Are we all a bunch of photographic luddites?

literiter said:
I cruise the web using my ENIAC computer powered by our steam generator located in the backyard. This system serves three purposes; cruise the web, to heat this part of the neighborhood and provide a gentle activity for the Wife as she cruises the racks with a shopping cart full of replacement tubes to keep the thing working.

Every hour, one of us nips out to the generator shed to shovel another ton of coal into the hopper. ( The wife can easily press 250 pounds now, and I'm sure I can too. )

I can't stand those dinky little desktop things so many of us use. Sure, sure it's easier to read a screen than translate punched tape but that is the price we pay for authenticity.

I still use daquerrotype but sadly find that the mercury vapor seems to be finally affecting my cognitive processes.
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amazing haha
 
My Bessa R, a LTM was purchased new from Camera Quest in Aug. 2007. Not sure how long the camera was discontuined before I bought it, but to me it delivers the best of both the old & the new. Bright VF & TTL Metering with the option for older lenses. Most of my stuff is hand me downs. My wife sees a monitor on the street she will pick it up & we put it in a room. Then when my current monitor goes out we toss it to the recycle station & plug in a new to us one & keep on. So I'm probably more of a hoarder/scavenger type than a luddite eventhough I seem to cope better with analog gear. I love pocket watches.🙂
 
Shick Sensor Excel: I think a razor has to have a little more mass than those packet disposables. Leather shoes for work, perfect fit, never more than twice in a week the one pair, and wooden shoe trees go in when not being worn. Turbo diesel Citroen C5, with all the modern safery features. I couldn't drive a '60s car of my dreams now, having once had my life saved by a modern Citroen. Pelikan M800 fountain pen. Two, actually. Fedora for walking down to lunch if it's sunny. 1986 English umbrellas if it's raining, Dunhill if it's still, Briggs if it's windy. Oris steel automatic watch. I hate it when a quartz watch battery runs flat. Vinyl in storage until my children have left home. X100 and M9-P almost exclusively now. Lost my iPhone 3GS 18 months ago. For four days I had no iPhone. I didn't take to my bed, but I thought about it.
 
19th century oak bureau, with some woodworm as a premium, but with a table top of 80 cm height, bettering every IKEA design (I'm taller than most of you). A modern German Sedus office chair with a cheap Chinese pillow under my *ss to level things out. Mechanical Cherry keyboard with fading lettering. Leather shoes to keep my feet free from smelling. An authentic panama hat bought in Ecuador 15 years ago with a rim too wide to be fashionable these days. A Visoflex with a 200 Telyt and a toilet cistern from yesteryear. A body given to me some 50 years ago that still does some of the tricks it used to know.

Nescio
 
Dictionary definitions of Luddite

1. Any of a group of British workers who between 1811 and 1816 rioted and destroyed laborsaving textile machinery esp. in cotton and woolen mills, that they believed was threatening their jobs

2. One who opposes technical or technological change.
[After Ned Ludd, an English laborer who was supposed to have destroyed weaving machinery around 1779]

Do we really oppose technological change- for "Luddite reasons", or do we prefer older technology for certain purposes, or feel the results it produces (in the right hands?) to be more aesthetically pleasing?
 
I like my old film cameras sure. But I'm not militant about it. For those like me for who it is just a hobby, then do what you like. From cutting edge digital offerings to wet plate cameras, there is plenty of room for all.

Now if one wants to put beans on the table with their photography then, perhaps the choices are more constrained. If you have already made a name, say like David Burnett has, then you can get away with using an old Speed Graphic or a Holga and still get published. If however you are Joe Schmo scratching for work then perhaps more conventional and current professional equipment will both impress the client and get the job done with the minimum of fuss.
 
I used to love film rangefinders because they were simplistic in nature and of a great form factor. Film workflow and I never really gelled. We are at a sweet spot now where rangefinder-like form can be had with extremely competent digital. I love Fuji X cameras now.

I also like vinyl (acetate) records. Mostly because the music I like is still released primarily on this medium. UK bass / garage / reggae if you were wondering. Music from a record and some good speakers has an unmistakable warmth.
 
It's called "options" and I'd hate any to go away.

Unlike some, I don't see the necessity to limit mine to one or the other when I can have the best of both. I use 5x4, 6x7, 6x6 and 35mm (in film) + 35mm digital and a digi point and shoot.

I drive an auto transmission car - solely because my wife won't drive manual transmission. I shave using whatever the safest, sharpest razor I can get as I'm a clumsy sod and forever "nicking" myself and bleeding on my shirts.

I have a centrally-heated home but I like the windows and doors open on nice days. I have a refrigerator but I like hung game meat as well. I'll eat commercially baked bread but I prefer artisan baked bread fresh if I can get it. My wife makes me eat low cholesterol spreads - which are okay - but butter is better.

We are not luddites, we are consumers and consumers like options and choices.
 
