Recently received my Stipula 991 from Giardino Italia (from their last consignment apparently). So now I am trying to capture the look of that nice-enough-to-eat-but-mustn't celluloid. I think it's impossible, or at least beyond my limited photographic skills, but at least you get an idea of the clip and collar engraving. (Or more strictly speaking, moulding. Apparently, the silver is shaped by the 'lost wax' method, a technique often used in jewellery).

Oh and the pen writes absolutely beautifully, straight from the box. Thanks to Susanna for checking it for me.

Richard









edit: revised pix

Congratulations Richard!

That deal should have sold out in a month. I guess it illustrates what a small community pen folk are.

I think your pictures are stunning! Only issue us that they make the pen appear a bit darker than real. Try opening your lens aperture a stop or so. It will bring up the pen but wash the background out a bit. Not a bad choice, however, as the pen is the subject and cries out to be properly rendered. The viewer's eye will accept the background going lighter.

Thanks for the pictures and enjoy that Etruria!

Hi Roger, took your advice and brightened the pics. Had to increase the contrast significantly too, to prevent them looking washed out. Still can't capture that wondefull iridescence (or is it more opalescence?) of the celluloid ...

Suppose people will just have to buy one to find out (quickly though!)

Richard

Definite improvement!

The question of how to capture that quality, be it irridescence or opalescense (both words have the same meaning in my little "quick and dirty" computer accessed dictionary. I'll look in a better one later to see if they give nuanced [sic] meanings), how to capture it photographically is the $64,000 question. I've never done much product photography, and that's the area that would apply here, I think.

What's your set up now? Do you use tenting and diffuse lighting (that's what it looks like to me) or what?

Youre pretty much there, Roger. My set-up is incredibly basic; a light 'cube' (basically a tent system with one wall missing for the camera), a little Canon G5 heavily over-ridden to manual settings, a mini tripod, and an unusually sunny morning in London town providing illumination through my window. Plus a few reflectors - or an ice lolly stick, shirt laundry card, and Swiss chocolate cardboard backing as they were in their previous lives!

All this despite the fact that I also have some much smarter 35 mm gear, a Nikon F5 and Contax G2, both with dedicated flash and good lens systems. Plus a mint black Leica M4 which I'll never get rid of. But they're all obsolete now.

I'm waiting for digital to become a mature technology, and for manufacturers to stop bringing out a new model every week, and then I'll probably get a Nikon SLR.

But until then, I follow what we all know deep down: 98% of any picture is in the lighting. When I used to commission still-life photography, most of the day was spent setting up the lighting scheme. And if we wanted drop-dead best quality, the photographer would use a 10x8 Gandolfi mahogany & brass plate camera!

Richard

richard,

your pictures have captured an essence of the pen that i cannot get from retail websites. it never appealed to me before now. it's making me think hard whether or not to get one. by their last consignment, do you mean that that was their last specific piece left, or do they have a small stock left?

would you say that the 991 in real life is about the same tone and brightness as represented in your pictures, now that your pics are edited?

setting the pen with a map of florence/tuscany - nice touch!

Dave, thanks for the kind words.


Yes, I think the pics are a fair reflection of the pen. It has a fairly glossy finish though, so when pics are taken with direct flash (mine are all daylight-only) it does tend to glare somewhat. And as I said, the pics don't really transmit its iridescence. You get a hint of this on the blind cap, second pic down.

I should also enter the caveat that it all depends on your monitor!


I'm refering to Giardino Italia's last delivery of stock; they are discounting them heavily BTW. Susanna recently posted on the Marketplace board something to this effect.


I was waiting to see who spotted the Etruria/Tuscany connection first!

What you've assembled there, Richard, will do pen work with the best of them. Besides, I love Rube Goldberg set ups.

Boy, we're in a very similar situation. I'm sitting on Leicas. An M6 and an R8, each with a handful of lenses.

I've thought of getting the R8 to work on pen photography, but it's such a pain to have the negs souped elsewhere. I love those bloody cameras. The fit, finish and operation of them is like a fine watch (before quartz movements :-) and I love using them. But, with the digital cameras getting ever better, though their construction makes me nauseous, I too am waiting for the whole picture to come together.

Oh, I have a little happy snap 2 MP Olympus here that I could put a plus lens on and turn out good enough work for here, but you know how one gets after they've been to the mountain.

