Less gear choice = Better results

Less gear, better results? Yep. Words of wisdom. I have one camera to my eye that gives me the best results in 35mm. I am selling off all my equipment over the next several months and spending more time with this camera. That equipment includes: Lynx 14, Yashica CC, Konica Auto S3, Kiev 60 and three Zeiss Jena lenses (wide, standard, portrait), possibly my Pentax K-mount with Tak 50 1.4, kmount adapted J9, 24mm and 19mm wides along with enlarger lenses, processing gear. Yep.

I'm pairing it back to 1 film camera and three digitals. The film camera is the Fujica Compact Delux. This will become a specialty camera for black and white slides using DR5. The other three are digitals: 1. Fujica Finepix F20 for "point-n-shoot"; an old Panny with a 12x opitical zoom (and for infrared, as it's one of those that has a weak filter) which becomes my big zoom camera; and 3. The yet to be purchased Samsung NX10 with 30mm (45 equiv) f2 prime lens. Unless there's a major screw up, that's the digital camera I've been waiting for since digital came out. This will be my "main" camera, a fixed lens high megapixel camera with great high ISO capabilities, HD video capabilities (important to me and something a film camera can't give me), better (allegedly) control over highlight blow out, that uses an standard-sized sensor and has a built-in viewfinder that's finally OFF the legacy SLR platform and conforms to the Barnack ideal. "Digital Rangefinder" is silly on its face as it implies a marriage between old obsolete and new technologies - why? Plus, they're way too expensive for what they do. What I wanted was something built from the ground up as a digital camera that "fixes" the issues with digital and has a standard equiv good fast prime lens, built for the camera (no "crop factor" or kluge adapters if you want prime lenses) - all I need. (Forget slow, crappy kid zooms...) This is the "new" digital rangefnder. Actually, it ain't a rangefinder, but is (finally) a camera that conforms to "Barnack" based on 2010 technology at a fair price. I have high hopes for this camera. But that's a post for another day.
 
Last edited:
keeping it simple is also easier if you know what you're NOT going after

keeping it simple is also easier if you know what you're NOT going after

If you're out with known wildlife, but you know you aren't trying to get Natl. Geo. type photos, you can plan ahead and leave the macro and DSLR tele stuff at home.

If someone already shot what is out there, your RF with a 35 to 50 .7m min focus can very adequately take a photo of a tourist brochure with good photos.

I just hope that the photographer of the brochure photo didn't use photoshop, because I didn't on their photo...

fdigital said:
When I made this thread I was referencing a trip to Japan I made late 09 in which I had no idea what I was going to photograph each day - just sort of loosely planned my trip and then went from there - each day a surprise.

With normal photo work I know exactly what I want to achieve and the lenses I need to help me achieve that
Click to expand...
 
i choose my gear according to my mood. if i feel stand offish, i prefer something a bit longer, more friendly and the wides comes out.
not interested in any human contact? something to help isolate details or better for architecture.
 
ampguy said:
If you're out with known wildlife, but you know you aren't trying to get Natl. Geo. type photos, you can plan ahead and leave the macro and DSLR tele stuff at home.

If someone already shot what is out there, your RF with a 35 to 50 .7m min focus can very adequately take a photo of a tourist brochure with good photos.

I just hope that the photographer of the brochure photo didn't use photoshop, because I didn't on their photo...
Click to expand...

Hehe... I don't even own a tele or a macro lens. Have no interest in wildlife and have never shot nature in my life.
 
I got tired of carrying three lenses for my camera and apart from changing them being worried about the scene's contrast and development.

That's why I started carrying two or three cameras and rarely change lenses now, and can have a body for direct sun, another for soft light, and sometimes a third one for color. I feel that's the best option. One camera? Tell me the film made for that...

Cheers,

Juan
 
semilog said:
Do you speak German?
Click to expand...

Germans ahve an outrageous sense of humor. Even Wikipedia says so:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/German_humour

There once was a day in the US when Americans acting/talking like Germans was found to be funny... bui that was a long, long time ago. I forget what it was called but it was a vaudeville style. I believe it was a biting humor that basically made fun of the Germans. Sensitivities must have been very different back in the 19th Century.
 
Although bmattock has a great, razor sharp sense of humor always, and also was in that mood in his last post, I agree german people have it too from the ones I have met, men and women, all of them young, though... Their language is so rough!... Well, about the thread:

Real life? In two weeks I'll be photographing my twins' baptism and first birthday party. I am taking on my left shoulder an electronic autofocus AE Nikon SLR with the 85 1.8 and warming/80C filters with Portra800 for inside the church. A mechanical Nikon SLR with AE and Tri-X on my right shoulder with the 105 2.5 for black and white inside the church during the same moments and other moments outside and away from the sun (the 50 1.4 and the 20 2.8 in my jacket pockets for too low light and groups). My R4M hanging from my neck with Kodachrome for sun outside the church and in the pool, with the 15 Heliar and the 40 Nokton, one of them in one of my pant's pockets. On the other pocket my XA with Tri-X for sun exclusively, at f/11. And someone from my family will be using my S3, yes, digital, with the 18-135, being shot all the time, and always ready for me if there's any problem with any film camera or my rolls fly too quickly. Also a few filters: yellow ones, NDs, 81As, etc...


One camera? Tell me what's the camera made for that...


Another thing is going out walkin'n'whistlin' with one camera and one lens when you got nothing to photograph...


That's lighter, yes, and can be funny, yes, and I do it, yes, but can be the worst option too, many times, even for some of those walkin'n'whistlin' times...


Cheers,


Juan
 
not that I have such a significant experience, but when I first started shooting I had one body and one 50mm. it felt much like the OP said, I adapted naturally. Last month I travelled with 2 bodies and 5 lenses. It was terrible, I never knew which I prefered to use... I think it varies from person to person, I personally do not enjoy switching lenses, though maybe having a 50mm in the camera and a small wide in the pocket for moments that beg for wide angle lenses could be my ideal setup.

I feel shooting is more pleasant when I don't have to choose between X or Y lens, I just focus on shooting. It helps me.
 
For me, I think the optimum gear configuration is one body with a 50, a second body with a 28, and the little CL with the CV21mm in a Domke satchel. Also a P+S like Yashica T4 or Rollei AFM35 for colour film. It's not too much to carry for me, and I feel well prepared for almost anything.
 
Ranchu, I have one of those too, the Minolta HiMatic AF-2 was one of the earliest autofocus 35mm point n shoot cameras. It takes very good pictures!
 
From flickr, it seems to! Can you tell me, is the shutter quiet? I'm looking forward to them, it seems to have been a very popular camera judging by how many are out there. And no wind motor!

:D
 
I use one camera and one lens. I shoot either B&W or color only, I don't switch between the two of them in a day and I don't carry around more than one camera. That's just the way I work.

I prefer to carry lots of film over lots of lenses.
 
OMG, we're on page 10 of this thread: ok, my turn, b/c this thread encompasses my top 3 choices which I like to discuss: 1) myself, 2), the **** I have, and 3) the **** I want to have. I havent settled down yet with any one definite combo of gear, except that I usually always take my M6 and at least 1-2 lenses. Lately I've kind of liked taking the M6 with one lens and a film P&S with a short zoom (e,g Yashica T4 zoom).
And thanks to whoever posted the link to the Jane Brown portraits, I had never heard of her,and shes very good!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom