Pistonheads Calender

Author
Discussion

TT Tim

Original Poster:

4,162 posts

247 months

Wednesday 3rd December 2003
quotequote all
Now, forgive me as I'm a relative Newbie on here and this might have been done before, but what about a Pistonheads calender for 2005?

I haven't even broached this with Ted himself (looking forward to meeting him sometime and thanking him persoanlly for an excellent site).

So what about it?

We have say 10months to get our acts together, I'll gladly put it together, scan images, DTP etc and get it ready for press when the time comes. It could then be sold and the profits given back to Ted/Pistonheads.com to keep things ticking along.

We have an excellent source of cars and inspiration all around us, we could even have a poll nearer the time and the members decide which shots we use.

Any comments?

Tim

PS: This isn't an excuse for me to try out my new lens that arrived this morning...

...honest.



>>> Edited by TT Tim on Wednesday 3rd December 15:09

Don

28,377 posts

284 months

Wednesday 3rd December 2003
quotequote all
Nice idea. And I'm sure if a proportion of the Calendar's cover price was being donated to Ted's Charity of choice that

1) We'd all buy one
2) PHers would be falling over themselves to get *their* car in it

SGirl

7,918 posts

261 months

Wednesday 3rd December 2003
quotequote all
That's a fab lens Tim!! Seriously jealous....

The idea of a calendar has been broached on here before, but IIRC no-one could agree on what to put in it.

beano500

20,854 posts

275 months

Wednesday 3rd December 2003
quotequote all
Didn't we have one last year, a print off and pin up jobbie - or did I just dream that?

Would be a good idea for 04

ehasler

8,566 posts

283 months

Wednesday 3rd December 2003
quotequote all
Yep - nice idea, and probably just the excuse I need to get some decent shots of my car!

Are you sure you couldn't get a longer lens?

What length is it by the way?

TT Tim

Original Poster:

4,162 posts

247 months

Wednesday 3rd December 2003
quotequote all
Only problem with an '04 calender would be that we only have a month left and that would mean that we'd be searching our archives for shots rather than taking new ones.

I guess we could do an 18month one, say August - December for the first year?

print cost is so cheap that 18sheets isn't going to break the bank.

The lens: That's approx 600mm, it's the 3x teleconverter, which is in effect 420mm/2.8 35mm equivalent, then the 1.45 teleconverter is fitted to the end, which is the equivalent of a 35mm 200mm lens.

Tim

Mad Dave

7,158 posts

263 months

Wednesday 3rd December 2003
quotequote all
Sounds good to me!

I also second the Charity idea, and have a particular charity in mind


Nice lens BTW, looks a bit like my Vivitar 400mm jobbie - mahooosive

PetrolTed

34,425 posts

303 months

Wednesday 3rd December 2003
quotequote all
Nice idead. YHM Tim.

simpo two

85,422 posts

265 months

Wednesday 3rd December 2003
quotequote all
TT Tim said:
approx 600mm, it's the 3x teleconverter, which is in effect 420mm/2.8 35mm equivalent, then the 1.45 teleconverter is fitted to the end, which is the equivalent of a 35mm 200mm lens.


That'll shag your max aperture then!

TT Tim

Original Poster:

4,162 posts

247 months

Thursday 4th December 2003
quotequote all
simpo two said:

TT Tim said:
approx 600mm, it's the 3x teleconverter, which is in effect 420mm/2.8 35mm equivalent, then the 1.45 teleconverter is fitted to the end, which is the equivalent of a 35mm 200mm lens.



That'll shag your max aperture then!


Yep, It is a bit of a trade off, so, fingers crossed for a bright sunny day.

Tim

stooz

3,005 posts

284 months

Thursday 4th December 2003
quotequote all
if your planning on a 2004 one, then you just wont get the postage done by xmas anyway..

Ive just done one for my biking friends. 50 calendars cost £350 to produce! £30 in board backed envelopes and £50 in postage (£2.20 to the states)

say @ £12 each your not likely to cover your costs unless you can do more bulk and get better discounts on the printing. that was with huge discount, as the reverse was black+white (the dates), which saves massive costs

NB also took me 2 months of hard work trying to get all the various photos to fit in the same size printout. I had 4 photos per page, 3 small, one main shot.

Give me a buzz when your ready, I have some very tidy A4 size date tables you can use and adapt.
In fact being a bit of a camera addict, count me in on the board of directors and I will help take a few snaps myself.

Mr Ted, what sort of figures on production would you expect?

as an extra cost chairty raising option, get ted to give you a list of advertisers to approach who could pay say £50 to sponsor a month?

heres the bike one Ive just done as an example layout:

I added race meets into the date fields too, we could add, pistonfest, F1 races, TVR race meets etc?

TT Tim

Original Poster:

4,162 posts

247 months

Thursday 4th December 2003
quotequote all
I can sort the printing, and can probabally get it down to acceptable levels. Depends on who you know.

I had thought, as I said in my first post, about this being a 2005 calendar.

Setting shouldn't be a problem, I'm sitting here at my Mac with Quark and Photoshop open 6 days a week anyway.

I'd already thought about the sponsorship idea, I've heard from Ted but am currently waiting to hear from him to discuss the details.

Thanks for the offer of templates, what format are they in?

Tim

>> Edited by TT Tim on Thursday 4th December 18:16

PetrolTed

34,425 posts

303 months

Thursday 4th December 2003
quotequote all
Stooz, you've highlighted the reasons I haven't done it before. I'm always a little nervous of having goods that will expire as predicting demand is incredibly difficult. I've had some goods that have sold out in days and others where I've still got stock sitting around a year later.

I'll ponder on it but it's not an easy way of making money whether it be for my own pockets or for charity.

TT Tim

Original Poster:

4,162 posts

247 months

Thursday 4th December 2003
quotequote all
I'll be honest and hadn't envisaged Pistonheads having to stump up any money. I had in mind that it would be printed dependant on advance orders, i.e. orders placed up until mid October for delivery for Christmas.

I hadn't envisaged this being an issue, I'll gladly produce a print on demand if we need to.

Digi-print and binding is so cheap.

Tim

gemini

11,352 posts

264 months

Thursday 4th December 2003
quotequote all
I thought the PH girlies had offered to do one

We'd all but wouldnt we?


Then there were the photos of Nubbin (all oiled up) that the girlies would buy
(oh and of course jigs!)

PetrolTed

34,425 posts

303 months

Thursday 4th December 2003
quotequote all
Pre-ordering is a good idea (doh... lateral thinking).

I'll email you about it tomorrow Tim (sorry, know I said that last night too!).

stooz

3,005 posts

284 months

Friday 5th December 2003
quotequote all
yep, pre-ordering! wish I'd thought of that. The printing firms I spoke to wanted minimum orders, but I think you (tim) suggest that wont be the issue.
The other option is to make it ltd offer, ie put "limited X of 100" on the calendar, make it exlusive?

How about raffling some sponsorship places at pistonfest 2004?

simpo two

85,422 posts

265 months

Friday 5th December 2003
quotequote all
Must have PH pitbunnies!

stooz

3,005 posts

284 months

Friday 5th December 2003
quotequote all
Have to ask the girls?

A good opportunity would be to get the girls posing in/on the exotica of cars at pistonfest in whatever gear they prefer?

Girls? that a Yes or No?

deltaf

6,806 posts

253 months

Friday 5th December 2003
quotequote all
My! Thats a big one!