Compactness is Overrated.

[luuca]

about the XA:
putting a piece of blue plastic bottle on the viewfinder solved the dim contrast of the rangefinder patch of my camera.

 

[Richard G]

Kostya good at stirring the pot. But I see his point on solo walks. To me the drug is walking with the camera. I don’t need to take a photograph - so camera small and light, especially in rain. The 50 Summicron with hood sticks out and hard to keep under the jacket. I’m interested in stuff that won’t interest my companion. I would love a walk with anyone on this page but I probably wouldn’t get any good shots.

 

[hap]

OK. Lets analyze this.

Last thing I would do is photowalk. Friends or not. To me photogaphy is to explore my inner vision, yapping is no good for it.

Most comments on camera I got was with FED-2, M8 and Nikkormat. All in silver. Most commented single camera - M-E 220 in blue.

I'm not fan of been asked to take someone picture on the street. I do it without asking.
But I was asked with black Bessa R2M, black K3 and ...
black and super compact Ricoh GRD III:

R0182579 by Kostya Fedot, on Flickr

Untitled by Kostya Fedot, on Flickr

From my years on the street with cameras ... it is not about camera look, size or color, but how you act.
Strangers asked if I'm pro regularly. Despite camera look.

LF. I did not find Graflex Anniversary to be big in terms of LF. I had it in my regular everywhere bag. In fact this is why those LF cameras were in use by WWWII reporters and later on. Handheld. No typical LF bulk a.k.a. tripod.

L1004475 by Kostya Fedot, on Flickr

For what for XA? Its lens is one of the best 35mm lenses. Shines on color film.
Looks like you have not been on the net at the time of last years XA's glory. Because everyone who was, knew what electric tape was the perfect cure for shutter button. Aperture dial was just fine. And for ergonomics via knowledge, please, read my another comment here, on page two, link->Compactness is Overrated.

Zorki-S ... with ugly top plate. It was replaced by nice looking FED-2. 🙂

Zenit-S has some attractive look, this is it, for real photography where are plenty of not too big made in Japan SLRs.

Don’t give away your Graflex…..it will work WWWIII, if only the film isn’t exposed.

 

[DownUnder]

Size? Sure, why not? Someone wrote big is better. Sure. This applies to much more than photography...

As a teen I bought a 5x7 Home Portrait Graflex, believe it or not that's what it was called, from a retired photographer in my home town, for CDN $10. A monster of a thing. So heavy, I couldn't put it on a tripod. So I had to carry a small folding picnic table with me. In the three years I played with this, I got maybe two good images out of it, including one of the very rare photos of my stepmom (who had having her photo taken, to the point that she would actually run way and hide in her bedroom if I so much as pointed a camera at her).

In the end I gave up and sold it to a collector for $100. One of the few times I've actually made money out of selling cameras.

In the '60s I had Yashica TLRs and then a Rolleiflex. The Yashica D and 635 are long gone but I still have the Rollei. I love it and I use it now and then, but in looking at the many negatives I have left from that time, I find much of what I photographed was "static". Tillions of pretty landscapes and found objects. And too many buildings, or "townscapes" as the Brits say. Many years later I became a design architect, so in many ways even in my teens I was probably working my way up to this as a future profession.

When I moved to 35mm a lot of this changed. I still took photos of buildings, but more so of people, places and living things. So in that sense, size was important to me, in the reverse sense. Big may be better for some, but for me small is best.

My two favorite basic cameras are a Rolleiflex T (I've written about it elsewhere here) and a Nikkormat FT2 with a 35/2.0. Not exactly small cameras to many posters here, but they suit me. For me the 'mat is THE perfect street camera. But like many others here, I no longer go walking around and look for images. I carry a camera of one sort or another with me at most times when I go out, but it only comes out when an image suddenly thrusts itself on me. This is not to say going "photo walking" is bad or being in any way critical of it - just that I've made many of my best images when I'm out and about and happen to have a camera with me.

 

[Mos6502]

Interesting discussion. However I think most of it misses the original point. Of course a point and shoot is smaller than a large format studio portrait camera, and one will be inherently more portable than the other. I am more amused by those who'd set aside a perfectly good camera for one that's 5 or 6mm slimmer in one or another dimension, because compactness, for whatever reason, seems to trump all other considerations.

 

[Michael Markey]

I`m of an age now when I value something lighter and more compact but not too small.
I commented earlier that the Sony cameras were very nice and they are but for me the grip was too small.
I had to wedge my fingers in there and boy were they sore at the end of the day.
My M`s are fine ,my Sl2s far too heavy (for no good reason that I can see) but my CL (digital) is just the perfect size and weight.

 

[shawn]

In the '60s I had Yashica TLRs and then a Rolleiflex. The Yashica D and 635 are long gone but I still have the Rollei. I love it and I use it now and then, but in looking at the many negatives I have left from that time, I find much of what I photographed was "static". Tillions of pretty landscapes and found objects. And too many buildings, or "townscapes" as the Brits say. Many years later I became a design architect, so in many ways even in my teens I was probably working my way up to this as a future profession.

When I moved to 35mm a lot of this changed. I still took photos of buildings, but more so of people, places and living things. So in that sense, size was important to me, in the reverse sense. Big may be better for some, but for me small is best.

For me that is more of a speed of operation thing compared to size. I'm slower with a TLR or WLF compared to a RF or SLR and as such it changes what I am trying to capture with the camera. My Rollei is smaller than my Pentax 6x7 but to me the Pentax is a lot faster to shoot.

