From jm3@umich.edu[jm3@jm3.net] Mon Jan 26 16:43:54 1998
Date: Wed, 30 Apr 1997 17:56:51 -0400 (EDT)
From: johnny bluejeans (jm3@umich.edu)[jm3@jm3.net]
To: pixelvision@jupiter.rowan.edu
Subject: Creative FX hype (warning, long message!)


Hello all,

it's been a while since i posted to the list, but all this
creative effects hype has given me some food for thought. after reading
all the good publicity about the thing, i thought it would be a great gift
idea for a friend of mine who's into low-res type photo stuff. but when i
saw the thing at meijers i was shocked. chintsy plastic camera, cruddy
looking package and a $50 price tag. then i saw the image quality: forget
low-res, guys and gals, this is NO-res. the images look like they were
faxed twice and then pulled out of somebody's ass (pardon my french).

i think that Carl  suggested some good uses for it when he
talked about taking it on his trip to Guatemala, but i don't want casual
readers of this list to get the idea that this new camera is anything
special. it generates *very* poor looking images, imho is overpriced and
is super toy-looking. it may find a market among kids and people who need
a 0-image-quality camera, i don't know. while i don't think that fischer
price "ignored the lessons of the past," i also don't think that the
creative FX is anything on par with the pxl. If they truly were to create
a "pxl for the Nineties", they would make a camera that was small, cheap,
interfaced with a computer, was idiot-proof and beat the pxl in quality
and recording length. the FX does none of these.

i am not *out* to dis the thing, but i was so crushed when i saw it that i
just had to write this.  and in defense of the flames i fear i will
receive from this mesg, please know that i have nothing against using
"toy" technology in pursuit of fun, art or anything else. but when a color
polaroid camera costs $25, when a kodak disposable can be reloaded at home
in about 2 minutes, or when b&w instant film or polalith blue or IR film
all fit in a 35mm camera which costs 5 bucks at a garage sale, i just
can't see much use for the creative effects camera.

love,

  john manoogian
  http://www.jm3.net/

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