Have I lost my passion for photography?

Platinum RF said:
in the digital age, camera is just like cellphone which is disposable. I see no point to buy a leica RF at its asking price. I carry my Nikon D5100 for travel around the world. It is cheap but excellent quality. if it get stolen or failed I just through it away. The D5300 is even better with WIFI and GPS. What is the point to buy expensive rangefinder with dinosaur age tech? If Leica make a digital rangefinder at $1500-2000 I may consider to buy one but not at $6000-7000.
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Like anything else in life, it depends on your income and savings... and what you needs / wants are. What is cheap to you and I could be expensive to others. The 5300 you would throw away if it broke would be devistating to lose for others. Some people can buy a $7000 rangefinder like we buy a $20 dinner.
 
Raid, we all have ups and down. Don't worry about it, just take it in stride. Stuff happens.

I once was quite proud of my first new Leica. I dropped it on concrete my first outing!

Get it fixed and enjoy! The voyage is the thing, not the destination.

Stephen
 
Godfrey said:
Cameras have always been disposable.
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True, but not as disposable. 35mm was popular for a very long time. In theory, you could use the same 35mm camera for many, many years. Digital cameras are going through stages of maturation and the prospect of someone using a 20 year old digital camera isn't quite there at this point.
 
jsrockit said:
True, but not as disposable. 35mm was popular for a very long time. In theory, you could use the same 35mm camera for many, many years. Digital cameras are going through stages of maturation and the prospect of someone using a 20 year old digital camera isn't quite there at this point.
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Possibly because quality consumer approachable digital cameras haven't been available for that long yet. Digital cameras started coming onto the market in the late 1990s at very high prices, it wasn't until 2004 or so that quality interchangeable lens cameras that were worth keeping for more than the cycle to the next model started to appear.

It took 35mm cameras three decades to rise to prominence in the photography world.

Note: My Olympus E-1 is coming up on 11 years old. Still going strong, still making beautiful photographs.

G
 
As a small consolation, you might consider how much $ you saved in film and processing by having the digital Leica. If you shoot a lot it would probably exceed the cost of repair.
 
Keep it "Green"

Keep it "Green"

Raid, perhaps dusting off one of your old Canons might stoke the photographic passions of days gone by. Your pictures of the family that you sometimes shair are still catch my eye. A Leica M what ever, is WAY beyond my retirement budget. I've grown to be most content using my classic barnacks and "P"'s even getting out my X-700, these last weeks. Sometimes I will read an article in one of the forums a "new" discovery someone has made and I'll think to myself "I have one of those" and the switch is on! So maybe a fresh look at film might help for you. The old bodies-n-glass keeps it green for me. Frank
 
Contacting Leica is reasonable thing, but in meantime you can just try something different. Digital, film - no matter. Dig out something from your heap, I think you still have some other cameras. As your Leica is hi-tech thing, maybe reach for something simplistic this time, like an old digital or film camera with limited controls.

Originally Posted by charjohncarter
Buy a Holga, tape all the seams light tight after loading and go out and shoot. .....
>Or put a CV 25/4 on a non-metered body, leave the meter at home, one
>roll in the camera, two in the pockets, and go out and burn some film.

Seems I weren't only one in this mood. I find myself enjoying breaks when I use cameras with limited controls and capabilities compared to ones I use normally, somehow it clears up way I see things, I don't expect much and try to find better frames to compensate for lack of automated exposure or best possible sharpness. This is like a game or maybe candy for a kid but my inner kid responds well to this.

I think this did grow into interesting thread, after all, so we all benefit reading each others thoughts on this. For me it gave some brain food, certainly.
 
CameraQuest said:
Raid, we all have ups and down. Don't worry about it, just take it in stride. Stuff happens.

I once was quite proud of my first new Leica. I dropped it on concrete my first outing!

Get it fixed and enjoy! The voyage is the thing, not the destination.

Stephen
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Thanks, Stephen. It could have been worse.
Stuff happens. This is true. Too much stuff (for my taste) happened to me this time.

As for what is happening in Iraq .....
 
Raid,

I travelled with family recently too, but in the opposite direction to Canada, arriving home in Luxembourg three weeks ago. We had a missed flight, and so had to go straight to work on a 6 hour jet lag while keeping up with two small children (now 1 and 3 yrs old) when not working. I can confirm that during this period I have neither a desire to shoot more, nor a desire to edit the vacation photos. I decided to send my M6 B&W rolls to Ilfordlabs, and download my M-E shots to the PC for backup and just leave them for a while. As work calms down I have finally had time to mow the lawn and do some reading, and I will get back to photography (and editing) in time. Until then, I have resolved to keep the 15mm Super Wide Heliar on my M6 as my only camera for an entire roll, and for a couple of hours last weekend this was more amusing than I had guessed it would be.

Hang in there, send your M9 off for repair, and know that much of your experience is from the regular stress of travel and jet lag, and the rest you will deal with in time.

Cheers,
Rob
 
I lost my passion for photography. World Cup time.

Enjoyed your work and contributions to this forum. No worry.. time and maybe some money spent will cure all. You and your family are safe and that is where the real passion lies. I can tell by your posted images.
 
raid said:
You are right, and I am maybe making too much out of this all.
I will take a break from using digital cameras. They have disappointed me.
I also once had an EP2 die for no reason.
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You also had a Bessa R film camera crap out on ya too. I know the monetary loss wasn't near as great as the M9 but stuff breaks no matter the name brand. But a freaking M9 should last for many years. I'd be teed off too. Sorry bout your dilemma Raid.
 
Sometimes I feel I've lost my passion for photography. But it's mainly because no one has made a digital camera that I like as much as a film camera. Film is still the standard, but it takes such an effort for a hobbyist who has other worries. If I could make the same living shooting either digital or film, I'd choose to shoot only film in a heartbeat. And boy is colour expensive to process these days. The democratization of photography and filmmaking has made it less exciting to me, as well. Sounds spoilt, but it has more to do with the lack of challenge and craft that modern auto-cameras present. Oh well, maybe I'll learn to paint or sculpt.
 
jsrockit said:
You should do this... and CC everyone else at Leica too. They will respond.

Now, as far as letting one cameras ruin your photographic happiness, that is silly... most of us here have more than one camera. Move onto to another camera while this one gets repaired. I've had to do it several times as a Leica user (but not since I stopped using Leicas).
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Raid, I'm with John on this.

Possibly what has happened is that your passion for that brand of camera has died (or faced reality ?). If I may reword what John said - don't let your dissolusionment (sp?) with a camera brand kill your love of making pictures. Chill out, move on. 🙂
 
Glad to hear your passion will resume, it was only temporarily derailed!
Still , take it easy for a short time.You'll know when the time is up.
Carry on!
 
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