Does it really matter what camera you use?

Perhaps that's why they are called Lomotics... ;-)

EDIT: I wish I knew which camera took which picture but I don't. One day I'll look for the negatives and label them but for the time being it doesn't really matter...

Regards, David
 
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If you don't enjoy what you are shooting with, you likely won't. Some days lugging my 4x5 and 30Lbs of gear keeps me from shooting at all. My M3 will get me out there while I'm in the mood to shoot film or will be used instead of the 4x5 for more exposures during an outing.

If I just want to shoot something/anything or scouting, the DSLR is first choice. I also have my first minoltas and a couple of medium format cameras for experimentation when the mood strikes. I've yet to shoot my 8x10 pinhole.
 
I make better photos of ballet with my Nikon F5 than with my F2 , so it matters ( a lot sometimes ) ...
 
I have been known to flip flop on this at times. What that means is I sometimes try to convince myself that it really does not matter.

But the reality is, the camera does matter, a lot. You explained in your OP why it mattered to you. So it does matter to you.

As someone else has already said; beg, borrow, save and steal to get the camera you think you need. For you, that camera does matter and you will never feel as if you can do your best work until you get that camera, whichever it is.

Whatever camera you think you need, once you have it, don't believe for a second that it will make you a better photographer. The tool helps but the rest is entirely up to you. The very best craftsmen probably do have some very fine tools, but they have also spent a very long time learning how to use them to make their vision a reality.

Meanwhile, keep shooting that other camera with a vengeance. Try to wear that thing out shooting film. Take care of it but keep that shutter humming. Learn everything it can teach you before you let it go.
 
It does indeed matter as the camera must not get in the way of the your process to capture your vision. Once you are completely comfortable with the tool it will allow you to capture what you see.

An M9 (or any RF camera for that matter) can get in the way but a Leica Q can be tons of fun. It needs to be the right tool in capable hands, once this basic requirement is fulfilled, it doesn't matter anymore.
 
Lots of good advice and well thought out comments!

My first real lesson in photography was one of the first lessons in the 'Famous photographers school', which had Avedon, Penn and Eisenstaedt as tutors, among others.
They asked you to reproduce a professional photograph with a kodak brownie.
This taught me that what matters is what is in front of the camera, not the camera itself.
If you don't have a harbour, you cannot get that shot of boats reflecting in the water.
And when you do have the harbour and the boats, it isn't the camera that matters, but the way you frame the reflections.
The second lesson is that you have to know what your gear can do. A leica M2 has one stop of speed above a Zorki 4. For most intents and purposes, they can do the same things. If I had to choose between late seventies slrs, I'd be hard pressed to know wether I should choose Nikon, Canon, Olympus, Pentax, Mamiya, Minolta or whatever brand was on the market. They all do the same things, they all have wonderful lenses. The only way to distinguish between them is to be a serious gearhead. (which presumes a series of GAS attacks).
The only way in which the camera matters is in what you want to do with it. For some results, you need at least a 4 by 5 inch field camera. For fast snaps, you need a point and shoot. And there is a wide gamut of options between those two extremes. You can do street work with a Hasselblad, and you can do landscape with a 35 mm rangefinder. But the hasselblad is better at static subjects, and the rangefinder is better at dancing through a crowd. Brand doesn't matter, size does.

Cheers
 
You gotta like your camera. You don't necessarily need the Leica, unless that's what makes you want to make photographs, in which case read the first sentence.

One of my most admired photographs, of my entire life, was made with a Zorki-C and Industar-22 lens. I really enjoyed myself that day when I took the photo, and I suppose it shows. Like many on RFF, I own supposed "great" cameras such as Leica, Rollei, and so on. But I also take great pleasure going out with my FSU gear, or my Canon QL-17, or my home-built pinhole camera. That's what its ALL about. That, and "the image".

The Zorki-4/Jupiter-8 combo can do wonders. Just as folks have already said above. Kind of nice your camera is ready to let you explore different lens focal lengths, different film types/speeds, different developers, different filters and the Zorki is better prepared to let you play with very long exposures, such as star-trails. My new-fangled Olympus digital m4/3 camera does not like to do star trail photos. Not very easily.

My next camera is a Horizon 202. Haven't found it yet, but I'm fascinated with that panoramic film experience.
 
