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I am sending my Canon AE-1 around the world. Here's the camera, with the two lenses also included:  Camera Around the World-3 by Execudork, on Flickr 50mm f/1.8 and 35mm f/3.5. Both have 55mm filter threads. If you want to participate, here are the rules: 1. Get the camera, shoot a roll of film, develop the film, and post the pictures here. 2. Ship the camera to the next person. You'd get the use of the camera for free for however long it takes you to burn a roll of film, but you'd be responsible for the cost of sending it to the next person as well as any costs associated with the film. If this all goes to poo poo and I lose the camera I won't be ruined, but it'd be a pretty big dick move to just say "free camera!" and keep it. Depending on your local market, I'd say the value of the camera, lenses, and case totals no more than about $100-$150 - which is practically free in photography dollars! In any case, if you need to declare a value when sending it, I think $100 would not be considered dishonest. We'll make the arrangements for who gets the camera next here, by consensus agreement, my capricious and unpredictable mood swings, or by decree from SoundMonkey. Without piling too much responsibility on somebody else, I'm leaving the right to shut this whole thing down if it gets stupid to SoundMonkey. I'll pay for shipping the camera back to me if such a fate awaits (unless some jackass sent it to Antarctica or somewhere). I'm going with this AE-1 for a few reasons, despite the fine suggestions in the "No Advice" thread. 1. That 80's semi-professional feel (two different prime lenses! solid piece of brass! big noisy winder crank!) 2. More of a conversation starter, if you choose to actually talk to people when you shoot  3. Full manual control. No autofocus, no Program mode. The AE-1 has shutter priority mode, but that's it. The meter is simple and robust. 4. For the AE-1 specifically, this is one of the cameras that put Canon in the game. In the late '70's (if Wikipedia is to be believed), professionals used Nikon and everybody else fought it out in the weak consumer market. Canon pumped out a few million FD-mount brass boxes (and L-glass), and ended up with a reputation good enough for significant numbers of professionals to switch. 5. Shipping costs will be significant, which is why I'm very much advocating "slow-and-cheap" over any kind of speed. International economy, which is about one step up from slapping a note on the box and tossing it in the sea, could take weeks to months to cross from continent to continent, but will cost the least. 6. The case is hard plastic, and I will be certainly be requesting people personalize it when it passes through their hands (try not to ruin its structural integrity; stickers are very welcome). EDIT: This Quiet Reverie posted this comment on my Flickr: You should have dorkroomers sign the case. I think this is a good idea. 7. I think of photography as a way for people to show each other something of their world. Show me your world. If you want to arrange in person delivery, please go ahead, but I want this thing to go global. If you are taking a trip and want to hand off the camera at your destination, that's cool, too. On that note, I will be travelling to Hobart, Tasmania, Australia in late October, and returning to Canada in late February. I'd be happy to carry the camera with me either direction, if that's how things work out. Here are two more pictures of the camera in its case:  Camera Around the World-1 by Execudork, on Flickr  Camera Around the World-2 by Execudork, on Flickr EDIT: Serial numbers Canon AE-1 s/n: 928999 Canon Lens FD 50mm 1:1.8 S.C. s/n: 701772 Canon Lens FD 35mm 1:3.5 S.C. s/n: 140228 Combination Lock: 1-5-1 (until some postal worker, fedex minion, or customs official cuts it off) Bonus! I've started a Tumblr to accumulate the photos that result from this. People who shoot with the camera can email the pictures directly to the tumblr as posts, I will send out the email address to people as they announce they have received the camera. Maximum file size is 10mb; each email is considered one file by tumblr, so you might have to break your upload up into multiple posts to keep the total file attachments under that limit. http://dorkroom-ae1-world.tumblr.com/ ExecuDork fucked around with this message at 22:28 on Oct 5, 2012 |
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Aug 1, 2012 01:53
