Do you list your gear?

FrankS said:
Rather than list my gear in my sig. I'll list it once here. My embarrassment of riches, not including 35mm slr's:

Leica IIf, M2,3,6, CL, Minilux, Contax IIa bd, IIa cd, Nikon S, Bessa R2, Hexar AF
4x5 Speed Graphic, Hasselblad 500CM, Rolleiflex 3.5E, Fujica GS645W


what! no lenses?

😉
 
Joe,
25mm f4 CV
35: Summaron, J12 ltm, J12 C chrome, J12 C black
40: Rokkor, Summicron CL
50: '69 Cron, coll. Cron, Summitar, Summarit, Elmar, J3, J8, Fed I-10,
50 C: Zeiss f1.5 pre-war, f1.5 post-war, f2 coll post-war., f2 pre-war, f2 post-war, J8, Helios 103, Nikkor f1.4
85: Canon f2, J9 C
90: Elmar, Summicron CL
100 Canon f3.5
135 Hector

C= Contax mount

I just got a film capable scanner, so I can do some lens testing in the future.
 
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Well, I thought I'd put together an alphabetical listing just to see what it looked like... So, for conversation and following Frank's lead, here's the strange results:

Argus C3, Balda Super Baldina, Belomo Elikon, Bronica RF645 (45, 65, 100), Canon ELPH Jr, Canon G3, Contax IIIa (1.5/50), Contax G2 (21, 28, 35, 45, 90), Fuji GA645W, GS645S, Kiev 4a (J8, J12), Kodak DC50, Kodak Junior 620, Leica M2 (35'cron, 90 T-E), Minolta CLE (40 Rokkor, 40 Nokton, 43 Pentax, 28'cron), Olympus 35RC, Petri 7S, Polaroid 230, Time (simple 35mm), Voigtlander Bessa-L (15, 25), Bessat-T/winder (2.5/50, 2.5/75), Welmy Six, Yumeka 35-R5 (simple 35 w/radio), a Zeiss Ikon (35 Biogon) on the way, some Oly SLRs & a bunch of Pentax gear.
 
"I'll admit - I like to see what other people are using. Just like I would smile and nod if I saw someone using a Lynx 14, or a Rollei 35 on the street, it's a familiarity based on similar interest and respect for the tools we use."


I totally agree with this statement. Especially at this forum, there is a certain respect for both method and equipment. I like it when I see folks still using these mechanical works of art. That said, I recently paired down my equipment list signature to the kits I use more often. It did seem a bit over the top to list cameras that I have not used in over a year.
 
There are situations where I find it very useful to see a person’s equipment list:

1. If there is a technical equipment related question, I find it easier to answer the question if I know what equipment is being used by the person asking the question.

2. If there is a technical equipment related question, I also find it easier to answer the question if I know how the person is using the equipment (i.e. primarily shooting landscapes, people, birds, or something else).

3. When I ask a technical equipment related question, I like to check the equipment list to see if the person answering the question has had any experience with the equipment mentioned in my question.

4. When I ask a technical question, I also like to check the primary photographic interest of the person answering the question because I want to know if my portrait question is being answered by a landscape photographer or a people photographer.

5. When I am considering the purchase of a piece of equipment, I like to see how many people are using the equipment and then ask some of them for their evaluation of the equipment.


On the other hand, this rangefinder forum seems to have a high number of collectors and collectors enjoy sharing their collection with others. Listing their collection in their signature line is a form of sharing.

Even though the signature line is an acceptable place to post equipment list, I think a user profile is a much better place to post this type of information. However, if the profile page in the RFF User Control Panel has a place for it, I cannot find it.

By the way, I am a user--not a collector. I don’t have the bank roll to collect. If I did, you would see a Leica MP and a Nikon SP in my rangefinder signature line.
 
I found a strange thing, especially when I was in Chicago and had a long chat with a friend of mine, Pierre.

I used to buy a lot of cheaper camera goods, trying to get a great value for my money on lens quality and etc. I noticed that the amount of money I was spending or was going to spend on cheap camera gear just added up far too quickly. None of it was "good enough" in the sense that I didn't feel like issues with the quality of my photography was my fault. I'd blame it on my cameras or lenses. Not sharp enough, out of focus, and the like. Finally saved up for over a year to get an M6 and a Leica 35/2.

After that.. wow.. it was strange. I felt that I couldn't blame my camera anymore, that I had the best that I could get and that any faults were my own from that point. I couldn't blame anything else for any subpar photos I took. I found that I suddenly didn't need all of the camera gear I had acquired and found that all of it was taking a back seat to just this one lens and this one camera.

