dtown8532
New member
- Apr 10, 2012
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I haven't seen anything about this new book on here so I thought I'd start a thread. I received my copy today of the book "Pinball" by Santiago Ciuffo. It's currently being sold through Pinball Magazine's website. It's not cheap. With shipping to the U.S., the cost was about $60.00. So, what do I think?
"Pinball" is probably the ultimate coffee table pinball book. It's hardback, a little over two hundred pages and is almost exclusively made up of large full page sized photos. Many of you know that I'm an amateur photographer and I can tell you that the photography is superb. As is the print quality. It far exceeds the style and print quality of the Marco Rossignolli books like Pinball Memories, Pinball Perspectives and Pinball Snapshots; all of which I own and enjoy. However, it does not supplant them.
While the book "Pinball" contains absolutely first rate photography, that is about all it contains. Unlike the aforementioned Rossignolli books, "Pinball" does not take a random selection of fifty tables, break them down by chapter and have a lengthy write up about each table along with several photos of each, including a full playfield image. Very rarely do we see a full playfield in "Pinball." Usually one table gets two photos which are taken from an artistic point of view. Meaning if, say, a slingshot is the subject then a shallow depth of field is employed to blur out the background to showcase the sling art. There were a few instances where I would have preferred the playfield glass removed like in one of the Paragon photos, but Ciuffo might have wanted it to remain for light reflection purposes. Who am I to complain? I wasn't there nor inside his head at the time.
Speaking of Paragon, this book really caters to the early solid state fan, which definitely includes myself. While there are some EM's, the majority of the tables featured are from the late 70's and early 80's. That probably has something to do with location of these pins which was Argentina. It would seem that they had a large influx during that time period. Whether they did or not, I would argue that this era produced much of the finest artwork ever in pinball so they would make for the best examples to showcase in a coffee table book.
Like I said in the beginning, I think "Pinball" is the finest coffee table book about pinball yet made. If you put this out for guests to look at who know nothing about pinball, I would bet they'll find it interesting enough to look through the whole book. I have included some pics from Pinball Magazine's website along with a link to it and one to Pinball News's review of the book. I didn't think it would be appropriate to include my own photos of the book if I were to take any.
http://www.pinball-magazine.com/
http://www.pinballnews.com/learn/newpinballbook/index.html
Bottom line is if you love the early solid state era of pinball and have the cash to spend, this is a great book. There's an absolutely spectacular pic of a trashed Stern Nine Ball playfield that's almost worth the cost alone.
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"Pinball" is probably the ultimate coffee table pinball book. It's hardback, a little over two hundred pages and is almost exclusively made up of large full page sized photos. Many of you know that I'm an amateur photographer and I can tell you that the photography is superb. As is the print quality. It far exceeds the style and print quality of the Marco Rossignolli books like Pinball Memories, Pinball Perspectives and Pinball Snapshots; all of which I own and enjoy. However, it does not supplant them.
While the book "Pinball" contains absolutely first rate photography, that is about all it contains. Unlike the aforementioned Rossignolli books, "Pinball" does not take a random selection of fifty tables, break them down by chapter and have a lengthy write up about each table along with several photos of each, including a full playfield image. Very rarely do we see a full playfield in "Pinball." Usually one table gets two photos which are taken from an artistic point of view. Meaning if, say, a slingshot is the subject then a shallow depth of field is employed to blur out the background to showcase the sling art. There were a few instances where I would have preferred the playfield glass removed like in one of the Paragon photos, but Ciuffo might have wanted it to remain for light reflection purposes. Who am I to complain? I wasn't there nor inside his head at the time.
Speaking of Paragon, this book really caters to the early solid state fan, which definitely includes myself. While there are some EM's, the majority of the tables featured are from the late 70's and early 80's. That probably has something to do with location of these pins which was Argentina. It would seem that they had a large influx during that time period. Whether they did or not, I would argue that this era produced much of the finest artwork ever in pinball so they would make for the best examples to showcase in a coffee table book.
Like I said in the beginning, I think "Pinball" is the finest coffee table book about pinball yet made. If you put this out for guests to look at who know nothing about pinball, I would bet they'll find it interesting enough to look through the whole book. I have included some pics from Pinball Magazine's website along with a link to it and one to Pinball News's review of the book. I didn't think it would be appropriate to include my own photos of the book if I were to take any.
http://www.pinball-magazine.com/
http://www.pinballnews.com/learn/newpinballbook/index.html
Bottom line is if you love the early solid state era of pinball and have the cash to spend, this is a great book. There's an absolutely spectacular pic of a trashed Stern Nine Ball playfield that's almost worth the cost alone.
post image
upload pics
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