Irrational gear lust

gho said:
In my humble opinion, gear lust is all for vain and won't improve your photographs. I really do not see any point in buying a Hasselblad. Instead I would start working on getting that hit to miss ratio up.
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Usually, I would agree. However, I have never in my life used a lens that gave me the fizz like the 80 2.8 Planar. I swear the elements are made of cream and butter and beauty and velvet and steamy encounters with supermodels.
 
Merkin said:
Usually, I would agree. However, I have never in my life used a lens that gave me the fizz like the 80 2.8 Planar. I swear the elements are made of cream and butter and beauty and velvet and steamy encounters with supermodels.
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Hahaha, I like this description.

Really though, I am experiencing an extreme bout of GAS with the X-Pro1, even though I really do not have the money to support a purchase of that camera, and I have already promised myself I would shoot my RB67 more to combat that need. But I keep loaning out the floor demo from the shop and it is just so hard not to keep dreaming when I see what this camera can really do...

I know it's up to the photographer more than the camera, but my RB isn't really a walkaround model, much less a lowlight champ.

Sigh...
 
Merkin said:
Usually, I would agree. However, I have never in my life used a lens that gave me the fizz like the 80 2.8 Planar. I swear the elements are made of cream and butter and beauty and velvet and steamy encounters with supermodels.
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:D Makes me wonder, if gear does act as a substitute for something. I would rather like to have the cream, butter and fizzy encounters with supermodels without the Planar, because having the Planar simply means hard work. ;)
 
i believe, and other here have also mentioned, that my photography did improve after i got my rd1...maybe the the blad is your rd1...
 
I was struck by Hasselblad lust and bought a 500cm and 80mm lens a while ago. They are a little like the M3 IMO ... they don't really do anything better than other equivalent systems (Zeiss lenses aside) but the user experience is totally unique.

That clop and whoosh when you fire the shutter is something else! :D

I'd say do it ... to be able to get something currently that sold for so much new for a song makes it easy IMO.


edit ... but then again I loved my old boxy 740 Volvo Turbo when I owned it. I still rate it as one of the nicest cars I've ever owned!
 
Oh well, if you really get into the position that you really need one, it is always possible to rent or borrow one.
 
I had serious medium format lust for about ten years. Couldn't decide between a Rolleiflex 2.8 or a Hassy 500CM. So over time I acquired both. Neither worked for me as I had imagined, had a difficult time focusing and composing with the waist level finders on both, so I put a better screen on each and still struggled. Finally realized that after thirty six years of shooting SLRs, i needed to feel like I was looking through the camera at the subject, and I didn't get that with either camera. Found a 45º Prism for the Hassy and fell back in love. Sold the Rollei. Now all is good.

One of the greatest motorcycle racers of all time, Valentino Rossi, was winning everything on a Honda GP bike, and he decided to pitch it all and change to a Yamaha. The Yamaha was considered a dog compared to the Honda and everyone told him he was crazy. And he went on to win it all again. He wrote a book about the experience and titled it, "What if I never tried it?" I try to remember that as I journey through life.

The Hassy may not work well for you "right out of the box", it may take time for you to adapt yourself to it and you to adapt it to yourself. But don't give up. There was something that attracted you to it, pay attention to those inner voices.

Best,
-Tim
 
Sometimes acting on the lust or urge is part of the path of dealing with illusion and attachment. Or you may discover that the Hassie is meant for you. Either way, you win.
 
Trius said:
Sometimes acting on the lust or urge is part of the path of dealing with illusion and attachment. Or you may discover that the Hassie is meant for you. Either way, you win.
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Gotta love those win-win situations!
 
I've had the greatest fun and most rewarding photos from my Hasselblad. It was a big change for me, having never shot square, or a medium format SLR, before.

I now have two bodies and four backs and six lenses -- it's a disease.

Buy one and try it out for a few months, then sell it for basically what you paid. It's the beauty of film equipment, for a while, anyway.
(my problem is I never sell anything)
 
Merkin said:
Usually, I would agree. However, I have never in my life used a lens that gave me the fizz like the 80 2.8 Planar. I swear the elements are made of cream and butter and beauty and velvet and steamy encounters with supermodels.
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It may just be me, but the 80 2.8 Planar on the Hassy never has that same spark as the other 80 2.8 Planar that I now have, a much smaller one and stuck below a Heidosmat :D

What I miss from the Hassy kit that I sold was not the lens or anything, but the chrome and the shutter sound. So now I have a Bronica S. Way less costly, Nikkor glasses, and a built in focusing so I can experiment with pretty much any lens on it.

To the OP, I'd say skip the 'Blad, you already have a Bronica. Go for something completely different, like Fuji GX680 :p
 
The key lies in the word "irrational". Until you've tried it, you never know. This leads us straight into Rumsfeld's 'known unknowns'. You have to decide whether (a) you're being silly and it's not worth trying or (b) it might be worth trying.

You also have to allow for personal preference and sample variation, especially with old lenses. For me, the best f/2.8 Planar I ever tried wasn't on a Rollei (3rd place) or a Hasselblad (2nd place), but a Linhof: a 100/2.8 on a Tech 70. But only one of them (I tried two). The second lacked the 'magic'.

Cheers,

R.
 
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I swear, 90% of my GAS is really just curiosity for experimenting with different stuff. Years of film/digital work with my Nikons, and dozens of lenses bought/tried/sold left me with a 35/2, 50/1.4, 85/1.8. All of my GAS attacks (purchased/sold/traded/lusted) with the M-system has left me with 40/1.4, 50/2, 90/2.8. At the end of the day, I got to play with a lot of stuff, but eventually settled with what works for me.

In the end, I also just recently bought a 501CM that I have been craving for a few years, despite the Mamiya TLR having served me fantastically. Time will tell how much I use it, but they way I figure: prices on these things have damn near bottomed out, so if I sell I don't stand to lose much.

If you have the money, go for it. You can always sell it if you don't use it and you won't have lost much, if anything, on it...but you will get that nagging lust out of your system.

jsrockit said:
Buy it, get it out of your system, and then sell it.
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Take all that money, buy a ten pack of 120 and take it to India, or somewhere cool with the rest.

The artist in residence at my university has just printed a series of portraits he shot over 7 years travelling in India. He'll be exhibiting at host gallery in London - all shot on an SQ-A; the quality is NOT lacking.

Could he have done it with a blad? Sure. But the gear doesn't matter.

Besides, they're both awkward with the helicoid focusing if you ask me!
 
I lusted after an RB67 for a couple years, got one, and meh. Sold it back to its owner, who'd let it go for too cheap anyway and had seller's remorse.

Then I saw a Pentax 645 in a pawn shop. Wasn't terribly struck by it, but got it cheap...and now I love it.
 
I'd have a Rolleiflex if I didn't need or want a system camera; would never buy a 500 with just an 80mm.

But, a wheeled Pelican full of Hassie parts is a pOtent thing - a Svenskar-Deutsche box of get-it-done.

A SQA kit can do same; only, it's biggest 6x6 I've ever seen.

-Charlie

.
 
peteography said:
Could he have done it with a blad? Sure. But the gear doesn't matter.
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How do you know if the results wouldn't be even better (or maybe worse) with a blad? No one could really know until it's been tried.

You can survive with a lot of different kinds of food. Would you say that food doesn't matter in your life?
 
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