Cost also plays a slight roll in what I shoot. I slow way down and consider the shot more when I get 3 shots on roll compared to 36.

 

[Evergreen States]

PS Evergreen, your Autocord needs its focusing system recalibrated. Not difficult work, a good repair shop can probably do it. Your camera will then last you a lifetime and likely beyond.

When I had stated that the condition for me getting sharp pictures was using a monopod, the implication was that camera shake has been the culprit, not misfocusing. What focus errors I experienced early on have been resolved since upgrading to an Oleson BrightScreen.

 

[James Evidon]

The quest for the ever smaller compact camera per se is rather pointless. In my opinion, the real issue is what will fit in the hand most comfortably with easy access to the controls. One of the most difficult cameras I have to operate is the Tessina. It is really too tiny and intricate for all but the tiniest hands. I recently bought a very clean Leica R8 SLR. It has been nicknamed rather unkindly "the hunchback of Solms" due to its rather large appearance. But I have to say that it is one of the most comfortable cameras to handle whether you consider digital or film. All controls are tactically located making unecessary to look away from the viewfinder to find them. Yet, it is not a small or compact camera. It is just well designed by photographers for photographers unlike some more recent cameras that seem designed by cloistered engineers who never held a camera in their life.

I repeat; size and compactness is not the most important things in a camera to carry around with you. Does it fit your hand comfortably and are the controls logically placed so you can use them without looking for them is infinitely more important.

 

[Dogman]

I repeat; size and compactness is not the most important things in a camera to carry around with you. Does it fit your hand comfortably and are the controls logically placed so you can use them without looking for them is infinitely more important.

Yep. That's the key. All cameras made today are perfectly capable and dependable. It's the camera that fits you that is the one that you will make your best pictures with.

 

[JohnGellings]

The quest for the ever smaller compact camera per se is rather pointless. In my opinion, the real issue is what will fit in the hand most comfortably with easy access to the controls. One of the most difficult cameras I have to operate is the Tessina. It is really too tiny and intricate for all but the tiniest hands. I recently bought a very clean Leica R8 SLR. It has been nicknamed rather unkindly "the hunchback of Solms" due to its rather large appearance. But I have to say that it is one of the most comfortable cameras to handle whether you consider digital or film. All controls are tactically located making unecessary to look away from the viewfinder to find them. Yet, it is not a small or compact camera. It is just well designed by photographers for photographers unlike some more recent cameras that seem designed by cloistered engineers who never held a camera in their life.

I repeat; size and compactness is not the most important things in a camera to carry around with you. Does it fit your hand comfortably and are the controls logically placed so you can use them without looking for them is infinitely more important.

Well, this is all still subjective. Not everybody uses cameras the same way. I do not make exposure decisions with my eye in the VF. I make them before I bring the camera to my eye. That is one difference right there between the various ways people use cameras.

People still like compacts no matter if you think it’s not important. Why is that hard to imagine?

 

[valdas]

I want to have a camera with me anywhere I go - not only foreign trips (where a “normal” camera is a must), but also going to the shop, work, taking out rubbish etc. So yes, I need a compact camera. Minolta TC1 or Contax T is my choice and I can’t imagine carrying a SLR in every circumstance.

 

[AndyCapp]

I really like the Sony 7C. "Compactness" is not only a question of external measurements.
It is a way of thinking in which you arrange and combine functions and rationalize the user interface to the simplest possible functional solution.
Compact code is often well-thought-out code (not my specialty). A compact car takes you & your stuff there economically with no surprises.
To me, the word carries a positive connotation.

 

[Richard G]

When I had stated that the condition for me getting sharp pictures was using a monopod, the implication was that camera shake has been the culprit, not misfocusing. What focus errors I experienced early on have been resolved since upgrading to an Oleson BrightScreen.

I have also had trouble getting the legendary sharper pictures at slower shutter speeds with the Rolleiflex. I presume it’s my technique. I mostly use the Hasselblad on a tripod but can get very sharp pictures with a monopod too.

 

[sojournerphoto]

For me that is more of a speed of operation thing compared to size. I'm slower with a TLR or WLF compared to a RF or SLR and as such it changes what I am trying to capture with the camera. My Rollei is smaller than my Pentax 6x7 but to me the Pentax is a lot faster to shoot.

Cost also plays a slight roll in what I shoot. I slow way down and consider the shot more when I get 3 shots on roll compared to 36.

Made me smile - 4 shots per 120 roll on my Fotoman 617 and over 2,300 per reusable card on the GR iii - otoh, the Fotoman does work as a giant scale focus point and shoot🙂

 

[shawn]

Made me smile - 4 shots per 120 roll on my Fotoman 617 and over 2,300 per reusable card on the GR iii - otoh, the Fotoman does work as a giant scale focus point and shoot🙂

I feel that. What lens do you have on the Fotoman? I shoot 612 (6 shots) ,617 (4 shots) and 624 (3 shots). Most are scale focus. My 612 has a 47mm and is a fixed focus point and shoot.

 

[sojournerphoto]

I feel that. What lens do you have on the Fotoman? I shoot 612 (6 shots) ,617 (4 shots) and 624 (3 shots). Most are scale focus. My 612 has a 47mm and is a fixed focus point and shoot.

Rodagon 75mm, so pretty wide across the frame. In good light stopped down f16 or f22 you could probably use as a fixed focus camera and still make normal sized prints.

I’ve also been playing with an Olympus Pen EE3 recently, but still haven’t got through its first roll! 72 shots feels like a lot.