Getting on & Gear

Y

yoniDar

Member
Local time
6:53 PM
Joined
Apr 8, 2013
Messages
14
Location
Fertile Crescent
View My Gallery
I have quite a few cameras having acquired quite a few and selling none over the last 60 years. Yeah, sixty.

Of course, the majority are film cameras; a TLR, German Kodak,
Hawkeye, Argus 35mm and so on. There's also Nikkormat and an F2 and an F3, Cosina-Voigtlander RF. Not a rotten apple in the bunch.

My hands down favorite is/was the F3HP and I have a drawerful of accessories made for it. It was for me THE systems camera and I used it as such.

I'm not per se a camera "collecter", it's just that I've picked up quite a few over the years and never saw the need to let any of them go.

Today I use 3: a DSLR(Nikon D700), Ricoh (GXR) and a new Fuji x20 P&S. I'm satisfied with all 3, which brings me to my point.

Being in my 70's, being of sound mind, clear headed and blessed with near perfect vision (save for reading glasses) I have no difficulty using any camera with any optical system. I focus manually when the need arises and without hesitation.

I got the X20 after doing my research. My previous P&S was a Fuji E900 and I used it for many years until it got sickly. I had to put it down. The X20 is a damn near perfect little take-anywhere camera.

Is there another camera in my future? I should think not.
3 very good picture taking machines (horses for courses),
14 lenses I can share between 2 cameras plus another 4 only for the GXR, 2 fiberglass tripods, 2 high quality ballheads . . .
what is it that one would need to add to this at age 70?
Or 50? Or 40?

Nowadays I take more pictures and look at them harder and think about composition and process and software and think much less about "getting new stuff".

So I'm wondering if there are others In RFFland who feel similarly or if there are those who think differently about their situation vis a vis "getting new stuff".

yoni
 
I feel similarly that I don't need much new stuff. I've had 5 cameras in the 15 years I've done photography and don't see any more in my near future. Quite happy with my M4 and one or two lenses. If I don't have the gear to get "the shot," there's bound to be a plenty fine shot there somewhere. Glad to hear you're enjoying taking photos!
 
You're dead for a very long time. Enjoy your cameras without any second thoughts. If people ask, just remind them you could have been spending the money on cocaine and hookers.
 
I'm not per se a camera "collecter", it's just that I've picked up quite a few over the years and never saw the need to let any of them go.
Click to expand...


Isn't this a little like being 'only a bit pregnant?' 😀
 
I don't need anything more in photographic equipment than what I have. I could easily dump all but one and a couple of lenses, and that would be enough.

But ...

I don't need to account my equipment—I'm no longer running a photography business. Different cameras see differently. I like to experiment with how the camera sees, and how that matches up to my vision. So I have Polaroids, 6x6 format, 35mm format, and subminiature format film. I have three digital formats too.

I enjoy the equipment. It's fascinating and fun. But I don't grow attached to it, it has little real hold on me. I enjoy the photographs and the photography more.

So why do I talk about the equipment so much, and so little about the photography? Simple: it's easy to talk about things. It's much harder to talk about ideas.

G

"All things are transitory. Ideas endure."
 
When I started to take photos kind of "seriously", I only had a Ricoh KR-10x, a Rikenon 35-70 and a flash gun. And I hardly missed anything.
OK, it was a little annyoing when I went on a Safari in Kenya without a tele. But otherwise...
I travelled all through Scandinavia with just that combo.

Many years later, after I got my Canon EOS 350D and realized that I can adapt old manual lenses to it, my GAS started. Within about four years, I had more than 200 lenses and several other digital and film cams.

But at a certain point, all that stuff rather strangled me instead of offering creative potential, so I started to sell ... a lot!

Now, I'm down to the gear I really wanted to keep. Every "normal" person would still say that's way too much, but for me that's an impressive reduction. 😉
 
I'm not quite as old as you, but I find that the older I get the less I enjoy the equipment for its intrinsic qualities, but being comfortable with the form factor and operation of my cameras, and knowing thoroughly what my gear can do in any situation is more important than regularly acquiring new stuff. Over the years, I've used my fair share of camera systems typically only trading them when they still had value, but were on the cusp of obsolescence (particularly in digital,) or when I had an opportunity to buy into a system that suited my style of shooting better; e.g. moving from Mamiya TLRS to Hasselblad waaaay back when.

