I just picked up a 721 Selectric for $10 from a junk sale. It had been used for a magazine in Chehalis, WA called "Logger's World". Absolutely filthy and frozen. In the process of cleaning it up, but have done enough to be able to turn it on and confirm that it doesn't "thump". If I can get everything cleaned and freed up, I *may* have a good machine. It's the coral red color. Thank you for your videos.

Thank you.

I'm about to get a beautiful Olympia SM3, the same one in your video, let's hope to win the eBay auction because I really like it!

Joe, I can't believe I had missed this one. Right now, I've been going between two machines, back a forth. 1959 Hermes 3000 1964 SCM Galaxie Deluxe I love the super buttery thump thump of the Hermes, that smooth and precise carriage slide, hard to beat. Then I get the Galaxie Deluxe out, and the crisp slug sound with the light slush touch and a really flat key texture is such a satisfying follow up. Both for me disappear. I still only have 6 machines in my collection, theres a couple I'm looking at, but for now I love the ones I have. When I'm going to be stuck in the car for about an hour, i have a bag with my brother EP-20 in it, paper and batteries, a couple of folders, I have a kid I drop of to extra outside of school activities, so I'll happily wait in the car and work. For me as you know I'm a bit of a unicorn in that I collect Typewriters, restore and maintain them, but I also use them. And this might be the reason I'm just at 6 in my collection, I use them all to write my first drafts then into the computer it goes for further drafts and edits before it goes off to my editor. So the machines I have all fill the work flow I do. The Galaxie Deluxe and Hermes 3000 are me switch backs at the table, the EP-43 is my Excalibur when im stuck in bed and want to write, the EP-20 is out on the go, the 1972 SCM Electra 110 is lol a kind of emergency vehicle, I want to work but I don't want to crunch keys and yet I don't want to use a thermal typewriter, or Maybe I just want to go a lot faster, that big gun comes out. Thats pretty much it. But wait, that's only 5, I said I have 6. What about that 6th machine? That would be the extremely excellent condition 1968 Royal Aristocrat Special, this was my first Typewriter that was sort of a gift from my wife she wanted to buy it as I spotted it in a pawn shop. I wish I had done a bit more research on it, but it's how we learn I suppose. It's in truth a really great machine, and it is as I said in very excellent condition, but I had found things online about it's counterparts the regular Aristocrat, which is the same as the Safari, Saber and there's another one....Tower? Anyway, this article was put out by Just Type, and it had read about what these machines are best used for, which is short writings or one to two paged letters, they are not something you would want to write a novel on, because the operation is just so darn heavy, it's a bit of a hand work out. I typically write 6 to 10 single spaced pages a day, and I can get to about 7 pages and thats it, I have gone to 10, but I was sorry. Beautiful looking machine classic egg shell Robin Blue Sky and Ivory White keys and face. So that one I take out once in a while and crack out a letter one. Next letter will be from that Royal Aristocrat Special. Why its a special, I'm not sure, but it just has a decorative name plate on the carriage in the upper right, and the margine sets look different than the normal Aristocrat, Safari, or Saber. Silver pins with red dots in the center almost jewel like you push down and slide back and forth depending on where you want your margins set. After getting that Hermes 3000, its a really tough act to follow.

Man I want this model. Specifically the cloth ribbon like the one featured. I'm still not the biggest fan of carbon ribbon machines, but I've been using an SII lately and having a blast with it.

I just bought one of these for $20.00 at a thrift store! 😊

My biggest problem with the digital world is the fact that you don't really own anything. Do you really own a digitally downloaded movie or book? Whether it be the words typed on a page or the image captured on film. If you created it, it is yours.

Joe, what photo editing software are you using?

this was interesting to watch as I just had a 39 FED completely refurbished.

Hello there! Enjoyed this video & your tinkering and prototyping over the years. Just curious if you've seen the *Oxford At-Hand Note Card Case* ? I like what they're going for, but it doesn't seem as thin as yours. However, I like the window approach. I think a hybrid of yours + the Oxford model with​ @marandamcdonald 's iteration would make for a very compelling pocket notebook.

Thanks!

Great ideas. Thanks for the encouragement.

Also, lol Joe So you remember when we joked about what the neighbors think with men in black showing up at your door with suitcases (Typewriters) well, when you walk around and snap pictures you really have thrown the neighbors into the, "That's it, he's a spy!" Oddly I was wondering what would the flood control look like if you took it from the ground, like ant's prospective? In B&W, bet it would look overwhelming and lonely. Very nice pics, I can feel the warmth, or cool crisp winter mornings in the desert can bring. I remember in Arizona, when I lived out there a few years, NM's cousin.