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Shipping Costs Sending a lump of brass in a tough Pelican case across continents and oceans is not going to be cheap. I've run some numbers through some postal websites (Canada Post, USPS, Australia Post), and here's what I found out. Dimensions The Pelican 1150 case is about 24cm x 19cm x 12cm (9.5 x 7.5 x 4.5 inches) and 1.9 kg (4.2 pounds) with the camera body and two lenses inside. Feel free to plug those numbers into your favourite shipping calculator; what follows are the lowest prices I could find. I didn't dig too far into the USPS system, which has various discounts based on stuffing your package into one of their standard boxes. I believe this case will fit inside a "Regional Box B", but somebody else will have to work out those details. Within Canada by Canada Post S7H 2R7 (Saskatoon, SK) to T2J 3T4 (Calgary, AB) $10.90 S7H 2R7 to M4N 2M8 (Toronto, ON) $13.48 Canada to USA S7H 2R7 to 23606 (Newport News, VA) $26.95 (Canada Post) $22.09 (Fedex) S7H 2R7 to 75080 (Richardson, TX) $25.82 (Canada Post) $23.92 (Fedex) S7H 2R7 to 94973 (Woodacre, CA) $23.17 (Canada Post) $26.08 (Fedex) To United Kingdom S7H 2R7 to UK (Canada Post just wants the country) $22.23 Fedex prices are silly - like $140 silly To Australia S7H 2R7 to Australia $24.75 Within USA 23606 (Newport News, VA) to 94973 (Woodacre, CA) $15.46 (stuffed into "Regional Rate Box B") $18.74 (Fedex) 60622 (Chicago, IL) to 75080 (Richardson, TX) $10.80 (stuffed into "Regional Rate Box B") $13.55 (Fedex) Within Australia Sydney to Hobart $15.35 (regular parcel "my own box") $11.40 (prepaid parcel post plus 3kg satchel) Australia to UK $39.60 (Seamail) Australia to USA $39.60 (Seamail) I stopped messing with these websites at that point. The size and weight of the package should be enough to get you an estimate for whatever destination you want to send this. Summary I'm happy to send this anywhere - for $15 within Canada, or $25 to the USA, UK, Australia, etc. (Canada Post seems to regard the rest of the world pretty much the same, though presumably shipping times will vary). For fairness, if you arrange to hand this to somebody directly (and thus spend approximately zero on shipping), please consider tossing in a bit of money for the next long-distance move it will make. I understand not everybody is as cavalier with their disposable income as I (I'm basically financially retarded, so there's that), so if you'd rather keep it fairly local I won't complain. Shipping cost is a reasonable decision-making factor when it comes to who gets it next. ExecuDork fucked around with this message at 02:08 on Aug 1, 2012 |
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Aug 1, 2012 01:53
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Convince me to send the camera to you first! This list of people is based on responses in the "No Advice" thread, after I made it clear the AE-1 is the camera that's travelling in all its heavy-brass-lump glory. torgeaux posted:Definitely in. and the following people replied with Zip codes to help me figure out shipping costs. a foolish pianist BobTheCow Verman Impact Damage Mr. Despair Elite Taco atomicthumbs Awkward Davies Like I said: convince me it should go to you next. One way to do that would be to arrange who gets it after you (local mini goonmeet?) EDIT: Just to make sure it's clear: the above list is not the limit of people I'm willing to send to. Anybody can enter this thing, just convince me (us) that you will take at least one cool picture. The above list will be used to break ties should such occur. ExecuDork fucked around with this message at 02:28 on Aug 1, 2012 |
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Aug 1, 2012 02:13
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Fantastic idea. I'll reiterate that I'm 100% in on this. As there's some goons who live in far-away countries (like me - Japan), I'd like to suggest that we establish a shipping chain to keep things cheaper. For example instead of shipping from US to Japan and then back to Canada, it might be better to go: Canada, US, US, Australia, Australia, New Zealand, Japan, China, Yurop, US, Canada... or something like that. Thoughts?
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Aug 1, 2012 02:17
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If you send it to me first I won't make a "shoulda been a pentax me super" joke. But seriously, shoulda been a pentax me super
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Aug 1, 2012 02:17
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I'm in. Send it to me last in my area because I have a really good deal with FedEx and I'll be able to ship it far far away for minimal cost. I'm around Hamilton, ON.
