Been looking for one of those around flea markets.
the is a casey neistat switch from canon to sony and not the A9 series
but is pretty upmarket for reasons that are self evident
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But is it “iconic”? It looks like a pretty bad photo to me, but “YMMV” as they say. No idea what the event is but I’d hazard a guess there may have been better ones taken.
Which has zero impact on one’s ability to use the camera that comes with a phone. (Though I agree with you - if I want to take pictures I use a dedicated camera, not a phone.)
That 1500mm f/4 must be a mistake… because a 1600mm f5.6 that is a stop smaller costs $2M 
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We often suspected the stop rating was a lie. I was pretty convinced it only hit that level because of atrocious light leaks. When I describe it as a telescope. I mean it was literally constructed like a cheap telescope. It had very few elements in it. And I think most of those were plastic. It was essentially a very cheap. Quite wide gauge. Lens of much shorter focal length. Clipped onto a cheap metal tube that acted as a sort of pinhole camera sort of thing to simulate an actual 1500mm lens. And that focal length rating was probably inaccurate too. Its possible that i’m mis-remembering them as being f4. But I do remember it was shockingly low especially compared to the other long lenses on hand.
Cheap off brand product from Asia. Probably manufactured as a gimmick some time in the 80’s and remained available because noone would buy them (except my Camera chain). They were terrible. But lots of fun. Fine art photography students liked to buy the damaged ones for funsies!
And remember that actually a camera lens is both a Leica and probably has fancy features like more than one f-stop and a focus ring. The things in question were insanely basic and unstable.
ETA: For context it might help to think about other products. A 7ish" iPad starts at $399. I bought a 7" Android tablet for $25. Or 1/16th the cost. The major difference is that the $25 Android tablet is crappy.
So really I’d like to stress just how crappy those weird off brand super telephotos were. They were absolutely the crappiest crap in the store. Sold as new old stock for a max of $600. But almost always selling at a substantial discount as a clearance item. I almost bought one at $120, but when we tested the display model we got better photos out of the $49.99 kids telescope kit and an adapter to hook it up to a camera. They were almost always to be found in the scratch and dent discount bin. Or at least part of them. I once sold a student a damaged back tube, for which all the other bits were missing including whatever elements should have been in that tube. For 20 bucks. I think he was gonna cut the section of the tube with the tripod plate out and make some sort of shock mount out of it.
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Here is my phone thing. Unless I set it on “airplane mode”, it searches constantly for a signal, and the battery dies very quickly. Also, it is thin and delicate, so if I forget it in my pocket, it is going to get killed. If I have it with me in the mountains, it stays powered down in a little Otter Box. Sometimes I do use it for music, but even then it is in my pack, with the audio wire snaking out. I can recharge it if I need to from my NOD.
My current photography challenge is a big Ginger Bear that lives in the forest above our house. I have seen it about five times, but it is fabulously shy. I have never taken a decent image of it. With the rangefinder, I can at least pull the camera out and turn it on without having to look at it. My old camera always took too long to boot up, and it takes me forever to fiddle with the phone. I have only had my new camera for a couple of weeks, so we will see if I have better luck with the bear this spring.
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I get it. Good luck with the bear.
Oh for sure the more FPS you have the more likely you will get “the” shot. @TheGreatParis I think was just pointing out you can get great shots with out it. Certainly the fast and better the tool, the more likely you will take that great shot. And if everyone else has the equipment, you are going to need to make sure you do too if you want to make a living at it.
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I have a working Argus. My father and sister used it all over the world between 1950 and 1985, and it still takes perfect pictures if you can afford the film.
This camera is awesome yet ridiculously impractical when compared to nearly any cheap android phone, it would require a custom-machined adapter if you wanted to use fancy lenses, and personally I know practically nothing about photography and can barely operate the light meter. Therefore, I have out-hipster-camera-snobbed you all! I win!
Is the median price $50, or closer to $250?
does Oreilly’s Safari servicemake sense for someone in your position?
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