Oh, I love it when we get outside.

Hi Joe, I have a question for you, if you did not repair your typewriters. Yourself and you took them to another repair person What questions would you ask them? Thank you so much

I enjoy seeing even more of your world through your eyes. Continue!

I like the corner couch, looks like it's part of the house's family. The stolen dog poster on the light pole is sad. I can't understand what kind of person steals a dog. The missing person one is even sadder.

Love the camera/photography videos. Great photos, Joe

Love your videos Joe.

Really loved your point about doing neighborhood walk shoots. I *sort of* do it, but I like some of the themes you pointed out. Very nice ideas out of this one, so thanks, Joe. The GRiii has been on my mind a lot because of just how tiny it is.

Just walked a dog. No camera. Then I saw your video..hmmm. RATS! Working on how to photograph a spaceship...ah, back to the set building.

Very enjoyable video Joe, I really like your quirky curiosity and capturing your observations in photos. It's amazing how quickly the scenery and surrounding neighbourhood will change and your memory of the details will fade.... But you'll have a record of them all. Thanks for sharing this.

I have the typestar 220-ii. I can't seem to find alot of things about it on the web. Does anybody have any idea what's a good selling price for it these days?

Capturing the world around us for posterity is a very human thing to do. The seemingly mu dane takes on meaning with the passage of time. You can always delete or not print a photo - you can never go back to take a photo you did not.

Joe Biden.❤.

Good to see some of your recent-ish work. I have to say, your photos are very much similar to mine, at least if I lived in New Mexico which I don’t. But I can appreciate the “document your local surroundings” as thats exactly what I do with all of my aging camera junk I tote around with me. :)

Having a great collection of different typewriters is the most rewarding part about using them and learning to type them again is fun

Another great video!

Love it! And I thought I was the only eccentric in the world! 😅

Wonderful video of your photography, Joe. Nice work!

But I want my pictures NOW!!! very well made video Joe! Rollie looks interesting. What is next? A camera inside of a typewriter? hmmm.

This raises an interesting point. Twenty years ago I would've said, forget typewriters -- you'll need to get that text into a computer and optical character reading (OCR) is not perfect. It is now. So type your manuscript, take photos of it with your phone, drag that text onto your computer's word processor. I typed for years. First on an Underwood portable, then on a Smith Corona in college, later on an IBM Selectric. Then on a Canon word processor. I could type, backspace and correct my mistakes (I make a lot) and then the memory could print out a clean copy. Made me very happy. Then I got a Mac IIci and WordPerfect. I was in heaven. (I only used Word enough to loathe it. Now I use Nisus Writer, I got it because I could write in Chinese in 2002, it wasn't Microsoft, and I got used to it. Still miss WordPerfect.) First, skip manuals unless you're a one or two finger typist. They're too slow, the keys take a lot of force. (My mom could poke holes in a Cybertruck with her fingers. You can't.) So my advice typewriter fetishists? Get an IBM Selectric. Probably the II. That correction feature is great. (If I still used Witeout (I actually do) I'd have a hairdryer on my desk.) Buy a Selectric, try it out for a few months. Like it? Buy or find a couple of back up machines (people will have them in their attics) stockpile the ribbons, cartridges.... get your brother or sister to marry a typewriter repair person. A Selectric will work well for years and then one day it'll just stop working and need servicing. (I can had have fixed almost anything. I never had a clue why the Selectric stopped working.) They have a lot of moving parts. Very reliable but it will inevitably break down. (I see that they are sold online anywhere from $200 to $1200.... Probably your best bet would be to just ask everyone you know if anyone, or their grandparents, have one in the attic. I wouldn't buy a cheap one on eBay - too many things arrive not working, the seller lies, blames you, eBay does a lot of business with them -- they keep most of your money. eBay doesn't care, won't even respond.) If you go vintage electric, always have a back up or you'll get burned at the worst possible moment. If you can do manual, and you get a good manual machine -- it'll probably last forever. For typing on a computer a lot of young people love the clicky mechanical keys. These are exactly like the Selectric. That is their 'grand daddy.' If you become a touch typist and speed up, but make a lot of errors... try a keyboard with keys that have a shorter travel distance. I prefer the MacBook Pro keyboard, actually the Magic Keyboard that's bluetooth. Being anywhere near the big track pad after 2016 causes random jumps of the cursor. (For two years I had it 'dampened' with a sheet of teflon taped over it.) Finally I had a permanent key jam and Apple Care replaced my 2016 keyboard and track pad (the whole top) with a 2018 version. Much better. I couldn't type on the 2016 without the cursor randomly jumping to another part of my text every single minute. Apple never acknowledged that this was an issue. (I tried dozens of machines in Apple Stores all over the world -- they all had that problem.) So I've been using blue tooth keyboards since then. My 2022 MacBook Pro still has some of this cursor jumping nonsense -- my 2011 never did it, not even once. (I directly compared it to the 2016 a couple times. ) Now that 2016 keyboard is well known as an utter failure. Dust got in it and it jammed. They were recalled and replaced (after Apple spent a year denying there was a problem.) What was great for me was the shorter travel distance. My fingertips still hurt a little from this.. nothing permenant. What this shorter travel did for me was to completely eliminate transposed letters (pAple, hte....). This was a happy surprise. For decades I just assumed this was all my fault. I also put big letter stickers on the keyboard. (They all have horrible sticky, slide all over the place) Even though I'm a touch typist I still glance down enough that this is an issue. (Who ever thought thin gray letters on off white was a good idea should be made to wear clown shoes.) I also put hot glue 'pips' on home keys, the odd numbers (didn't think you could touch type numbers... well, try it.) Some arcs of hot glue on some punctuation marks... My precious Apple designed Magic Keyboard looks like a ransom note with all those stickers that never stop sliding around. Even after more than 50 years of typing (I started in 7th grade) I still screw up punctuation. So long as there is a 'Caps Lock' key no one is thinking about you when they make keyboards.

