Fuji is starting to get to me!

[LCSmith]

And every other digital camera out there...if you are cynical enough to think digital is copying film all the time.

I am not sure what you mean; but it is true that I can be cynical.

 

[aizan]

But rangefinders are very easy to use! They're the least work to deal with. 😕

 

[Emile de Leon]

sound like Heifetz

You could study the violin for 30 years..practice 15 hrs a day..and never have a chance of sounding like Heifetz..
Or get your synth..pump it up with Heifetz dna..
And still wont be there..lol

 

[jsrockit]

I mean sure, I could use a synthesizer to replicate the sound of a violin and sound like Heifetz in a day or two after punching at some keys; but it's much more fun to learn to play a real violin.

Are you seriously comparing learning to play a violin to manually focusing and manual exposure? I think you overestimate the skill involved in manually focusing and manual exposure. Everyone past a certain age had to do both of these to learn photography. It wasn't something that took a lot of time or effort... it was just something you did. Learning to play violin and even learning to play a synthesizer well takes a lot more time and effort.

 

[Dogman]

Is there any other type of photography than "all in"?

If so, it's a new concept to me.

 

[ptpdprinter]

This is well-said. I enjoy using real rangefinders (as in, a camera with a rangefinder focusing mechanism) precisely because they require so much from me. It's fun because it's difficult, but it's satisfying because it is more my own.

You can also make photography harder by standing on one foot while shooting. And you don't even have to buy an expensive Leica camera. There is nothing hard about shooting a rangefinder. It is tying your shoes easy.

 

[LCSmith]

Are you seriously comparing learning to play a violin to manually focusing and manual exposure? I think you overestimate the skill involved in manually focusing and manual exposure. Everyone past a certain age had to do both of these to learn photography. It wasn't something that took a lot of time or effort... it was just something you did. Learning to play violin and even learning to play a synthesizer well takes a lot more time and effort.

The point of the analogy would be much clearer if articulated by someone with greater mastery over words than myself. No, learning the violin is not learning manual exposure and focusing. But I do believe that the more involved I am in the making of the photograph, the more the photograph is my own. And I also believe that auto exposure and auto focus are boring. And I also do not like riding on mechanical ponies. I prefer the real thing.

 

[LCSmith]

You can also make photography harder by standing on one foot while shooting. And you don't even have to buy an expensive Leica camera. There is nothing hard about shooting a rangefinder. It is tying your shoes easy.

Oh I agree. But it is certainly more difficult than half pressing a plastic tab.

 

[LCSmith]

You could study the violin for 30 years..practice 15 hrs a day..and never have a chance of sounding like Heifetz..
Or get your synth..pump it up with Heifetz dna..
And still wont be there..lol

Well, yes. I would beg your granting me the license of analogy.

 

[ptpdprinter]

Oh I agree. But it is certainly more difficult than half pressing a plastic tab.

Half pressing a plastic tab?

 

[Huss]

I hope I may be able to state an opinion without its being confused for doctrine.

If we must be precise, no camera is "almost" in its picture-making capabilities, so long as it makes pictures. Think of what Atget was able to do with his obsolete camera.

What is mediocre about the Fuji cameras? Again, NOT the images that can be made by them. Mediocre images are the products of mediocre photographers and have nothing to do with the camera's "image making capabilities" so I am speaking only of aesthetics and design.

The question here is also not one of "durability" since plastic is quite durable.

No, "candy cigarettes" I think gets to the point quite well, a kind of unabashed simulacrum.

"Instant mashed potatoes" works well too. Something which is consciously intended to simulate something else but doing so in a mediocre way while at the same time reducing the skill required by the user. That seems to me to be the rather express marketing strategy for those Fuji cameras.

So you have a long winded way of saying nothing but brand bashing.

Well done for adding nothing to the conversation.

 

[LCSmith]

So you have a long winded way of saying nothing but brand bashing.

Well done for adding nothing to the conversation.

That is probably cryptic. I challenge you to state with equal conviction your own position of photography.

 

[LCSmith]

Half pressing a plastic tab?

Oh indeed.

"Where should my focus be, camera?"

It's interesting how both focus and camera are Latin words to do with interior spaces and domesticity.

 

[Emile de Leon]

What happened to Kodak's mantra..
"You press the button..we do the rest..."
I say..enough already..

 

[jsrockit]

Oh indeed.

"Where should my focus be, camera?"

Damn... all that time I used manual focus, I hadn't realized I was a genius for knowing how to do it... what couldn't have been in my life if I kept at it. Now I use autofocus and my camera tells me where to focus. What a smart device... :bang:

 

[LCSmith]

Damn... all that time I used manual focus, I hadn't realized I was a genius for knowing how to do it... what couldn't have been in my life if I kept at it. Now I use autofocus and my camera tells me where to focus. What a smart device... :bang:

Touché! The endless discussion about cameras will always eventuate (if successful) in a beautiful marriage of author and tool, a discussion which must be had in the silence of the self.

 

[ptpdprinter]

Oh indeed.

"Where should my focus be, camera?"

It's interesting how both focus and camera are Latin words to do with interior spaces and domesticity.

Let me be clearer. What does "half pressing a plastic tab" mean?

 

[jsrockit]

Let me be clearer. What does "half pressing a plastic tab" mean?

I guess he feels that the shutter button of the Fuji feels cheap. Well, as a Fuji user... I might agree about that on some Fujis. Half pressing is AF.

 

[oldwino]

I don't know why you consider your Fuji casual and your Leica all-in camera. Price?

No. Haptics and mental involvement.

 

[nzeeman]

i used rangefinder for decades-switched to fuji xe1 this year after i sold my leica m4 (still kept canon p and some fsu ones). i dont feel im less into photo making by using autofocus and autoexposure... in fact it made my life much easier and i am much more productive.