Asking about equipment... is is poor taste?

This thread proves one thing.

Never ask questions about asking questions on the Philosophy forum.

This sentance can be parsed two ways. Both are correct.
 
so if i take a picture w/ a leica w/ a canon lens but print it using an enlarger w/ a nikon lens... what brand should i mention?;)
 
Fedia said:
You know guys, the equipment topic among real photographers sometimes is sensitive indeed, because most beginning photographers and general population don't really understand the medium of photography, its essence. Not long time ago, I had a chat with photography student at fine arts academy and after a long debate about, very popular these days, the easiest and uninteresting approach chosen by young photo artists, she suddenly mentioned about mediums superior to photography and that photography in her life was just for the time being. Very sad. Talking about general population, so many people who understand about photography nothing, think that taking good pictures is quite easy and photography starts at the point when you get a sharp, properly exposed image. From the first sight of unaware person everybody can buy a camera and become a "photographer". However, art mediums such as painting, drawing, video to those people seem too messy and unreachable and at the same time more respectable. I think, questions on public forums about equipment such as: "what camera is better", "what lens is sharper"... is a stage of beginning or very young photographer. Some "photographers" stay at this stage very long :). While real photographers already have the best cameras and lenses for the job they do, or they know that camera and sharpness of the lens have nothing with real photography.
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painting has less interest these days. otoh photographers like Gursky and sugimoto command a lot of cash for their prints. those 2 shoot w/ 8x10 so the part about easy does not apply. your student friend just seems unfocused. too young maybe.
 
uhligfd said:
Which brand of typewriter did Hemingway, Faulkner, Morrison etc use when, for which specific book?
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See e.g. http://www.mytypewriter.com/authors/list/Faulkner.html

Strangely enough, there were many authors who were rather obsessive about their typewriters, and some wrote lengthy passages or even entire novels about them, in particular in the twenties to sixties timeframe, when self-typing became widespread. And the same happened again in the past two decades with word-processors.

Sevo
 
colker said:
so if i take a picture w/ a leica w/ a canon lens but print it using an enlarger w/ a nikon lens... what brand should i mention?;)
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Obviously it's like mixing great wines - if you take equal quantities of Chateau Haut Brion, Penfolds Grange and Villa Maria Reserve Pinot Noir it'll be a bit of a mess, whereas each on it's own has a different character and is very pleasant.

On the other hand I don't mind if people ask me what camera I'm using - the digi kit all sounds the same anyway and the film cameras ar ejust old fashioned now. It is a bit funny when people ask if the camera is expensive - 'oh yes, that's why it takes good pictures'

Mike
 
If your ultimate goal is to create a photo that people will enjoy, what does it matter if they fully understand composition or not?

Unless of course your ultimate goal is to be appreciated for how technically great you are.

People with no understanding of composition and lighting will look at a great photo and KNOW that they like what they see, but they won't understand WHY they like what they see.
 
I have to take exception here. The camera does matter.
I have been using all sort of film cameras over the last few weeks. I used the mju ii, a nikon F801 an om4ti and a bessar. I used the same film.
To say that the camera does not matter is to say that the look, feel sharpness and colours of the pictures I took with these four cameras should also look similar.
The truth as we all know is they don't. The colour is totally different depending whether I use the olympus or the nikon or the voigtlander glass. And the mju photos are easily identifiable by the depth of field not being very shallow.
I am not saying that you cannot get great photos out of all of them. You can. But the tool does make a difference.
 
Comments or questions about gear used are a lot less annoying than questions or remarks like:

"that's a nice photo ... pity it's not all in focus"

"that would be a really nice picture in colour"

"how come you don't use a flash?"

:rolleyes:
 
My 1965 Hermes 3000 has churned out many a newspaper story and a decent amount of magazine articles. Fully manual, no cord to get in the way, no spell check, just a spritz or two of WD-40 and a new ribbon every few years and it's good as new. The only things that seem to be getting hazy are my thoughts.
 
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People convince themselves that "proper" equipment is half of success.
I got Bronica SQ after being hooked on lanscapes of Wim Van Velzen, who used mostly 6x6 format, and Bronica particularly.
 
A famous Scottish artist once said, that if you ask an artist about his art, he will show you his paintings. If you ask a photographer, he will show you his cameras!!:rolleyes:
 
Keith said:
Comments or questions about gear used are a lot less annoying than questions or remarks like:

"that's a nice photo ... pity it's not all in focus"

"that would be a really nice picture in colour"

"how come you don't use a flash?"

:rolleyes:
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"really this lens can not zoom?"

"how come you use a flash in bright daylight?"
 
Nothing beats the old Apple Extended II keyboards.

The new Apple keyboards are absolutely horrendous.

I still use my Extended II keyboards with Intel Macs with ADB to USB adapters.
 
uhligfd said:
Which brand of typewriter did Hemingway, Faulkner, Morrison etc use when, for which specific book? How about the quality of their work when the typewriter was switched to another model or brand in the middle somewhere?

.
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You left out brand of pencil as well. ;-)

In an episode of "Southland" the character is buying his wife a Hasselblad, because he was told "it is the best camera in the world", and I noted it had a Metz flash. It also showed a real photo store.

That said, I think we should all write to the producers and set them straight. ;-)

It is of interest to me, because cameras are a passion, and in the case of a photograph, I like to understand some of the process of the making of an image. I would hope if I ask such a question, the person would not think I was trivializing the process.

Hemingway spoke of writing a page a day, with a carbon, in pencil, and how he quit while he still knew where the story was going. I think it quite normal to be interested in that sort of thing, and evidently Hemingway did as well as he wrote of the process. I do recall seeing photos of him at a typewriter. ;-)

Good points BTW. Regards, John
 
ferider said:
I wonder what Hemingway had to say about his guns.


Roland.
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I recall Hemingway spoke a lot about the firearms he used in Africa in his writing, and the one his wife used, a rather small caliber of low recoil, I recall 6.5mm. He often used a 30-06 on Lions. Today, by law, you are required to use larger power weapons, I seem to recall a .375 is minimum for Lion, and your guide is going to have something large enough to see you live long enough to pay him.

Rolls Royce used to reply to horsepower inquires, with "sufficient" .

Regards, John
 
I think discussing gear / talking shop is not really frowned upon in general. But when you ask about equipment e.g. at someone's talk or show, it is too much like complimenting the nice frames at paintings exhibition.
 
Jack Ketch said:
Nothing beats the old Apple Extended II keyboards.

The new Apple keyboards are absolutely horrendous.

I still use my Extended II keyboards with Intel Macs with ADB to USB adapters.
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Indeed.

For some of us who spend 10+ hours a day in front of a computer, choice of keyboard matters a great deal and we can talk at great length about our choices and the evils of today's dome-switch keyboards. See, for example, http://geekhack.org/ - a forum for keyboard connoisseurs. People discuss different types of keyboards and the finer points of key switches and tactile feedback, trade keyboards, compare the click sounds of keyboards... some will go through a dozen keyboards and spend many hundreds of dollars to find the Right One.. (hey, this reminds of something ;))
 
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