Hello, I have sent messages to CAMERADACTYL several times to purchase an 8x10 back for development. And I never got a response. Do you know if this site still works? THANKS

Currently I have an SM4 and SG1 next to each other. The SG1 was a total basket case when I got it and it still is not perfect with rusty springs deep in the typewriter, but it types well. The SM4 is practically perfect. It is smooth and fast and solid. My best manual typer for sure. My goal is to tweak the SG1 so that it is as close to the SM4 as possible, but like you, I fear going deep in tearing it apart so I may just end up living with its quirks. One thing I noted was I liberally sprayed "Dry Lube" that is made for bicycle chains into the SM4 in my early days of not realizing I should not lube these, but it *may* be just that, use dry lube more generously than you think because it is made to push out dirt and is teflon based and dries? I dunno, I may try that on the SG1.

I just realised watching this that Roman numerals use 5's and 10's complement just like an Abacus

Thank you for this tutorial! I am just trying to find a Corona 3 with the old pre-revolution Russian keybord with the old Russian letters Ѣ, І, so I can type using the old orthography of my native language. Wish me look!

In the documentary titled “Tim’s Vermeer” (on KZbin) that in the latter part of testing his camera lucida, Tim added a concave 3” 300mm focal length mirror (I got one from Amazon) in front of the image to better focus the light & reflect the image onto the flat paper. Then he used the comparator mirror to look down onto the paper work from & it looked better. Check out that documentary for full info & details.

my Selectric's carriage return doesn't work consistantly. I mostly use it for writing checks and envelopes so it doesn't really affect my life much. I'll eventually fix it but it's been like this for a few years now.