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Aug 1, 2012 02:21
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VomitOnLino posted:For example instead of shipping from US to Japan and then back to Canada, it might be better to go: Canada, US, US, Australia, Australia, New Zealand, Japan, China, Yurop, US, Canada... or something like that. Mr. Despair posted:If you send it to me first I won't make a "shoulda been a pentax me super" joke.  Pentax ME Super by Execudork, on Flickr I'm much too fond of mine to send it out to a bunch of reprobrates like you! TomR posted:I'm in. Send it to me last in my area because I have a really good deal with FedEx and I'll be able to ship it far far away for minimal cost.
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Aug 1, 2012 02:32
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I can take it after Awkward Davies since I'm in the same area (11221) I figure you can't have too much NYC anyways, and I don't mind paying the shipping costs to send out from here.
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Aug 1, 2012 03:19
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ExecuDork posted:
Swag.
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Aug 1, 2012 04:06
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This owns and I'm excited. I may very well just shoot an entire roll of film at a stranger's wedding with it. Also, I'll literally kill myself if woot fatigue and helmacron aren't forcibly inserted into this venture.
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Aug 1, 2012 04:46
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I don't need to have it now now but I'm definitely in. I'm in the Austin area so if we could get a rough idea of any other southwesterners interested that'd be nice. I've plenty of rocks and cattle to share.
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Aug 1, 2012 05:48
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Count me in! I'm in Melbourne, Australia and happy to ship it wherever, and also happy to throw in a roll of film for the next person too.
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Aug 1, 2012 06:18
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I'd love to be in on this. If it shows up before October I'll take it sailing, if it shows up after January I'll take it to the roller derby or the Mount Rainier. If it shows up sometime in July next year, Tacoma, WA (98409) wheres my beer fucked around with this message at 22:17 on Aug 3, 2012 |
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Aug 1, 2012 06:36
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I'm in. I'm in Sammamish, WA (98074), so it would probably make sense for either Miso Beno to send it to me or vice versa?
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Aug 1, 2012 07:03
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Bob Socko posted:I'm in. I'm in Sammamish, WA (98074), so it would probably make sense for either Miso Beno to send it to me or vice versa? or we could meet in the middle 
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Aug 1, 2012 07:04
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I'm game. 94127 (San Francisco).
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Aug 1, 2012 07:14
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Miso Beno posted:or we could meet in the middle Exciting things I could photograph include the Twin Peaks waterfall (about fifteen minutes from my house) and the mean streets of Seattle (Pike Place, passive aggressive people). Also, I've never used a film camera outside of some cartridge-based point and shoot I had in the 90s, so we can all have a good laugh while I try to find the image stabilization button.
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Aug 1, 2012 07:36
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I'm in. Oslo, Norway. Awesome idea.
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Aug 1, 2012 08:15
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Edit: I think I should give this a pass, given the unreliability of my postal service and my tight schedule.
alkanphel fucked around with this message at 17:58 on Aug 1, 2012 |
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Aug 1, 2012 09:10
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I'm in the ZIP code list, but just confirming I'm definitely in. AIIAZNSK8ER is local to me, this seems like it might be up his alley. There are also one or two other dorkroom goons who post occasionally, so maybe we can get a solid Hampton Roads representation going in a relatively short timeframe without waiting for shipping between.
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Aug 1, 2012 16:27
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Impact Damage posted:I don't need to have it now now but I'm definitely in. I'm in the Austin area so if we could get a rough idea of any other southwesterners interested that'd be nice. I've plenty of rocks and cattle to share. I'm in. Tulsa, OK area. I've plenty of rocks and goats to share, as well as the Center of the Universe.
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Aug 1, 2012 17:47
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Why shoud you send it to me? Because I never shot film!! Canada , qc , Montreal , h1b 1y2.
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Aug 1, 2012 23:26
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Do Canadians use a Battleship grid instead of zipcodes?
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Aug 2, 2012 00:30
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I'm in. I'll be next after whoever is before me.