The benchmark against which I've compared every 35mm and digital system I've owned, though, has been the Leica M bodies and M-mount lenses. After a couple of frustrating years with other digital systems, early this year I finally decided that it was past time to buy what I'm comfortable with. I sold everything else I had and re-bought Leica M equipment and I'm content. A couple of bodies and a handful of lenses. It fits my style of shooting without compromise... probably because it was what I learned with some 40 years ago.
 
I don't see it as so much a function of years of age, but rather of years photographing and level of interest in certain media. For a newcomer to film photography of any age there is choice galore, in effect over a century of "technology" to explore. For a newcomer to digital photography there is the fast paced change of an emerging technology driving a large number of choices. In both cases it takes experience to know what works for whom. Those of you with many years of experience probably navigate those choices with ease, whereas many like me are just in the process of trying to see what works. How long does it take to gain a year of experience? 🙂

Do what works for you if you are in the know, or explore and learn if that's what you need or want. With the quality of today's digital, and the film cameras at your disposal, I can see how you could be content with the gear you have. That may also be the case for RFFers in their 30s, 40s, 50s, or 60s unless (or until) some new technology disrupts today's digital, while others will continue exploring. As for me, somehow my character gravitates toward the latter.
 
A "collector" should probably display whatever it is he is collecting;
should have it in a display case, on a shelf, for viewing.

Alas, my older cameras are inside a plastic tub in the attic.
They come out for air once in a while so I can fire the shutter.
No one sees them. The only exception to this is my F3 which has
an honored place on my desk.

I must be a true materialist because I get far more satisfaction out of using something than owning it. Certainly true with my cameras and other optical equipment.

For the past couple of years I've concentrated more on my past and current pics, my photography, and less on stuff. I find I just don't require more stuff to take better photographs.
 
I am 56 now, last year, at 55, I figured out, that it was the right moment to buy all the cameras and lenses, that I would possibly ever like to use, and I did exactly that. I have left out on purpose one lens only - the Noctilux 50/1, because I think it is nice to have something left to aspire to. A caveat - I shoot B&W film only, at least for as long as a decent B&W sensor camera does not appear on the market in a reasonable package. When it does, I will have a whole bunch of lenses to use with it. I feel relieved now - I have bought nothing since last December, and do not feel the urge to do so. The only urge I have, is to use these beautiful cameras more, and to take more photographs of things and people that inspire me. I feel I have buried the GAS syndrome forever.
P.S. the WTB ad below is sitting there since last year - if that lens comes along, I will make a small exception...
 
At 53, after playing to be a photographer for nearly 10 years, I've come to the point in which I have all the gear I lusted for, and when I check eBay and other sites and stores I only look at the stuff I would like to buy if I win the lottery. So, more or less like you, I'm thinking more along the lines of taking photographs more than buying stuff.

But I won't say that there's anything more exciting than opening a box when we know it has a nice piece of equipment inside... It's like Christmas when you're 6 years-old! 🙂
 
SolaresLarrave said:
At 53, after playing to be a photographer for nearly 10 years, I've come to the point in which I have all the gear I lusted for, and when I check eBay and other sites and stores I only look at the stuff I would like to buy if I win the lottery. So, more or less like you, I'm thinking more along the lines of taking photographs more than buying stuff.

But I won't say that there's anything more exciting than opening a box when we know it has a nice piece of equipment inside... It's like Christmas when you're 6 years-old! 🙂
Click to expand...

I don't know Francisco. An SP 2005 would look awfully nice in your cabinet 🙂
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

A
What is the MOST gear you've ever carried on a trip?
2 3
Replies
51
Views
2K
Ray Vonn 2023
Ray Vonn 2023
A
Fast mid-long zooms - why not?
Replies
18
Views
870
Ko.Fe.
Ko.Fe.
A
Your underrated lenses
5 6 7
Replies
133
Views
6K
Dayrell bishop
D
Godfrey
Getting back up to speed ...
2
Replies
23
Views
1K
Deleted member 65559
D
B
The unloved Panasonic Lumix GF1
2
Replies
37
Views
4K
underlord
underlord
Back
Top Bottom