A camera is just a tool?
- Thread starter Sparrow
- Start date
- Latest activity Latest activity:
- Replies 61
- Views 1K
Sparrow
Veteran
sitemistic said:
And we all know it’s far easer to make lots of money than take lots of photos……isn’t it?
Roger Hicks
Veteran
Dear P.Pitxu said:
Certainly true. But there is an even bigger difference between using them (including using them hard) and abusing them to show how clever, tough and professional you think you are.
Cheers,
R.
rxmd
May contain traces of nut
You mean like the motorcycle guys who take a grinder to their knee protectors?Roger Hicks said:
Haven't seen anyone do that to a camera lately though.
Philipp
rxmd said:
I have. I broke three dremel cutting disks repairing a Canon 50/1.2. Had to get the rear module out of a junker lens that was completely locked up to use it in another lens. You cannot believe how much metal you have to cut through to get to it, or how bad a stuck retaining ring can be. Or that someone would solder a focus helical into place, remove the front element of a lens, lock the aperture at F16, and use the lens for who-knows-what. But it's feeling much better now.
Came out pretty good in the end, total spent was $90 for a Canon 50/1.2 RF lens.
I also make shims to collimate lenses. Lots of grinding. Converted an Industar-69 28/2.8 lens to focus on the Leica; had to file an internal stop off of the lens-mount. Had a 9cm F4 Elmar with a big front-focus problem. Had to grind down the lens mount to position the lens-module in closer to the film. Can't figure out how anyone used that lens in the past 60 years. Moved the rear-module in closer to the front optics on a Helios-103 to change the focal length to use on my Nikon. That required grinding the secondary shim down by 0.4mm. Dremel polishing tools are not very good for optics- had to polish down the front element of the opaque Summicron by hand. Took a couple of hours. Just sat in front of the TV watching Wallace and Gromit. And J-8's and J-3's, that could be a thread by itself.
Those are a few examples for the "stuff" in my collection. Just have to spend money on it, you know.
It's probably more exact to label the camera as an "Instrument". Maybe I'll start a Poll on the Camera being an "Instrument" or whoever started this entire discussion as being a "Tool".
Last edited:
amateriat
We're all light!
Well, collectively, my cameras are a "tool of the state" (of my mind, more or less). But, just as my bikes are tools, there can be beauty and craft in their utility, and vice versa.
There's a Bucky Fuller quote to this end, but it's way past my bedtime here...
- Barrett
There's a Bucky Fuller quote to this end, but it's way past my bedtime here...
- Barrett
V
varjag
Guest
See, that's the thing about M5 Philipp 🙂rxmd said:
Jokes aside, do you have your preferences in camera equipment? Given a choice of equally well-performing cameras, some of them you gonna like more than the others, not necessarily because of ergonomics. So yes they are tools, but they are also more than that 🙂
V
varjag
Guest
Hear hear. When taking apart postwar Sonnar from massive TV-mount I actually cut two axles. The discs were reinforced so they just worn.Brian Sweeney said:
BTW Brian, did you find a LTM mount that could fit a Helios-103 yet?
I bought a Contax to LTM adapter from "Amadeus" on Ebay. It works well with my Canon 7 and Canon P, but WILL NOT fot the Zorki 3M. The threads are very thin, and required a "cut-Out" for the focus stops. This gets hung up on the FSU RF coupling. The coupling wheels of the German and Japanese cameras work with it. I use the modified Helios-103 mostly with a Nikon S2, but it also works well with the LTM adapter.
rxmd
May contain traces of nut
Er, the quote I replied to was about people "abusing them to show how clever, tough and professional you think you are." I have my doubt that this is what you're identifying with or that this is what you want to tell the world 🙂Brian Sweeney said:
Philipp
rxmd
May contain traces of nut
Ah and I thought it was just me being a bad photographer. Reassuring to know that it's really the camera. That means I can make my pictures better by buying another camera. Now I know why that GAS thing is all about! 😉varjag said:
rxmd said:
I was just responding to the "take a grinder to knee pads". I thought you meant they were modifying them for performance. My younger brother used to go through a lot of trouble to reduce weight to make cars and motorcycles faster.
rxmd
May contain traces of nut
I see! No, I meant they were modifying them so as to look as if the rider went lower in curves than they actually dared to do.Brian Sweeney said:
Philipp
My brother will get a big laugh out of that. At his first wedding, the bride rode in on a Harley. In her wedding dress. Most of the wedding party rode Harleys.