Nice that the G5 allows manual everything. It's the only way to fly with close up work. Keep up the good work.

Love the Leica R8; that's a LOT of camera!

I considered buying a high-quality 35 mm scanner, looked at the prices (£3000+) and bough the G5 instead. But the fact is, digital will never match the resolution of film - but then, it mostly doesn't need to, especially on here.

And yes, the construction is atrocious. And I don't see that ever getting any better ...

Nice pen I guess - if you have to settle for a Stip . Nice pics of a very nice pen. I see our Stipula proselytizer has been busy and effective! Soon we'll have to change our name to the SFPN - the Stipula Fountain Pen Network . Do I see a Stipula forum on the horizon . . .

Well, they haven't yet made a Pelikan forum, so...

Well, speaking of Stipula, how's your new Duetto World Lux LE writing, SP? I know you're doing a review, but just give me a teaser. I forgot what nib you got, but is it a gooder?

Hi Richard,

Congratulations on a great new pen, and extremely good taste!
Thank you for sharing these pics. They are great and I reckon these are the best ones of the 991 I have seen so far! They're also the first ones where you can see a little of the pearlescence, too, as you mentioned, in the piston knob/blind cap.

Warm regards, Wim

(edit: spelling)

Nice, wet medium. Gooder? Umm - yes!

Sounds delicious - can't wait!

Wow, great photos, Richard! That map was a nice touch.
You have a lovely pen and it has a stub nib, too?
Excellent!
May you have many happy years with your new Etruria!

Hi Richard
Excellent photos from you again and very nice looking pen too.I want to eat that pen hehehe

Hi Roger, For your information: Leica just brought out a digital back for their SLR-cameras, can´t remember the exact details, but since you are sitting on a bunch of equipment, that might just be your ticket...

Warm regards, Wim

Hi Richard, Good choice, as you showed, too . I wouldn´t agree entirely with you on that one. Considering the fact that there are 17 MP full size SLR cameras at the moment, it only requires a Foveon type implementation, and the resolution is higher than that of any film used for the 135 format (17 x 3, let´s say 50 MP), which will also result in no more Moiré effects, because you´re at the limit of the lens before you reach that. Also, I find that even at 8 MP (APS-C sensor), many of the pics are sharper at high magnification than many of my old B&W photographs in 135 format. Well, that´s true. Even so, a very sharp pic in high resolution tends to give a better result than a lower resolution one, not taking the skills of the photographer in account. Well, I reckon that is more a matter of taste than construction quality. There is no turning back from electronics, plastics and the digital world. There are well-built cameras, and not-so-well-built ones, which used to be so in the past, and is not likely to change now or in the future..

Warm regards, Wim

Oh yes, I know. But if you haven't heard the price, sit down and get yourself together...If memory serves, the street price will be around $9,500.00!

Even if I'm off by a couple of thousand, that's a bit too rich for me. I know, I know, if you're into Leica you know it's going to cost an arm and a leg and if the price of staying with it is too high, then you shouldn't have gone into it in the first place. Sound logic for which I have no rejoinder except that I was working when I acquired most of the Leica gear, and now in retirement, there isn't as much discretionary money floating around the house.

Hi Wim, thanks for the complimentary remarks! If you don't have shares in Stipula, surely they should just give you some for all the work you've done promoting the brand! Seriously though, many thanks for alerting me to these fabulous pens, I really am delighted with mine. And the 1.1 nib, which we discussed, is beautiful functionally - smooth, springy, wet, instant-starting - as well as aesthetically.


Last time I looked at Foveon (2 years ago?) it had been used on a slightly obscure camera - Sigma, maybe? - and I thought it was an interesting idea, but didn't see it could be used to improve resolution. If that's how it's being used, then that's interesting. But are MPs the whole story? The big Kodak SLR has molto pixels, but still seems to be unloved. I suspect it's a bit like the audiophile arguments about analogue v digital; in the end, digital will provide superior resolution ('lower distortion') but film will still provide greater atmosphere or somesuch ('musicality'). And most of us (me included) won't be able to tell the difference.


Pretty rich coming from a man with how many celluloid Stips? And on a fountain pen forum?

"There are well-built rollerballs, and not-so-well-built ones ..." Well it's true I suppose, but there will always be people to whom it's not especially relevant.

All the best
Richard

Hi Roger,

Well, wow, that is a little rich. But I guess that was to be expected from Leitz...

