Jack of all trades, Master of none.

[Kim Coxon]

Since my rediscovery of RF photography about 2 years ago, I feel I have come a long way. The journey has been great fun and very instructional. Previously, I had been almost solely a Pentax man for 25 years. I understood the effect of different filmstock, colours, light etc. I also "knew" my kit but it was very much of the same "family" so that a variable was missing. Having come through the fixed lens RF's through FSU gear to LTM and Leica, I have discovered the different effects of lens design and a different perspective. I have also managed to gain a reasonable amount of kit. The problem is that I now feel as though I am becoming a Jack of all Trades and I am experimenting with the kit more than predicting the results I will get. I have been thinking about it for some time but Melanie C's thread on "seeing color" has tipped the balance.

It would be nice to keep lots of different lenses and bodies to "play" with and explore the differences and I know it has been said that you cannot have too many 50's but I am finding it too distracting. With the coming of Summer, the family on the mend and the passing of the first anniversary of my Mother's death, I am going to go out and take pictures. I am going to cut my RF gear down to a few select items and I am going to go out and get to know them so I can concentrate on the photo and not the gear. To that end, all the surplus gear is going to go. Whilst the old 35mm Classifieds are still going, I will offer RFF members the first choice on RF stuff thereafter it will go on that site.

Slightly OT but in a similar vein, I will still "collect" as well as use my Pentax gear. However, I am going to thin my Pentax and Fujica collection quite drastically although it may take a while. As far as the Pentax is concerned this will cover the whole span from Asahiflex's through to some of the more recent AF lenses. I know that quite a few members are also Pentax and M42 users so if you are looking for any specific items, drop me a PM and I may be able to help. Although I prefer friendly deals, this is RFF so I won't be listing any of it here.

Kim

 

[back alley]

so, it's not just me...

good luck on the purge.

joe

 

[amateriat]

Simplification can be clarifying. (Works for me, anyway.)


- Barrett

 

[SCOTFORTHLAD]

Good to clear the decks from time to time!

Enjoy,

Brian.

 

[f/stopblues]

I had a realization like this recently. I sold off a few excess things and put away most of the rest. I've been shooting only my R2A and Ultron 35mm, and occasionally some big 6x7 negs with a 65mm lens. I shoot all HP5+. It's been very nice to say the least.

The biggest thing is that it eliminated the hesitation. I don't pause to think if that shot would look better with the 50mm, or better with a slower flim. I don't have those options. I don't skip a shot so I can come back later with a bigger format or a sharper lens or a different focal length. I just shoot the shot. Guess what happens then? I get results instead of a missed opportunity, and film exposed instead of coming back. Most importantly I can see the subject instead of seeing the gear to shoot the subject.

Simplicity is great 😀 Photography is great 😀 Yay, I love it.

 

[JimG]

Kim, I hope you'll remember that I have been lusting after that 85mm Takumar for awhile. So PM me Please, if you decide to part with it. JimG

 

[Kim Coxon]

It's waiting to be collected having just been serviced by Robin at Harrow technical. 😉

Kim

Kim, I hope you'll remember that I have been lusting after that 85mm Takumar for awhile. So PM me Please, if you decide to part with it. JimG

 

[harmsr]

Kim,

I understand exactly where you are coming from. I also am thinning the herd some to concentrate on what I really like and take photos for enjoyment vs. which lens, body, film, etc...

Best & enjoy the new freedom.

Ray

 

[Gid]

I understand also. I was quite happy with my RD-1 and then I got the film bug - 3 new film cameras, experimenting with film, home developing and scanning :bang:

I haven't really taken a decent shot since and instead of grabbing the RD-1 when I go out I end up having a debate with myself - which camera, which film etc, etc

Having more choice is actually hindering my photography and I am also on the verge of clearing the decks and going back to what used to work.

 

[payasam]

How many material objects, things, one possesses depends on availability and funds. In my country, people of my time and limited resources had no option but to work with little equipment. And work we did. Twin-lens Rolleis and their Yashica clones, with fixed 75 mm or 80 mm lenses, were pushed to the limit. Close-ups and copying were possible without much trouble. If you wanted to work in 35 mm, you stuck in a Rolleikin and, as either bonus or handicap, got a portrait lens. Owing to the weather and the delicate, demanding emulsions of the time, there was not much work done in 35 mm. Leicas and Contaxes were seen, but rarely.

That is so far as having few options goes. There's much to be said, though, for deliberately limiting one's hardware. For one thing, you get to know it, and its capabilities and limitations, better. For another, you learn to adapt, to improvise. The old question: Does the human run the machine or does the machine run the human?

 

[tedwhite]

Kim, we "know" each other from both the Spotmatic/Yahoo site and this one. We both have Spotmatic kits plus RF stuff, and by the way I have high regard for your thoughtful posts over the last few years in both cyberspace locales.

I, too, have shed a bunch of stuff. The decision to shed happened one day as I was on my way to an event. I found myself delaying departure (to the point of being fatally too late) because I could not decide which combination of lenses/cameras to take. Then, good fortune: a moment of clarity, one of those epiphanies where you see into the future. Do I want to be an equipment geek, always lugging four or five camera bags about and endless rolls of this and that film - or do I want to be a friggin photographer? As I once was.