Now my friend Pierre.. he buys more than I do. He's got digitals, SLRs rangefinders, and his M6. As he bought more gear to try to offset what he had, he found that he was focusing more and more on simply his M6, a 35/2 and a 50/1.4. He had other Leica lenses of various focal lengths but he didn't use them at all. He's finally selling off all of his gear except for his M6 and those two lenses listed for a simple reason.. he feels like anything else would be a distraction and get in the way of just simply making photos.

So.. myself and Pierre have anti-GAS, or at least no reason to go through with any tempting camera/lens purchases that we encounter.

It's like everything else in life. Some people feel that they don't need more than the basics even if having more would help them objectively. Others feel that they benefit from having many, many options, even if having less would help them objectively.

So, I'm surely not suggesting that one lives with a single piece of shoddy camera gear knowing that good photos can come out of anything. My suggestion seems to be that once you have found that single piece of equipment that does everything you need it to, everything else is just a distraction; Just pieces of equipment sitting around and gathering dust. I, myself, have another camera purchase in mind but there's a simple reason for it. I need another M body, not as a back up, but simply to hold a different film in. I always like to shoot 1600+ iso film since I love shooting at night but switching out and switching in unfinished film is a massive hassle.

I know, it's a very foreign concept for a lot of you to only use one piece of gear. It's simply the way I and a few others work, and certainly not for everybody. Don't feel as if we're encroaching on your collections or thinking any less of you for it. We all love camera gear and some of us show it by collecting, some by using, and some by both.

Just know that we're out there.. those of us without GAS. We're fascinated by your constant purchases 😉
 
...feels like anything else would be a distraction and get in the way of just simply making photos...

i find too much a distraction also, but prefer to have more than one or even 2 lenses.
my compliment of 5 lenses seems just about right for any shooting situation i may find myself in. even with that, i rarely take more than 2 lenses with me at a time.
and i agree with a second body, be it for another film choice or for a different lens.

and some may have noticed that i have stopped listing my gear, but instead now have a pic of all my stuff. small difference maybe...
 
back alley said:
...feels like anything else would be a distraction and get in the way of just simply making photos...

i find too much a distraction also, but prefer to have more than one or even 2 lenses.
my compliment of 5 lenses seems just about right for any shooting situation i may find myself in. even with that, i rarely take more than 2 lenses with me at a time.
and i agree with a second body, be it for another film choice or for a different lens.

and some may have noticed that i have stopped listing my gear, but instead now have a pic of all my stuff. small difference maybe...

I haven't been around much but from what I've noticed, you had a lot of gear and you've paired it down to what you love to use. Hell, that photo says it all. You have found your ideal camera mate. How do you feel about it? heh.
 
Crasis said:
I haven't been around much but from what I've noticed, you had a lot of gear and you've paired it down to what you love to use. Hell, that photo says it all. You have found your ideal camera mate. How do you feel about it? heh.

i always feel better after a purge!
also, this purge was made to facilitate buying the second body of choice, another zi.
it's staying there that i find difficult.

this time i bought 40 rolls of film instead of prowling ebay or the classifieds here.
 
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back alley said:
i always feel better after a purge!
also, this purge was made to facilitate buying the second body of choice, another zi.
it's staying there that i find difficult.

this time i bought 40 rolls of film instead of prowling ebay or the classifieds here.

I feel strangely liberated knowing that I only need to reach for 1 camera. Maybe you'll feel better about not prowling ebay or the classifieds after you've forced yourself to stick to the ZI for a while 🙂
 
At the time I joined RFF, many people were listing their gear at the signature.
I did the same.
It, in fact doesn´t mean something important, because it´s well known that when talking to a painter, nobody asks about his brushes or paints, but only about his works. Conversely, among photographers (and here in Argentina), the first question to a photog is "what camera did you use?". It´s really unusual to ask about film or exposure.Needless to say, very few persons ask you about the picture itself.
So I followed the trend and listed in my signature only the cameras I do use very often and of course, my favourites.
Besides I´m allways buying and selling cameras, just to raise money to buy what I do really want. So, there are many cameras I do own but don´t use and (IMHO) there is no need to list them anyway. I also do love gear, not only B&W pictures.
So what you see is what I use. Does it matter? No, my pictures aren´t yet at the level of the cameras used to get them. In fact my pictures suck!

Ernesto
 
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