Hi Joe, This is a good one! Sorry I'm late to the party, but as you know I've had a bit of a full plate on some medical and health things, happy to say I'm doing a lot better. Thank you for the prayers and well wishes. As you know I am, much like yourself as we've jokingly stated are a Keeper and Guardians of Historical Artifacts, I'm a mechanical and electromechanical Typewriter enthusiast, I am a unicorn, you are as well, in that I collect mainly mechanical typewriters and I also use them. Machines don't like to just sit. For me, I have a small but good and of great quality well working machines I use to write my first drafts on, they really help to just be Free in the creative process. The only two I have that are fully electronic are the brother EP-20 & EP-43 as you know I have written a 270paved manuscript mostly on the EP-43 but there are pages that were written on a 1964 SCM Galaxie Deluxe, a 1959 Hermes 3000, EP-20, 1972 SCM Electra 110, and a 1968 Royal Aristocrat Special. But I'd say about 190 of those pages are from the EP-43. Now with all that said, it's not that I don't like the wheel Typewriter, I just don't have a need for that, when I have something that will do the same job, as I'm sure you can understand, I really enjoy the EP-43, it is a machine that likes to vanish while using it, meaning it steps back and really allows you to have full and unimpeded use of the blank page, without fear or judgement and no second guessing, you just go. Which is why while stuck in bed I've been able to write a lot of pages on it. And I'm sure we all have reasons as to why we buy a particular Typewriter, one of my major reasons is, can I hear and feel the machine talk to me, does it pull me in to type on it, I sound crazy but they do speak to you. If it doesn't have that appeal To me, I pass, because I'm probably not going to work on it, and I'm sorry to say that's the other reason I have zero desire right now anyway, to pick on of these machines up. In truth I don't believe we will ever truly be done with the Typewriter so long as we are still working on physical paper. When paper finally goes away and I'm sure it will happen, copy stencils are all but gone, just about gone, the n when paper is gone then Typewriters will become sit and look pieces of a bygone era. It will be a super far off in the way way far reaches of the future, for now it's safe, as we humans are historical social junkies who like to relive, remember, and experience and romance old world designs, like sealing wax is making a come back has been hanging on the last 20 years, fountain pens too, ink wells, and so on. People a hundred years from now will want to return in to some form of serious to novelty experience of what we do now, just as we are into repeating and experiencing writing novels on Typewriters. The only one I don't see making any come backs and there's probably a small group of people into reliving what it was like to write on stone tablets, but that's too far back and more work than enjoyment I'd wager. Always a thumbs up on that like button, I suspect there will be a company that will reproduce a good quality mechanical and electric mechanical Typewriter, I humbly disagree with our patron Saint Tom Hanks. I don't think there will be many upon many different Typewriter companies like there once was but certainly I do believe we will see one definitely and maybe two due to competition of sales, by a Typewriter manufacturer company. People said the same thing about vinal records 20 to 30 years ago and I see them having a revival with companies that are remaking good solid working Vinal Players. The Typewriter will come back again. Just as the electric car did. As the music group The Propellerheads song says, "IT'S ALL JUST A LITTLE BIT OF HISTORY REPEATING". ❤👍

I’m definitely swept up in the typewriter revival. I just picked up my 7th (a Hermes Baby), and I absolutely love using it. I’m also a film photographer… This was a great discussion, Joe!

Your great videos have sparked my interest into the type writing hobby. I got my first typewriter a month ago, a KMG Model of 1949 for 30 bucks off of GoodWill online. Loved it but wanted something much more portable and even older. Which led me to recently purchasing a folding Corona 3 early model off ebay. It needs some work but hopefully I can get it back up and running in the near future. Thank you for your excellent work and look forward to your future content!

As for a revival, they made millions of manual typewriters so what we need is a way to fix and maintain those existing machines.

Companies need to get out of the mentality my local typewriter repair shop owner had that these things are still current technology. I'll just sort of recreate the dialogue I had: "Hi I'd was wondering how much it would cost to repair this Selectric. Could you take a look at it?" "Oh yeah I could service that for a couple hundred dollars - but you should know that we have way more advanced machines for sale, like this brand new one with an editor, spellcheck, and an eraser function so you don't even need whiteout - it's also much lighter." (this was for a cheap part that I was simply not brave enough to attempt to replace myself) "Ok thanks. I'll think about it." (proceeds to not only walk out of the store almost immediately after feigning looking around but also drive to the recycling center to drop off my Selectric that I am not smart enough to repair nor willing to pay what the only nearby place wanted) RIP my Selectric 1975 - 2023.

I found my first typewriter (a grey Olympia SM4) on Facebook Marketplace in great condition back in 2018 or 2019 for $50, which was a pretty decent score back then. Imagine my sticker shock now in 2024 after I got curious and looked up the current secondhand prices for that same machine. I'm so glad I bought it all those years ago and never traded or sold it. 🤣It's my workhorse and go-to machine anytime I have the desire to take a break from my computer and write with one of my typewriters.

Hit me up, I have 2 typewriters. Clack clack.

I just scored a black 1971 Selectric 72! Good to know about the Burroughs multi-strike carbon cartridges and height position...gonna look for options. You know, compared to my large format Selectric II, this narrow body Selectric seems a bit more crisp or solid...and quicker? I can't quite explain it, but it just seems to have a bit more authority or solid feel. Thanks again Joe for your videos!

Great fucking video.

Hi Joe. Thanks for sharing your thoughts. I enjoyed your comparison between cameras and typewrites. Still, there is an important disanalogy: there is no "Leica" (Royal, Olivetti, Smith Corona, etc.) making typewriters nowadays. I would love to have a brand new designed Erika, for instance. Best for you!

Nikon also sold the F6 as new until 2020.

Glad I hung on to my old Canon and Rollei cameras...I always liked the full manual controls and how you had to use all your brain cells to get a great image. Never liked auto focus and auto exposure. Same with typewriters...I like the manual non-electric machines best.