An idiot???

Bill Pierce

Bill Pierce

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Am I the only one who doesn’t like getting a new camera? I like to be so familiar with the controls of my cameras that I don’t think about them when I’m taking a picture; I’m free to concentrate on the subject. Eddie Adams won a Canon camera in a contest. He was showing it to me. I focused it and realized the lens turned in the same direction as my Leicas. Up until then I was using Nikons, and it drove me nuts that I had to remember they focused in the opposite direction from the cameras I used most often. Eddie sold me the camera. I think it cost me $10.

These digital days it seems a new, improved model arrives the minute you have finally gotten to the point of using your camera without thinking about it - new and improved and with the buttons and dials in a “new and more convenient” layout. Am I nuts? I want the old inconvenient layout that I use instinctively. And, all things being equal, I want big pixels with their ability to handle a wide brightness range rather than more and smaller pixels in spite of their ability to hold fine detail in large prints.

I suddenly realized I go to trade shows to see old friends, not new cameras. Clearly I have joined the old codgers club. Your thoughts? Am I an idiot?
 
I once read that the film era moved towards greater simplicity and ease of use and the digital era seems to move towards ever greater complexity with more and more features. Me, I'm an old Luddite without a digital camera and half my film goes thru a Leica IIIc. I am tempted by the simplicity of digital Leica but the cost/reliability factors concern me. Joe
 
No, you're not a idiot. I'm thinking about buying a FF camera but I don't use digital much and what is holding me back is the learning curve. My friend recently got a Sony FF, he had never used flash so I told him to get the one Col. Sebastian Moran (ret.) presented here. He did say there was a learning curve. Well, the new Sony and the Yonguno flash about had us going to the nearest bar. We got them both working in about 3.5 hours. But let me have my Spotmatic and a roll of Trix and I don't have to think.
 
No your not, the newest camera I purchased is a Fuji Xpro-1 and after that, I
purchased a nice 10 year old Canon 5D. It's just that the newest ones have
so many feature's I don's want or need and those prices.
 
I was reminded after an event last week that with all the advancements in digital technology, they still haven't been able to come up with a digital sensor with the dynamic range of film from thirty years ago.

We had a phenomenal moon shining through a sea of clouds, it was breathtaking. Pulled out my D4 and no matter how I adjusted exposure, I couldn't get a detailed moon surface and the clouds the way I wanted them. Happen to have an old Nikon film camera and shot a few frames with it, not really expecting much. Worked the D4 images around in post processing to no avail. Happened to process the film over the weekend and "Oh My Gosh, Look at that." There was detail in the moon surface, as well as the beautiful glow of the clouds.

So No Bill, I don't think you're an idiot.

Best,
-Tim
 
They keep getting bigger and more complicated too. They are so good now that you don't need to update anymore as long as you like what you get from them. That said, I can use any new AF camera and get used to them quickly. But I'm with you on MF cameras... the Leica MF way is the right way! Haha. Nikon drives me crazy.
 
Same boat here. My most modern camera is a Canon 6d. As good as it is, still figuring out half of it functionality. Normally stick with manual.

Leica M6, IIIf and Rolleiflex 3.5f, don't really need to think too much about the camera, just shot.

Regards

Marcelo.
 
it's not just you, Bill. I once downloaded and printed out the manual for a Canon G9 for my aunts granddaughter after my aunt bought her a used G9 for her trip to France...200 + pages. I can remember when a big camera manual was 20 pages!

I've got a G9 that I've had for several years now and I still haven't figured out all the controls and menus. Ditto my Pentax Kx !

I think the engineers enjoy screwing with our minds.
 
Bill Pierce said:
... Clearly I have joined the old codgers club. Your thoughts? Am I an idiot?
Click to expand...

...well, no. You are not.:D
The idiots are the ones deciding which features need to be packed into the next camera model. The ones that have a 400 page manual written that you can download on you xy-pad and have it handy every time you forgot in which sub-sub-sub menu you can change a feature that always gets in you way of shooting the way you want it.

That's why I love my MM. The menu is just that simple that I can manage it. Other than being digital, it's pretty close to an M3. It is just doing exactly what I tell it to do. No auto predict everything algorithm that takes the picture for me.

I won't have it any other way. I guess I'm in the club as well...;)
 
This reminds me of two motorcycles that I rode during the same time period when I was a teenager. If you ever need something to be very familiar to you, a motorcycle is that thing because your life can depend on using the controls without time to think. The Harley Davidson Hog had the foot shift on the left and the rear wheel brake on the right. The other motorcycle had the foot shift on the right and the brake on the left. Coming up to a stop sign once in awhile I hit the wrong pedal (downshifted instead of pressing brake, or braked instead of downshifting). Gave for an immediate return to present time (rather than going strictly off muscle memory while daydreaming about girls and such).

It is a true pleasure to get to the point of having a motorcycle, or camera, be an extension of your body. Changing to another system can and does lead to mistakes. But, it does tend to also keep you on your toes, and back into a practice makes perfect mode.
 
That's exactly why I love my M4s: You set your aperture and exposure, look through the viewfinder and there is absolutely nothing to distract you from the subject. Pure simplicity at its finest!
 
You are not an idiot. I find the constant need to remember controls a pain. Especially because I AM an idiot and constantly use multiple cameras often on the same day.
 
I'm in the income bracket and skills, vision development then I don't have to buy every new camera. What is difference between trashed M4-2 and new M-A?

But then our income is divided among all family members, I'm an idiot.
 
Many consumers prefer complicated gadgets - witness the smartphone.
The vast majority of today's cameras are designed with this in mind.

A good tool becomes an extension of the user, and its use near-effortless and second-nature.
IMO a good camera should be simple, allowing full creative control using a minimum of controls.

I can pick up most any 35mm film camera from the mid 1960's through mid 1980's and within minutes be making photos.
Not so today's digital wondercameras, which require careful study of a 100+ page manual to learn what all the buttons, dials and displays do.

No thanks; I'll continue to stick with film and classic film cameras. The digital learning curve is just too steep for me.

Chris
 
or maybe we like to add character to our new gear by harping about how complicated they are.
i can pick up an old canon f1 or a new fuji and start shooting in minutes. it's still just a box that controls light.
sure, and i agree with most, digitals have so much stuff in them you need to be a near genius to get them to do your bidding with ease...plus i run most cameras the same way i always have...spot metering, aperture priority...etc.
i was thinking today that the new fuji xe3 is so much like one of my old film favourites, the minolta cle, that i doubt it will ever leave my side...
 
Upon getting the new [electronic]camera in my hands, I go through the menu settings once, setting everything the way I want it. New or cryptic settings are quickly referenced in the instruction book, and a decision is made yea or nay. Right about this time the battery finishes charging, and I'm off to make test shots. Weeks or months later, I may go through the menus/book again to make sure that there isn't some new, cool, desirable feature that I've initially overlooked.
 
Rhetorical question Bill. Familiarity and muscle memory let you concentrate on getting pictures not fiddling with buttons and dials. The only advantage of new (digital) cameras is technological advancement like high ISO, or eye-detect AF. I dislike it when camera manufacturers move my cheese by rearranging buttons and dials. Don't get me started on menu-diving, or the deliberate crippling of functions on middle-range bodies (I'm looking at you, Canon).
 
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