I had cleared the dining room table and had all my cameras and lenses spread out on it (damn near filled the table from end to end). Having read Camus, Sartre, and others in grad school I had brushed up against notions of the absurd. And here it was, surfacing in southeastern Arizona.

I walked into the kitchen and did what I thought was a silly thing, something we did as kids playing blindman's bluff. I closed my eyes, turned three times, put my arms out so I wouldn't bang into something (splendid idea, as I would have smacked into the refrigerator), made it into the dining room, stopped, and lowered my hand. Touched something. Opened my eyes. Damn. The Rolleiflex. So be it.

No more decisions. I put a bunch of 120 film in my pockets (another decision; I chose TriX). No more worries about bodies and lenses.

Had a great time. Older people at the event said, "My God, haven't seen one of those since I was a kid." A high school girl said, "Far out. Never seen a digital camera with two lenses. What's up with that? Is it, like, stereo?"

It would bore the reader to list what I sold off in the next month or two. Down, now, to a couple of Pentax Spotmatic bodies, six lenses, a ist DS, a Bessa R with the 35/2.5, and, of course, the old Rollei. Probably still too many. But discipline furthers. Leave the house with but one camera and one lens. Each day. Better: One camera, one lens, one week.
(except for the Rollei. No lens choices).

This week? Bessa R. Next week? Does it really matter?

Ted

 

[DougK]

Spot on, Ted. I'm going through a bit of equipment angst right now myself... again.

Trying to figure out what to shoot with on any given day (medium format, 35mm, or digital? color or B&W? rangefinder? SLR? TLR?) borders on the ridiculous. I have to start deciding the night before to have a reasonable chance of actually coming to a decision on a camera. It's hard to think about parting with them though; I do so love gadgets.

Funny thing is, the only camera I have that I really, really love shooting with is my Lubitel. It's clunky to operate, looks like a toy, feels like Tupperware... and it takes lovely pictures, better than it has any right to.

Maybe that's my answer right there. Hmmm....

 

[back alley]

i blame william!

in my deep angst about too much gear and choosing what to shoot when etc, he asked the most simple question...which do you enjoy shooting the most?
really kinda threw me.
i had guilt feelings about ignoring the p.
thought i SHOULD be shooting the m3 more as it's a classic and it sounds so nice when the shutter 'clicks'. and the cl is a great, small, easy to operate machine that feels wonderful in the hand and over the shoulder.
but i enjoyed the experience the most with the zi and shooting with new lenses.
call me whatever you will but i was snookered by the newness as well as the results.
and that's why i sold almost all my lenses and the p.

joe

 

[wlewisiii]

I guess it isn't that hard a question for me. I've still got, in some ways, too many cameras (yet even now I have a nice old Canon FTb-n and 50/1.4 coming for the SLR side), but I've never quite had this concern about which to take out. I've gotten my cameras to the point that I'm quite comfortable with what they can do and how I expect to use them. I'd like to get a 28/3.5 for the CL & a 10 to 12" lens for the Speed, but that's not that big a priority at the moment.

Right now I enjoy the CL the most with my collapsible Summicron and prewar 90/4. But I enjoy the others and it doesn't bother me if they sit for awhile. I don't really think about the camera much anymore, I just grab my bag and go. The camera, a couple of lenses, meter and a bunch of film are all I need to be happy.

Well, that and for it to stop bleeping raining for a day or two would be nice... 😉

William

 

[harmsr]

An appropriate analogy from my firearms background:

Beware the man with one gun, he probably knows how to use it.

Ray

 

[Simon Larbalestier]

How many material objects, things, one possesses depends on availability and funds. In my country, people of my time and limited resources had no option but to work with little equipment. And work we did. Twin-lens Rolleis and their Yashica clones, with fixed 75 mm or 80 mm lenses, were pushed to the limit. Close-ups and copying were possible without much trouble. If you wanted to work in 35 mm, you stuck in a Rolleikin and, as either bonus or handicap, got a portrait lens. Owing to the weather and the delicate, demanding emulsions of the time, there was not much work done in 35 mm. Leicas and Contaxes were seen, but rarely.

That is so far as having few options goes. There's much to be said, though, for deliberately limiting one's hardware. For one thing, you get to know it, and its capabilities and limitations, better. For another, you learn to adapt, to improvise. The old question: Does the human run the machine or does the machine run the human?

You raise some excellent points here, Payasam. I recently had a purge and reduced my kit basically to what i could carry around with me + one backup camera in 120 and 35mm formats.

 

[payasam]

Thanks, Simon. I too am a Doggy Person, though I can't really see the immediate relevance of that.

 

[Simon Larbalestier]

Ah- Spike the dog didn't belong to me sadly....

 

[Goodyear]

I know that quite a few members are also Pentax and M42 users so if you are looking for any specific items, drop me a PM and I may be able to help. Although I prefer friendly deals, this is RFF so I won't be listing any of it here.

Anything nice, and maybe fast, in the 35 or 40 range in either mount?

 

[Solinar]

It would be nice to keep lots of different lenses and bodies to "play" with and explore the differences and I know it has been said that you cannot have too many 50's but I am finding it too distracting. .

Kim

Great title for the thread and the part that I the part that I have quoted gets to the heart of the matter.

Happy shooting with whatever you streamline down to.