How much does gear matter?

jsrockit said:
I`m not afraid to say it... I have GAS always... but only for new Fujifilm gear. It is part of the fun. That said, I photograph a lot and I always like the gear I have.

Some of you have it rough... jonzing after all of those vintage cameras.
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Yep I know the feeling -- right now I've been having GAS for vintage stereo cameras. Unfortunately I don't think they have a future in my commercial business. Ah well :)
 
chipgreenberg said:
Not in my case. As I said in my previous life I've owned suitcases of Blad's, RZ's ,Sinars, Nikons on and on
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It was kind of a joke.

I spent many, many years with one body and a single 50mm lens. I was as happy then as I am now, maybe more so. I have often considered going back to that, still do, but just can’t, at least not yet, knowing what I know now about the benefits that having options confers. Of course gear “matters”.

“Gear” won’t give anyone better compositional skills or better “vision” or better skill in the darkroom or with Photoshop, and people with none of those things, such as myself, won’t get any of it with better or more gear. But, it still matters, as anyone who is honest with themselves knows.

Nobody here has a Brownie as the only camera they own and use, simply because they have all acquired something “better”, the acquisition of which is a de facto admission that everyone here knows that “gear matters”, all posturing to the contrary aside.
In my past life, with the one 50mm normal lens, I was unable to do either macro photography or legitimate long lens wildlife photography, because “gear matters.” People who have a need to get noise free, photos at high shutter speeds in extremely dim lighting environments, cannot do that with film cameras or early digital cameras, because “gear matters.” And on, and on.

The flipside of that is that owning a Leica M10 monochrome won’t turn anyone into Kertesz, Man Ray, or Doisneau, but most people realize that while still holding out hope to the contrary. When Leicas improved over time HCB got a better one. Because gear matters. He wasn't going to walk around indefinitely with nothing but a ür Leica just to prove a questionable point about how good he was and that he could “use anything”.

There is much to be said for just having one camera and one lens, in terms of simplicity, and perhaps for some people in terms of results. But, even that represents a conscious choice of the gear that matters the most to that photographer and how he chooses to work.
 
The most important thing
The gear feels right to your Eye and Hand
Then You can accomplish anything
 
helenhill said:
The most important thing
The gear feels right to your Eye and Hand
Then You can accomplish anything
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^^^
There you go, listen to this New Yawk girl. ;)

Gear doesn't really matter as long as you know how to use the equipment that you have.
If you have a vision and you are able to capture it with your camera, you don't need any other equipment.
If you don't have a vision, new gear isn't likely to bring it to you either. :(
:D
 
charjohncarter said:
What worries me is that some of my oldest and least expensive or complicated cameras are the ones I go to.
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Exactly; I've a collection and I put film through all of them but 3 or 4 old cameras take as many photo's as all the other in total. The reason being that I'm comfortable with the old ones and the collection shows me why...

OTOH, using some of the more primitive ones in the heap means I won't forget how to take a photograph; they act as a counter balance to the gee-whizz stuff.

Regards, David
 
Years ago in the 70's or 80's? Minolta ran an ad with the same "picture" taken by the identical focal length lens from various manufacturers and challenged viewers to determine which image was from a Minolta lens. I couldn't tell notwithstanding magazine reproduction. IMHO, lens comparisons are overblown and not worth the time to read, at least my time. My pictures from early 70's Minolta lenses are every bit as "sharp" as my Leica lenses for my purposes anyway. The f/4.5 Ektar lens on my My Father's 2x3 Crown Graphic with a roll film back are breathtakingly sharp. So for me gear is not that important. Taking the best picture you can with what you have is and "taking" pictures rather than talking about gear is equally, if not more important.
 
My prints started looking way better when I got outta 35mm and went to MF..
Then even better when I went to LF..
Then even better when I went to contact printing on AZO..
You can always up your game by a few changes..
Depends on what you want to do..
 
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