's foremost car photographers. You can tell it is the camera of a racing car enthusiast as the lens hood seems to have been mounted with knock-off hubs for fast changing in the pits. You can tell this is the case from the hammer marks on the lens barrel....This camera probably accelerates from zero to 500 shots in four seconds flat and from the looks of the outside casing rolls over on the first turn. But, it keeps going and the gentleman in question keeps on making wonderful car shots so I'll just shut up. One day the last pixel will fall off it and he'll need to get a new one, and I hope he remembers that we're still here....

The real star for me was another car man with his new Nikon D800 camera mounted on a sturdy tripod - he knows these shows and realises that you need to provide for long exposures when the organisers have been skimpy with the lighting. Of course, with a D 800 he can photograph under waaaaay dark conditions, but the tripod is still a good idea. Anyway, he, being a hot rod man, decided to present his new camera to one of the hot rod artists for a little customizing - and came way with the neatest little miniature pinstriping pattern in red and white on both sides of the prism housing. Just like a tiny hot rod.

Reel back in horror if you wish, but this personal touch is really perfect for this photographer - it is his camera and his subject matter and he's independent enough to do it. As of right now, he is THE coolest kid on the block.

Now if I could figure out how to do green and gold flames on the pop-up flash of my D-300...