FILM IS DEAD. Time to rebuild.

0:00 Wow.

0:01 Jeff Bridges called me today.

0:03 Jeff Bridges called me today.

0:04 Let's start with this.

0:05 I'm going to hold up this picture.

0:06 This was a FaceTime call I had earlier today.

0:25 Look at this coat.

0:26 How sick.

0:27 Look.

0:27 Look at this coat.

0:28 Are are you kidding me?

0:30 I woke up this morning and it was winter again.

0:32 Yeah, we had summer and it was 4 days.

0:34 So, I figured if I'm going to bust out a coat, I'm busting out the coat.

0:38 The coat of coats.

0:39 The coat of arms.

0:41 The Technicolor Dream coat.

0:42 Just call me Joseph.

0:44 This is an emergency broadcast.

0:46 I I didn't know I was making this today,

0:48 but I'm I'm making it and I am posting it immediately.

0:51 Today was Today was wild.

0:54 Today was one of the craziest days I've I've literally ever had.

1:00 I've just been sitting here trying to think about how to put it into words.

1:02 Truly truly magnificent.

1:04 Like it Let's Let's get into this.

1:07 Let's get into this.

1:08 Today was one of the craziest days.

1:10 One of those like career moment days for for so many reasons.

1:14 Okay, I don't know where to start.

1:16 I printed off evidence to put into my journal

1:19 because I knew either no one would believe me.

1:22 Let's start with this.

1:23 I'm going to hold up this picture.

1:24 Okay.

1:25 This was a FaceTime call I had earlier today.

1:32 Yeah, I know that is Jeff Bridges.

1:35 The Jeff Bridges.

1:36 We'll get to that in a minute.

1:38 This is very important.

1:39 This is a very important time in photography for so for many different reasons.

1:43 Okay.

1:44 And no matter what kind of photography that you do,

1:46 that you enjoy, that you invest in, this applies to everybody.

1:50 Okay.

1:52 Yeah.

1:52 Let's start here.

1:53 This is my favorite camera of all time.

1:56 My favorite camera that has ever been made.

1:58 Period.

1:58 Without a doubt.

1:59 This camera has brought me more places,

2:02 connected me with more people and opportunities,

2:04 and yielded the best work that I feel I've ever done with a camera.

2:09 I've always said it's amazing where photography can take you,

2:11 but it's also amazing with whom it can connect you.

2:14 And this camera has done that more than anything that I own.

2:19 Super fast backstory.

2:20 Okay, this is the Widelux.

2:23 It's a panoramic film camera on a swing

2:25 lens from 1958 from a company called Pannon.

2:28 Pannon burnt down.

2:29 They're gone.

2:30 They don't make this anymore.

2:31 If you want one, you got to go on eBay.

2:33 If you buy one on eBay, roll the dice.

2:35 You might get one that works, you might not.

2:36 They break easy.

2:37 They're temperamental.

2:38 They're quirky.

2:39 They've got attitude.

2:40 They're weird to use.

2:41 They're awkward to use.

2:43 You have to hold it like this.

2:44 There's a level on top.

2:45 You could use a tripod.

2:46 I don't.

2:47 It's only got three shutter speeds.

2:48 15th, 125, 250, five aperture settings.

2:52 That's it.

2:53 Everything else is stripped away.

2:54 This device is a storyteller.

2:57 Okay.

2:57 The camera pans from left to right and there's a small

2:59 slit that exposes the light as it sweeps across the film negative.

3:03 That's what gets you your image.

3:04 Listen.

3:07 Wind it back.

3:08 That's a 15eenth of a second, right?

3:10 You got to hold that.

3:11 Do it with me.

3:12 Ready?

3:12 1 2 3.

3:17 Oh, it feels good.

3:18 It's doable though.

3:19 It's doable.

3:19 You held your breath, didn't you?

3:21 I know you did.

3:21 Now you're laughing cuz you know that.

3:23 I know.