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Aug 2, 2012 00:35
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nonanone posted:I can take it after Awkward Davies since I'm in the same area (11221) I figure you can't have too much NYC anyways, and I don't mind paying the shipping costs to send out from here. I would strongly appreciate being able to do a handoff rather than sending it. I'd love to participate (and I shoot regularly with my AE-1 as it is) but I am pretty dang poor right now having just graduated from grad school and doing the freelance dance in new york city (never pretty at the best of times). It would be really really great if I could receive it and then do a hand off to nonanone (or another nyc goon dorkroomer - dorkasaurus?)
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Aug 2, 2012 00:38
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BobTheCow posted:I'm in the ZIP code list, but just confirming I'm definitely in. AIIAZNSK8ER is local to me, this seems like it might be up his alley. There are also one or two other dorkroom goons who post occasionally, so maybe we can get a solid Hampton Roads representation going in a relatively short timeframe without waiting for shipping between. I second this, we could get a few rolls done here in Hampton Roads and easily ship it to Northern Virginia. I know there's a goon in Richmond and we might be able to do an olympic torch passing up the whole state! Please count me in!
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Aug 2, 2012 00:43
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alkanphel posted:Edit: I think I should give this a pass, given the unreliability of my postal service and my tight schedule. Schedule-wise, people here might not see this camera for months, I'm not expecting this to be a rapid process of pass-the-canon. So your schedule issues are meaningless! If you don't want to play now, you can join later. Or not, I'm really not trying to be a dick about this. Impact Damage posted:Do Canadians use a Battleship grid instead of zipcodes? **** OK. I'm clearly going to have to make a decision and send this thing off to SOMEBODY pretty soon here. I like the idea of starting in New York, if only because it will be so completely different from the pictures I can take around here (I'm in the middle of the low-population, empty part of the map). Then we'll see how it goes, but a few clusters (Virginia? Washington?) to get things rolling seems like a good way to build up a little momentum. Does anyone have any strong objections to me sending it to Awkward Davies first? Awkward Davies, please PM me or email me at martinbrummell AT msn DOT com. EDIT: Proof this camera has no light leaks!  Saskatchewan-1 by Execudork, on Flickr  Saskatchewan-2 by Execudork, on Flickr I took these photos back in March, shortly after I bought the camera. The film was old expired Kodak Gold 200, so the colour shifts are due to that. The dust spots, poor composition, and boring subject matter are entirely my fault, though. See what I mean about New York being completely different? ExecuDork fucked around with this message at 01:30 on Aug 2, 2012 |
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Aug 2, 2012 01:25
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Keep it in Canada first. You don't want to have multiple import charges.
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Aug 2, 2012 01:38
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TomR posted:Keep it in Canada first. You don't want to have multiple import charges. Good point. I buy stuff on ebay / otherwhere pretty often, usually from the States, and I've not been dinged. How likely is a Yanqui to get hit with an import duty on a $100 package declared "camera"?
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Aug 2, 2012 01:40
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Photos this (kind) of camera has taken in New York: 59900017.jpg by spikespikespike, on Flickr If you use this camera, you get a beautiful woman. True story!  ivana by spikespikespike, on Flickr
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Aug 2, 2012 02:14
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ExecuDork posted:Bah! Those are terrible reasons to eliminate an ENTIRE GODDAM COUNTRY from this adventure! You're the only Dorkroomer I know of in Singapore, and I went to the trouble of calculating shipping to your Repressive City State (which took all of 3 seconds, but still). Anyways, I love your "Botanical Gardens" series.
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Aug 2, 2012 02:39
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I'll be in Israel until December so if we want the camera to visit the holy land, it would have to be sooner rather than later.
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Aug 2, 2012 08:24
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AIIAZNSK8ER posted:I second this, we could get a few rolls done here in Hampton Roads and easily ship it to Northern Virginia. I know there's a goon in Richmond and we might be able to do an olympic torch passing up the whole state! I'm willing to be the last northern Virginia goon, and pay for shipment out of the local area. So, if we can schedule that, northern va should only cost me shipping.
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Aug 2, 2012 10:14
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I'm up for this. I'm in Manchester, England.