Film dino said:
Do we really oppose technological change- for "Luddite reasons", or do we prefer older technology for certain purposes, or feel the results it produces (in the right hands?) to be more aesthetically pleasing?
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exactly

And to the OP:
yes and no.

cars: I'm not a luddite, I really prefer manual transmissions.
I am: old classic cars are beautiful.

Watch: I'm not, I really find hands dials more readable than digital ones.
I am a luddite, I chose a mechanical watch, or maybe I'm not, I chose an automatic one...

cameras: really? SLR are better from RF's? I vastly prefer the old RF system, and I won't have two M9's to replace what I can do with film.
yeah, I confess: I just love barnacks, specially a black paint 1933 little bugger...

Am I? Ain't I?
In certain fields (read: you can exclude computers/ monitors etc...) functionality, although important, is not everything.
 
Hi,

Didn't the Luddites go around destroying new factory machinery as it would put them, the old fashion craftsmen out of work? So who's done that round here?

Regards, David

PS And I don't think latest and greatest go together... Is there any hope for me?
 
I just like rangefinders... but I also like modern AF cameras too. I don't get caught up in the older is better crap ... I just use what I want to at that time.
 
hepcat said:
The return value of the gizmo or the gizmo's features is less than the time it takes to learn how to operate them efficiently.
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I think part of that is that all those fancy features are nice to have, but they are not used most of the time. At least not by me. For most photos, all I need is the ability to adjust shutter speed, aperture, ISO and focus. Film cameras do that just fine, though changing ISO settings with digital technology is easier than swapping out film of different speeds.

I shoot digital and film and as long as the camera suits the job and I enjoy using it, it doesn't matter.

All that said, I do love old stuff. Some of that is I like the ties to the past. I like history and knowing where we came from. Often there is no justification for it. I just like it. Call it a quirk in my personality. 🙄
 
Suppose I'm a hybrid then.
  • Camera's: Leica II, Leica M2, Ricoh GXR-M, Zeiss Super-Ikonta 532/16
  • Home developing B&W, outsourcing color and E6, but scanning and digital printing
  • Fountain pen and ball point set by Kaweco, classic German design
  • I ride a bicycle because I do not have a drivers license (although handshifted gears are the standard in Europe, automated gearboxes are for "A man regarded as weak, timid, or unmanly" <- THAT you should Google 😀)
  • Coffee from a percolator (google that!?)
  • All CD's are on the way out, it's all iTunes and AirPlay
  • I prefer books on paper to anything digital

Just about 50/50 I'd say.
 
I think a thread about this subject pops up here every 2 years or so. When I first saw one, I responded differently than I will now.

Actually, I don't think the people here are luddites. But one thing we have in common is that we are a group of people that somehow have a different perception of value than the normal main stream consumer. Admittedly, this is a broad statement.

Once in a while for a given subject/product it could be that we are aligned with the mainstream. Other times, the individuals here are just way off. Maybe the write definition is that we are a group of outliers that share a common interest?

To answer the question, for me:
1.) Film and digital (mostly film)
2.) Straight razor once a week!
3.) Only own stick shift cars
4.) All music is bought on CD and then loaded into iTunes
5.) I only read paperbooks and surf on the internet. No kindles here...
6.) I hate Nespresso...
7.) No printers on the premises. I don't like old wasteful technology like that! I have been paperless for 10 years (unless it's photographic paper!!!!)

Cheers,
John
 
It has a lot to do with life style. I move around a lot and 'new' mostly beats 'old'. Especially regarding communications: 'old' was a fair disaster...no internet and when in remote areas of the world, you could not communicate for months at a time. Later, in the transition period, going around with an attache case which held a satellite phone -you had to point the lid (which served as an antenna), towards the satellite and then, when you did get a connection...pay an insane per minute price for the privilege... No thank you to that 'old'. Anyone remember 'Pactor'? A radio based telex-like system...you needed a dedicated radio room and a full-time operator for it to work.

The good 'old' remains in the category of well-made things, like some analogue cameras, down feather parkas, French built Selmer saxophones, a gold Silhouette frame, well-made shirts, a tailored suit -they'll all last a lifetime...and they have an intricate object beauty. Cheers, P
 
digitalintrigue said:
I *am* rather fond of Morse code...
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dit-to


It is wrong for old people to disparage the "good old days" by focussing exclusively on the positive aspects of technology. They are old enough to know better.

One of the last independent bookstores in philadelphia closed yesterday - I blame the internet.

The students at my college cannot read and write at the level of a typical high school graduate back when I was a student - I blame the internet.

Political discourse is stupid and coarse - I blame the internet.

People have wasted millions of man-hours building virtual farms instead of growing actual food - I blame the internet (thank God that particular stupidity has run its course)

Many young men find it difficult to have sex, except with themselves - I blame the internet.

Yeah, all these issues are complex, involve multiple causal factors, the internet has exposed so many people to new ideas they would have never encountered before, I have a couple thousand posts on RFF, blah blah.

I blame the internet.

Randy
 
This has turned out exactly as intended. The usual mixture of dictionary definitions and semi-serious diatribes. This is why RFF is so much fun.
 
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