Roger Hicks
Veteran
Dear Philipp,rxmd said:
I have heard of people who massage black paint with toothpaste (the mildest abrasive readily available) but this may be an urban legend.
I have met photographers from small-town newspapers who throw all their kit indo a holdall with no lens, back or body caps in order to appear 'professional'.
Yes, there are times you stuff an uncapped lens into a pocket, in the interests of speed, with the silent prayer, "I hope it doesn't get too dusty/damaged" Doing this when there is no time pressure is the action of a true prat.
I also ride motorcycles. When I first tried a Hesketh, Mick Broom (sp?) said, "How did you find the handling?"
I replied, "Can't say. It handles better than I can ride,"
He stuck out his hand to shake. "You're the only journalist who has ever admitted that. Last month there was a piece about how the back end had stepped out at 100 mph. First, it doesn't, and second, if it did, you'd be dead. I'm not sure I could handle it, and I'm damn' sure he couldn't"
This from a man who rode a Water Buffalo (aka Kettle) around the Island so fast that the manufacturers offered him a team place -- which he turned down on the grounds that "When I overtook _________, he thought I'd fallen off. I thought I'd fallen off..."
And a good few years back, I was talking to someone at Luftmeister who told me how he had once followed one of his racer wannabee customers with scarred knee protectors and all that stuff, after following him for a few miles on the freeway and in the canyons. When they stopped, he said to the customer, "How the f*** do you manage all that drama when you're riding that slowly?"
Cheers,
R.
Last edited:
kshapero
South Florida Man
Roger, I sure am glad you are seen frequently in our midst again. You are a great read. Now back to the subject at hand: Hell no my camera is not a JUST a tool. Why else do I pull it out of my bag just to look at it? Cause it is also ART!! or at least a love object.
Roger Hicks
Veteran
The Gibran tripod (no longer available) was (still is?) in the New York Museum of Modern Art, and I believe they have featured some cars too. By that token, I'd certainly back some cameras (especially Leicas) as Art as well.kshapero said:
And thanks for the kind words.
Cheers,
R.
aad
Not so new now.
Hi, Roger,
I enjoyed your Hesketh story. I've ridden with a few moto-journalists, and they all seem to be very nice guys-but the articles sometimes make me wonder if they're the same guy.
I enjoyed your Hesketh story. I've ridden with a few moto-journalists, and they all seem to be very nice guys-but the articles sometimes make me wonder if they're the same guy.
dan denmark
No Get Well cards please
if it isn't a tool then how do you build a photograph?
dd
dd
ernstk
Retro Renaissance
Some cameras are just tools (disposable cameras?) others are much more than that (insert preferred brand here).
Some cars are just basic transport, others are works of great beauty (Ferrari 250GTO, Bugatti Atlantique, Jaguar E Type, Fiat 500... the list is endless).
Part of the pleasure of photography for me, is using a finely engineered instrument that is tactile, ergonomic and one that used the highest quality materials available.
It's like a nicely engineered wristwatch, a wonderfully machined fly reel, a great pen, a lugged steel bicycle frame. These are all things that transcend their purpose and go beyond being tools.
Anything that shows great design and craftsmanship is worthy of admiration beyond it's basic function. I have a very old Porsche 911 which gives me a great deal of pleasure to work on, or to just look at, or to hear the air cooled engine tick vocally after it's switched off, as the different metals cool and contract. All of these things add to the pleasure of use and ownership and for me, it's the same with some cameras.
To say that they're just tools utterly misses the point.
Regards
Ernst
Some cars are just basic transport, others are works of great beauty (Ferrari 250GTO, Bugatti Atlantique, Jaguar E Type, Fiat 500... the list is endless).
Part of the pleasure of photography for me, is using a finely engineered instrument that is tactile, ergonomic and one that used the highest quality materials available.
It's like a nicely engineered wristwatch, a wonderfully machined fly reel, a great pen, a lugged steel bicycle frame. These are all things that transcend their purpose and go beyond being tools.
Anything that shows great design and craftsmanship is worthy of admiration beyond it's basic function. I have a very old Porsche 911 which gives me a great deal of pleasure to work on, or to just look at, or to hear the air cooled engine tick vocally after it's switched off, as the different metals cool and contract. All of these things add to the pleasure of use and ownership and for me, it's the same with some cameras.
To say that they're just tools utterly misses the point.
Regards
Ernst