Sam Vinegar of Photorama used to say over and over, "Those great old photographs were taken by old lenses". Of course he had a table full of brass mounted lenses in front of him, but if you look at the work of many turn of the century (not this one) photographers there is a lot to be appreciated.
I used to buy and read old photo books, even various editions of "Making good pictures" by Kodak, and if it is a good shot, the equipment was hardly limiting the abilities of the photographer.
Seems we lost a very good photographer on that trip, Scott must have been a quick read in photography. Pity he never saw any of the finished work.
Regards, John