3:23 250 is a much better speed.

3:24 One of the quirks, got to change the shutter speed before you wind it back.

3:28 Don't ask why.

3:29 1958.

3:31 Much better.

3:32 Film goes in the back.

3:33 Looks wild.

3:34 When you load it, it goes through about three channels.

3:36 When you wind this thing back into the canister,

3:38 it has, I am not exaggerating, it has drawn blood.

3:41 Now, you might ask yourself, with all of those things, is it worth it?

3:44 That seems like a lot of effort.

3:45 Yes, because until you've seen frames from this camera,

3:48 either on your computer screen, printed in real life,

3:51 or looked through a book of these frames,

3:53 you can't truly appreciate the magic behind it.

3:56 It offers so much storytelling in every frame because

4:00 you are seeing so much more of the frame.

4:03 It's kind of hard to wrap your brain around,

4:04 especially the first time using one and then getting those images back yourself.

4:08 But it's gone.

4:10 1958, company burned to the ground.

4:12 No blueprints, no schematics, no backups, no records.

4:16 This thing is toast.

4:18 eBay until now.

4:21 A small team of ridiculously smart engineers

4:24 from Germany got together with one epic storyteller, photographer, actor,

4:28 and decided to recreate the widelux, build it from the ground up

4:31 by reverse engineering the last available model created.

4:35 So they took it apart, they stripped it down, they made prototypes.

4:38 Now, there was wind of this years ago.

4:40 Time goes on.

4:41 This isn't exactly an overnight task.

4:43 It takes a minute.

4:44 This week, it was unveiled.

4:45 The Wide Lux with an extra X is available for pre-order.

4:48 They did it.

4:49 They remade the greatest camera that has ever existed.

4:52 It retains its full identity as a Widelux.

4:55 It works the same.

4:56 It cranks the same, but it's been refined.

4:58 It's been tuned.

5:00 The knobs are bigger.

5:01 It's easier to turn.

5:02 It has a 2-year warranty.

5:04 It is back in a modern-day age.

5:06 what was risky in buying a camera that you didn't know

5:09 would work or having any support for that camera in the future,

5:12 that's been eliminated.

5:13 It's a pretty amazing moment in photography when you can

5:16 get people that are just so passionate about the art

5:18 form that they resurrect a camera that doesn't exist anymore

5:22 and spend years developing it to the point where it's usable,

5:26 repeatable, marketable, 350 units to start.

5:29 When they're gone, you got to wait for the next batch.

5:32 I've shot my childhood rock heroes with this camera.

5:35 my favorite actor with this camera.

5:37 It's brought me to incredible events, life events,

5:40 moments that are once in a-lifetime, the eclipse for Red Bull.

5:43 It's introduced me to so many

5:45 like-minded and passionate photographers around the world

5:47 who share the same joy for this because they've experienced the magic.

5:51 Now, this all started from a van ride back from a testing

5:54 site for the Red Bull shoot in Texas years ago.

5:57 Friend of mine, Alex, said to me,

5:58 "Have you ever seen Jeff Bridges work?" And I remember thinking,

6:00 "The actor Jeff Bridges?" He's like, "Yeah." I'm like, "No." Yeah.

6:03 made a few photo books that are incredible

6:05 and he's shot them on a camera called the Widelux.

6:07 That's where the journey began.

6:08 I found the books on eBay.

6:10 I won't tell you how much I paid for them.

6:12 Bought them.

6:13 Mind blown.

6:14 Found myself in New York weeks later with a friend Jordan that actually had

6:17 a Wide Lux where I got to use it and hold it for the first time.

6:20 That confirmed it on the way home.

6:22 Bought one immediately.

6:23 From there, hit the ground running.

6:25 Found the other books on eBay.

6:26 Don't ask how much I paid for them.

6:28 Took that camera around the world.

6:30 Learned it, mastered it, loved it.