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Aug 2, 2012 14:10
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I am so excited for this project. I was looking for the Roll Call thread I started, which helps narrow down some areas. I think it dropped off already because it wasn't getting bumped anymore.
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Aug 2, 2012 17:05
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Once this gets to Vancouver, all someone has to do is get it to the South Terminal at YVR for me and I'll have it freighted up here on the cheap. V8A 4K7
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Aug 2, 2012 17:11
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I'm in Michigan, and I'd love to get it, but not first. Sometime in October or November would be nice. Anyone else here in the Lower Peninsula or northern Ohio somewhere? Also, I'll probably in NYC fairly often over the next couple of months.
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Aug 3, 2012 01:31
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I'm in Pittsburgh and wouldn't mind taking part when it's around this area
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Aug 3, 2012 01:33
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I won't be able to get to the post office until Saturday anyways, so there's time for more discussion. The customs-fees thing is slightly worrisome, but I think absent some solid information we'll just go for it and see what happens. Plans can change if obstacles arise. I'll cover it if the border wants an import fee (as long as it's not totally outrageous). I see no need to plan this too far ahead, but just as an idea, I'm thinking: New York area for 2 or 3 goons Awkward Davies nonanone Was there somebody else in the NY area? Maybe to geeves? How long does shipping take when it's one-state-over? Then probably AAIIAZNSK8ER AIIAZNSK8ER posted:I am so excited for this project. possibly meeting up with BobTheCow and sending it to / meeting up with torgeaux When I look at a map, New York and Virginia don't seem too far apart, so if it bounces around a bit across the Megopolis (Boston to D.C. is basically one big city, right?  ) that's fine.A few people have already very generously volunteered to be responsible for the longer moves (thank you!), so after the East Coast USA section, either across the continent, possibly with stops in the middle (OK, WA, CA), or back up to Canada (QC, ON), then across an ocean. I'd rather not have this endlessly circle within North America, I'd rather see it go all the way around at least once. Big zig-zag moves only cost time and money, after all.  I'd love it if this got going long-term as well as long distance, and I see no reason for the camera to come back to me any time soon (fly! be free!). Goons have chimed in from all over North America, Europe, Australia, Japan, Israel, and Singapore (with some persuasion). It comes down to the person holding it at the moment - you decide how much you're willing to spend to kick it onwards. To get it to everyone who has said "I'm in" already requires at minimum crossing the Atlantic, the Pacific, and across the width of Eurasia. If it lines up with long moves as somebody's luggage, that's great, but I don't think we need to plan this with anything like that level of precision. I also see no problem with it returning to the same person at some point if schedules and special events and geography dictate. Strict equality (of costs, of opportunities) is not a priority - we'll try to get it to everyone who wants it, but not in any strict order, at least as far as I'm concerned. Side note: nobody has ever described me as somebody who gets things done very quickly, so my expectations are that the camera will sit in each person's possession for as long as it needs to. I'd rather it sits on somebody's couch for a few days because it's early for some special event than have people berating each other for not spraying-and-praying their film. Thanks for all the great suggestions and enthusiasm so far, especially to TomR for both the customs thing (we'll find out!) and the yes-we-will-take-you-up-on-that "far far away" by Fedex thing. Point of clarification: I expect you to run an entire roll of film through it. I don't expect you to post every shot, just what you want us to see. And if you feel like taking more pictures than that, cool. Awkward Davies sent me his address by email, so think I'll send it to him on Saturday. He's used an AE-1 before (with considerable skill - nice shots!), so having an experienced person play with it first should help to sort out any issues before they become really awkward (user name notwithstanding).
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Aug 3, 2012 01:45
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ExecuDork posted:How long does shipping take when it's one-state-over? Not long in most cases, even standard shipping. Shipping in the US is a very well-oiled machine especially between major cities. Most of my experience is via B&H or by Amazon 3rd parties and even though it may say 5-7 days shipping via super saver, I have them within 4 or 5 (tops, mostly sooner). If via USPS, they can be very helpful when you take your package in helping you find the best delivery time, price, etc. At least they are at my local post office.
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Aug 3, 2012 02:39
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