foreseeable future, 2 bodies, 3 lenses, maybe 5...

[back alley]

this is my plan for the next while, until i can scrape the cash together for the zm 85/4 anyway.

i have 2 rd1 bodies, at least one of which goes with me everywhere i go. when traveling with one body i usually have the 28 on it, with 2 bodies, it's the 21 and the 28.

occasionally i carry the 15 as well - so 2 bodies and 3 lenses.

i don't care for the 35 or 50 focal lengths on the rd1 so i do occasionally put one of them on one body and travel with that set-up for a day, to try to improve and get more comfortable with that kit.

i always have a camera with me, sometimes i shoot alot and sometimes i shoot nothing.

to improve is my constant goal. my aim is to take better and better photographs and not to just fondle gear.

i do, however, appreciate nice gear.

 

[venchka]

until i can scrape the cash together for the zm 85/4 anyway.

You can get a very nice copy of the Nikkor 85/2.0 ranging from $200 (chrome) to $350 (black).

 

[back alley]

i had a copy of the canon 85/2, nice lens, very sharp.

the plan is to stick with zm lenses as much as possible.
i'd love the zm 15 but i need a lotto win before i even start to entertain that kind of expense.

 

[back alley]

btw, this thread is not meant to mock other similar threads that are current on rff.

i am an experienced shooter, i have used lots of different gear and have a great comfort level with my current kit. i have my 'way' of shooting and seeing and visualizing and i carry a camera everywhere i go. i prefer black & white for 99.9% of my images.

i need practice and improvement but i don't see that happening by limiting my choices.

 

[payasam]

Making the most of limited options is perhaps the best way to do what you want to do. A camera body with three lenses is already several options. I have known many photographers who did excellent work with fixed lens TLRs. They knew their equipment, they knew its limits, they knew when to venture beyond those limits. Some, when they got hold of SLRs with many lenses, froke out -- and the quality of their work fell.

 

[back alley]

i can easily understand how too much choice can lead to a sort of paralysis but i believe that i have finally overcome this affliction.

 

[JonasYip]

I've settled on a similar setup, at least for travelling. On a recent trip I took 2 RD1 bodies, with a VC21 and a 35 'lux ASPH as my primary lenses, plus a VC15 and Hexar 90 in the bag. 28/35 minifinder on one body, 135 finder on the other.

Worked quite well and I'll probably stick with that setup on trips.

j

 

[Disaster_Area]

Too much choice is DEFINATELY a bad thing... I currently have about 4-5 camera's at half a dozen shots on the roll and a DSLR with a backlog of photo's to process. I'm finding that my learning curve is MUCH slower than when I only had one digital and one film body to deal with... So I'm doing much the same type of operation. My DSLR has become my "on the job" body, I no longer carry it everywhere like I used to unless I know i have a gig to shoot. I keep my new Pen F on me at all times and I keep a TLR at work for when I feel like a lazy walk at lunch. I'm starting to sell off all excess and overlapping gear... but it's HARD... you really have to ask yourself if you're going to use a peice of gear or have you just lusted after it for so long and it looks so darn pretty on the shelf 😉

 

[Al Kaplan]

Mukul, how do I get myself to shoot with a variety of lenses? When I first got the 15mm a few years ago I used it sparingly. Now it seems that I use nothing else. I shot about a dozen rolls covering the local city elections plus shooting a couple of parties in the last week. I shot less than a roll with a 35mm 'cron. Everything else was the 15mm. The clients were pleased.

 

[amateriat]

The two-body, three-lens thing has been my mainstay for a bunch of years now. There have been several other cameras surrounding this setup (two Konica Hexar RFs, 28, 50 and 90 M-Hex lenses), but they've gotten sporadic use at best, and, since the recent arrival of both a COntax Tvs (mine free and clear) and a Leica M2 with first-generation 35 f/2 Summicron (not mine yet, but I've got this feeling...), they are being cast off now (the little Lexio 70 got sent to galfriend's niece in Iceland, and my Auto S3 might be on the block next). Moving back to RFs has further sharpened my preferences, so the amount of gear gets reduced, but improved. The experience with the M2 has been a particular eye-opener. It's not that the Hexars have been have been an exercise in heathen overkill (I still regard the Hex RF as a cornerstone of intelligent technological embellishment of the M platform, and I'll run both of mine into the ground before I give them up), but the M2's bride-stripped-bare minimalism is something else entirely (and perhaps at this point I shoulod keep my metaphors tightly under control 😉). It's sort of a quiet but highly opinionated counterpart to what I'm used to, and it simply works. I'm also lovin' that v.1 35 'cron.

I think that the place I'm heading to is where I can decide, at a moment's notice, to grab all the "vital" gear I've got, yet not feel wildly burdened as I have in the past. I rarely have to do that, but when I do, everything fits, figuratively and literally. This is different for everyone, and one's technical and emotional leanings and proclivities will prevail, as mine have. But it's so nice to keep things relatively simple. (The little Contax reminds me again of just how little one can have to work with, yet still go kind of wild.)


- Barrett

 

[kshapero]

Hey, Joe what ever happen to your R4A?

 

[back alley]

Hey, Joe what ever happen to your R4A?

sold, along with the cle kit to help fund my 2 rd1 bodies.
the zi was a gift and will stay with me, plus, i'm thinking that when i get the zm 85 i will team it with the zm 35 and shoot film in the zi. now that will be a killer kit.

 

[back alley]

my bag is packed for the morning, 2 bodies, one has the 50/1.5 and the other has the 35/2.8 attached.
in 35mm speak, that means a 53 and a 76mm fov.

these are my least used lenses on the rd1's and i want to use them more.
now the only real concern is my knee, i think i over extended it and have been using a cane for the past 2 days so a long walk tomorrow in likely not in the works.
joe

 

[payasam]

Don't force it, Joe. The 35 and the 50 may be the least used, but perhaps you'll agree that each has its place in your kit.

Knee. Want to borrow my puppy (attached)? A good walker, sprinter, scrambler... and will care for your footwear.