Herb Keppler's wisdom

On the joys of collecting:
"Among the many things I resent about digital imaging is the slamming of the door on one of my favorite hobbies, camera collecting. Aside from getting a discontinued model cheap to use as a backup, can you tell me why someone would be excited about buying an obsolete digital camera for any purpose other than to use as a doorstop?"
(Popular Photography & Imaging, August 2007)

Film is here to stay:
"No, no, dammit, film is not going to disappear, so stop writing me scaredy-cat letters about how 'we duffers are gonna fade away silently clutching the last rolls of Kodachrome to our breasts.'"
(Popular Photography & Imaging, September 2007)

Relating a comment by renowned photojournalist Alfred Eisenstaedt:
"After Nikon introduced the first motordrive-compatible in 1954 (2.5 fps), I asked Eisie if he ever used a motor. 'Never,' said Eisie. 'It might miss something that this would have caught.' He wiggled his shutter release finger at me."
(Popular Photography & Imaging, April 2007)

If you were alone on a deserted island and could only have one camera and lens, what would it be?
"An all-mechanical Nikon F with a coupled selenium meter (no battery) and a 105mm macro lens to photograph flora and fauna, big and small, and to take a fine portrait of the person who rescues me!"
(Popular Photography & Imaging, August 2006)

Herbert Keppler: 1925-2008

Remembering a great photographer, journalist, savant, mentor and gentleman...

Herbert Keppler -- Herb or Burt -- was known throughout the world for his extremely popular columns Speaking Frankly and SLR in the American magazine and arguably the world's most read photography journal, Popular Photography. During his 57-year career as a writer, editor and publisher of photographic magazines, which earned him a worldwide reputation as one of the most respected and revered authorities in the photographic field, he also did a lot to popularise Japanaes cameras and Japanese technology.

On 4 January 2008 Herbert Keppler died peacefully in his sleep, after a short illness, at Phelps Memorial Hospital in Sleepy Hollow, New York, with his wife Louise, daughter Kathy and son Thomas at his side.

Read Jason Schneider's tribute to Keppler here:

In Memoriam: Herbert Keppler, 1925-2008

Some memorable quotes from the old master:

The Wit and Wisdom of Herbert Keppler

For Pop Photo's special Burt Keppler click here

Roger and Frances on why they love film

Welcome to Film

There are no books and precious few articles for those who want to go from digital to film: surprisingly few editors are far-sighted enough to publish them, say Roger and Frances Hicks. "Well, we still use film, and here is why, garnered from our own experience and that of others who have never stopped; or have gone back to film after trying digital; or who, after growing up on digital, have decided to use film either alongside or instead of digital.

"The last point is important. We use both digital and silver halide. We also ride motorcycles as well as driving cars, and eat vegetables as well as meat. You don't necessarily need to abjure the one in order to enjoy the other -- unless, we have to say, you want the best possible results on the lowest possible budget, in which case silver is a clear winner in most cases. Increasingly, too, people take a hybrid silver/digital route, scanning and printing from film. In colour, this is the way we do it, though in black and white we still print the vast majority of our pictures in a traditional 'wet' darkroom."

Roger and Frances conclude: "You may get hooked. You'll be so intrigued by the pictures that you'll buy a good quality scanner, or maybe even set up a darkroom -- which is easier than you might think, as evidenced in the free module on our darkrooms. Then you'll want another camera, and some more lenses... Nah, stick to digital. You don't want to enjoy yourself that much."