Hi,

I wish you hadn't mentioned that Horizon camera, especially since it has features no other camera has...

Regards, David
 
If you ever watch teh Digital Rev TV channel on Youtube you will now and then see videos in a series they Pro Photographer, Cheap Camera in which a visiting photographer is given a really really crappy cheap camera and challenged to go out and make good images. I have to say this confirms for me that the camera used is secondary to talent. Some of the images made with what amounts to toy cameras are excellent in creative terms at least.

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL7ECB90D96DF59DE5

As for me, I have been searching for the best camera for me. I do not think I have found it as not every camera is good at everything and there are always compromises in handling etc. But I have to like the camera I am using preferably both in terms of both handling and results otherwise I find myself making excuses to pick up a different one. Also I find I like to match the camera to the task in hand. So some days are a DSLR day as I am looking to use longer lenses and maybe need fast AF. Other days I get by with a smaller pocket camera or a large sensor small format camera. It all depends really on the task in hand and where I will be shooting. After all, sometimes taking a great big DSLR is just gauche even though it may be functional.

So the long and the short answer is yes - and no.
 
These days, the camera matters. The photographer does not matter. Almost.

We have auto exposure, auto focus, auto white balance, auto ISO and soon, coming to a camera near you, AUTO FRAMING. Wherein the scene in your viewfinder is compared to a database of 17 million wonderful images then automatically frames the picture to make the best possible combination of elements including whether to opt for color or B+W and where the point of focus should be. It then makes the exposure , all this occurring in .0005 seconds.

That's when I throw in the towel and quit photography!
 
These days, the camera matters. The photographer does not matter. Almost.

We have auto exposure, auto focus, auto white balance, auto ISO and soon, coming to a camera near you, AUTO FRAMING. Wherein the scene in your viewfinder is compared to a database of 17 million wonderful images then automatically frames the picture to make the best possible combination of elements including whether to opt for color or B+W and where the point of focus should be. It then makes the exposure , all this occurring in .0005 seconds.

That's when I throw in the towel and quit photography!
Dear Dick,

Are you aware of Poe's Law? If not, check https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poe's_law

Cheers,

R,
 
In my experience, it only matters if you select the wrong tool for the job. Roger has it right in that many types of wrench can achieve the same result. The only problem would arise is in choosing a hammer instead ! Some of my best 35mm images have been shot on ebay point and shoot cameras. On the other hand, my Nikon SLR cameras can do other things well and some days those are the choice. On other days the Leica is it.
 
In my experience, it only matters if you select the wrong tool for the job. Roger has it right in that many types of wrench can achieve the same result. The only problem would arise is in choosing a hammer instead ! Some of my best 35mm images have been shot on ebay point and shoot cameras. On the other hand, my Nikon SLR cameras can do other things well and some days those are the choice. On other days the Leica is it.
Dear John,

Also known, of course, as a "Birmingham screwdriver".

Then again, I have seen a cutting torch referred to as a "blue spanner" in the context of removing a particularly recalcitrant bolt...

Cheers,

R.
 
I think a lot of it has to do with knowing the strengths and weaknesses of whatever your using and being able to push that gear to it's limits but not beyond...know your tools...for my job I use mostly Craftsman tools...they'll do the same thing as the Proto and Snap-On stuff but for less money, plus when I traveled if anything happened to a wrench there was always a Sears store close by...I've used and have tools made by Snap-On and Proto (and they're great tools) but finding replacements in the field can be difficult, I also have different sets of wrenches made by the same maker but how they fit my hand makes a big difference...your cheaper brands will do the same chores but you will be limited at some point due to their strength or lack of it...using the right tool for the job is what you're looking for...
 
It never ever matters if you show the pics without telling what camera they shot with. That tells something.

Not being snarky, and perhaps my English fails me here, but I can read this in two ways, meaning exactly opposite things. (I know what you mean though.) It's an appropriate coda in a discussion where the consensus is that the camera doesn't matter. Except when it does. Or vc. vs. :D

.
 
Not being snarky, and perhaps my English fails me here, but I can read this in two ways, meaning exactly opposite things. (I know what you mean though.) It's an appropriate coda in a discussion where the consensus is that the camera doesn't matter. Except when it does. Or vc. vs. :D

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It is like you profile pic then!:p
 
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