6:32 Jeff's been able to take this camera onto movie sets and and show us

6:35 a side of film making and behind the scenes that no one has experienced before.

6:40 I'm sorry.

6:40 Imagine standing over that scene.

6:42 Oh, it looks good, guys.

6:43 Got it.

6:44 Unbelievable.

6:45 I mean, like, have you shot Iron Man?

6:47 It takes the busiest scenes even and pulls every ounce of story out of them.

6:51 I wouldn't typically stop and think to take a photo

6:53 in a mess of people that looks like this.

6:55 But because the Vantage is so wide and there's

6:57 so many people doing so many different tasks,

7:00 it gives you so many things to look at in one frame,

7:03 I find myself scanning the image over and over

7:06 again and finding new things every time that I do.

7:08 It's like, where's Waldo?

7:09 It also gives you multiple vantage points in one photo.

7:12 You could have a subject on the left side

7:14 and be telling an entirely different story on the right.

7:16 When I first realized that, that also blew my mind.

7:19 A 15-second exposure allowing you to capture an expression

7:22 twice on the same person in one frame.

7:25 uh landscapes like you've never seen.

7:26 So when the team behind Widelux reached out and asked if I wanted

7:29 to write an article to support the launch that would go on the website,

7:33 both the Widelux site and the Silver Green Classic site, you just say yes.

7:38 That's a no.

7:38 You don't have to ask twice.

7:40 Be right back.

7:41 So firstly, I'd love for you to go read the article.

7:43 It's really special and it's one of those moments

7:45 in my career that I'm extremely proud of and grateful to have.

7:48 I haven't been asked to write articles many times,

7:51 but for something like this, I one could not say no to, two,

7:54 it's my absolute pleasure to do so.

7:57 And that leads me to today when my phone rings.

8:00 I'm at the studio just doing what I do another day,

8:03 another random Thursday, getting videos ready for next week.

8:06 Was literally starting to put together some notes for a reel

8:09 I wanted to make about the relaunch of the Widelux.

8:11 My phone rings and I answer that FaceTime call,

8:14 which is rare for me because I don't

8:15 typically answer FaceTime calls from people I don't know.

8:17 I rarely like talking to people I do know.

8:19 So, by chance, I answered it to the one and only Jeff Bridges.

8:22 From hearing about his work in a van to finding his books

8:26 on eBay to happening across the camera in New York to buying one,

8:31 learning it, traveling the world using it,

8:34 shooting rock stars, meeting celebrities, building my own photo book,

8:38 hearing about the recreation of my favorite camera,

8:41 being asked to write an article about the launch

8:44 to a FaceTime call from Jeff Bridges himself.

8:47 Feels like reaching the summit of a mountain I never thought I'd get to.

8:51 We snapped a quick photo together and then

8:53 we just chatted about photography and cameras

8:55 and wide and he is as every bit as cool as I knew he would be.

8:59 Just a guy who loves photography like you,

9:02 like me, and like everybody else that watches these videos.

9:05 A true passion and a true legend leaving a mark

9:08 on yet another industry that he didn't need to do.

9:11 But what a mark to leave,

9:12 especially in a world where we hear things like film is dead.

9:16 Well, folks, this is proof.

9:19 It is very much not.

9:20 So, so I've left links to the article in the description below.

9:23 On that same site, you can pre-order the camera.

9:25 There's 350 of them to start.

9:27 All the extra details are there.

9:28 And I can say this journey has been absolutely wild.

9:31 Wow.

9:33 Jeff Bridges called me today.

9:34 Jeff Bridges called me today.

9:36 Oh, hey Jeff.

9:39 Where do you There's only one thing left to do,

9:41 and that's just going to have to be shooting Jeff's

9:43 portrait on the wide he helped bring back to life.

9:47 That's putting the flag down.

9:50 What a day.

9:51 What a day.

9:52 I I can't wait to write.

9:53 I can't wait to put this in my journal.

9:54 I just can't.

9:55 My dad would have loved this.