And you can buy a whole lotta nice fountain pens for that money .

Warm regards, Wim

Hi Richard, Guess I can't help myself, just love 'em... Well, my favourite nib too... Just fits my writing style .

Sigma was the inventor of the concept. It will certainly increase colour resolution. Don't forget that all other sensors use interpolation of surrounding pixels to get an average colour for the interpolated point. If they would do that with a Foveon sensor, it would really increase resolution by a factor 4 at least (that is the potential, compared to other sensors). Interpolation effectively decreases sharp resolution, and introduces chromatic funnies and effects like Moiré. A Foveon type sensor works similar to analog film in that regard, with three different layers for the different colours. I just hope that Sigma manages to hook up with one of the bigger players in the market, so that we won't have to wait until their patent lapses . No, clearly not. The Kodak SLR just wasn't ready for prime time yet, and it had a Nikon or Canon bayonet anyway, with the Nikon and Canon electronics achieving better results. Most pros weren't using Kodak cameras prior to digital ones, as Kodak was really only into consumer cameras before, and they wouldn't do that now either. I don't think it is entirely the same. A pixel outputs an analog signal, which gets transformed to a digital value, yes, but that does mean greater variation is possible. Also, looking at film and prints, if you have ever made prints yourself, you may have noticed that focusing tools for prints often make you focus on the silver grains in the developed film, where the best films have grain size distributions in a very narrow range (they all look the same size). IMO, that is digital, not analog. You can see the grain in most prints as well; it is much harder to detect in prints from high megapixel stills. And even light is not really analog, although it seems to be to the human brain. With enough steps, everything seems smooth.
Also, the latest crop of sensors are capable of gamma curves very similar to film, and in some instances even better (and I am only talking APS-C and full frame sensors here, not even the larger ones). And contrast in analog photoprints is about half of that of film, and digital photo printers generally can achieve more than that.

BTW, if you look at it, the way the retina works, is kinda digital too, digital with an analog output, similar to a camera sensor, while the ear is an analog device. This may account for some differences, too.

Hey, I never said you couldn't mix the two...

Very true. Fortunately, IMO, I am not one of those people . You too!
Hop you didn't mind me getting a little philosophical here..

Warm regards, Wim

Wim or Richard, can you please explain to me the filling system in the 991? It sounds like the vendors describe a converter inside it, but Stipula calls it a "high capacity convertible piston" that can be replaced with a "standard converter". Is it basically a c/c filler? I'm dying to know. Thanks!

Hi inkyfingers,

I think I explained this in another thread, but here is the short of it:

The 991 contains a big brass and plastic piston converter, which is operated by the piston knob at the top of the barrel. For all intents and purposes, and the enormous quantity of ink it holds, it is a piston filler pen.

However, you can take this big piston converter out, by unscrewing the barrel, and pulling the big piston converter out. A little tricky, because there is only little grip .

And now the pen has become a c/c filler. It takes international cartridges or an international size converter.

Essentially you have the best of both worlds here.

Since this pen is made from celluloid, which tends to stain from ink more than pens made from other materials, it is a very ingenious solution to prevent the celluloid to come into contact with ink, and hence from staining.

"True" Etruria piston fillers can't be taken apart this easily, but they do have an internal sleeve which holds the piston, so in a way the 991 is a luxury variant of this concept.

The current Etruria Amber Grande and Etruria Ocean Blue (rounded clip both) have a similar construction, but they take a different, metal and plastic, big piston converter, which is interchangeable between the two, but doesn't fit the 991.

BTW, putting the big piston converter back in is obviously the reverse proces, just that you have to make sure it aligns properly with the piston knob, otherwise it doesn't seat deep enough. You can't screw the barrel on fully if it isn't in completely. This can be a little tricky. Sometimes you need to stick it in 2 or 3 times before it is right. Not a major thing, just that you have to make sure the converter sticks out only a mm or so before screwing the barrel back on to the section.

HTH, warm regards, Wim

Excellent description. Thank you.

Richard, what kind of ink were you using? It is lovely colour. (Just hoping it is not Diamine Tropical Blue, as this one is sold out.)

Hi klemenv, it is a Diamine blue ... Royal Blue. I keep coming back to this ink because it behaves so perfectly - no skipping, good flow, good lubrication, nice shading - in fact it's my perfect ink. Oh, and it's a nice colour too!

Richard