A defense of gear lust

I used nikon for the last years, mostly second hand gear. And I found that, after some months/years of use, I can sell any nikon lens for quite the same price that i paid for it. It's more affordable than rental!. Last month I sold all my nikon gear to buy the zeiss ikon, which in other way I wouldn't be able to afford.

But the dangerous thing is to become a collector, more interested in gear than in taking pictures..
 
imajypsee said:
I take your words that folks who accumulate gear are in any way less interested in the making of photographs/photography. You seem to be saying that.

Mary in SW Florida (I have over 4000 photos online, so I think I'm accurate when I say I'm interested in photography.)
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Dear Mary,

I can see how you might think that, but it's not what I was saying. I've got lots of cameras too -- but collecting cameras is completely separate from taking photographs. I have plenty of friends who are photographers; quite a few who collect cameras; and a fair number who do both.

My point was simply that although I have lots of cameras -- it could hardly be otherwise, given what I do for a living -- I'm more interested in taking pictures than in acquiring cameras.

Indeed, I now restrict the number of cameras that I review for the magazines, simply because endlessly playing with new kit actually gets in the way of my photography.

To some, it might seem like paradise: access to pretty much any new camera I want to try, AND getting paid to write about them. But as I get older, I know that there are more and more cameras (and lenses, and other bits of equipment) that will almost certainly get in the way of other things I want to do -- including taking pictures.

Sorry for the misunderstanding.

Cheers,

Roger
 
I found myself becoming a "Collector," and have sold off a lot of RF gear in recent months. From the few RF's that I have left, the Bessa R is the favorite. Like many here, I like RF for 50mm and W/A, and SLR or dSLR for tele.
 
mike goldberg said:
I found myself becoming a "Collector," and have sold off a lot of RF gear in recent months. From the few RF's that I have left, the Bessa R is the favorite. Like many here, I like RF for 50mm and W/A, and SLR or dSLR for tele.
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Dear Mike,

That's what I did too -- a third of a century ago! I've owned most screw Leicas, and handled at some length almost all the ones I haven't owned (FF/GG 250s, 72, Compur, MOOLY-equipped bodies...) I had stereo kit; a unique 'fat barrel' 9cm with a serial number with both a and * suffixes; countless finders including AUFSU and VIDEO (or was it VISUR? VIFUR? VISOR? I've forgotten); SCNOO; Lufwaffe gear; copies (including Reids); and more, including a 5-lens Foca outfit, complete Kiev and Zorkii outfits including a 2cm f/5.6 FSU (a rotten lens, but a good finder), Canons, Yashicas, Niccas.... I knew several of the major collectors of those days, when there was a LOT more stuff in the woodwork.

This is why I can say with some confidence that camera collecting and photography are not necessarily related. There are people who do both, but I found that collecting got in the way of the photography.

Collecting also sucked up a lot of money I could have spend on better 'user' cameras or on travelling to take pictures. Now I collect a lot less -- I'd be surprised if I spend 500 euros/$800 a year on non-user kit -- and I travel and shoot a lot more.

Cheers,

R.
 
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Years ago I worked my way through Pentax and Canon - before landing safely on Leica M. It also took a while to forget about all the rest of gear it could still try out, and from then on concentrate on the image for a period. Then the really good images started coming in...

I then spent some years as a therapist, actually selling ALL of the gear... Never thought that would happen at all!

Now I have been working professionally for a year and a half again. The strange thing is that I have somehow been forced through the same process again, especially when it comes to digital. Fortunately I havent had to buy & sell as much as before, but just researching and testing options is actually quite some work!

I now feel I have a good combination of DSLRs (that I continously want to trade for an M8 nr.2), an M8/R2A/L combination that is just great - and a full set of old Mamiya RZ67.

I am quite happy with how it is, but would add some really good glass for my Nikon DSLRs if I need it to get jobs. I will try to add a second M8 anyway, and feel that I would really benefit from using a Mamiya 7 sometimes...

I hope that is it! The M and maybe Mamiya gear is what I would choose personally, and the Nikon DSLRs are acceptable to get cash in - although I do not enjoy them...

I guess this is a job that a serious photographer has to go throught - either in search for a style, or for a particular project. I travel a lot to Budapest these days, and would really like to test out a good film-based panorama camera there. If there was money in that particular project I would buy one off the shelf... The strange thing is that I might not like the camera itself, and might sell it off as soon as I feel I have done a decent project with it...

So, I guess it is about getting the right tools - and then forgetting about the tools themselves... Hard sometimes, though!
 
mabelsound said:
........It's often said that all that matters is the image. I'd certainly agree that the end product is the final word, and the thing that will remain when the artist is gone. But................
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I have to strongly disagree with the abovequoted paragraph,


mabelsound said:
..............The pleasure of trying out a new guitar or microphone, or camera or lens, is intimiately connected to the process I use to make art, which is connected to the end result. The way I hold a camera--how I feel about the device, the quality of my relationship to it--affects the images I capture........
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while I agree very much here above,

mabelsound said:
.... But from the point of view of an artist (and I use that term loosely, to mean anyone who tries to make some art), ......
.
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And here above, are encapsulated the key questions to start with:

Who is an Artist and who is just a talented person ?

Should being a talented person and not an Artist be frustrating, or perhaps an advantage to be considered ?

Is the end result, the final image, what matters most in the whole photographic world ?

Is creativity limited to the formal departments of reckognized Arts, or can it be developed far beyond these areas ?

How can we be satisfyed with our own creations provided we do not belong to the Artists ?

Cheers,
Ruben
 
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