Strange thoughts...

[Pherdinand]

Sometimes i feel myself belonging to the very same group, Joe, Bertram. 🙁
And the more cameras I own the less good photos i make, i need some time to get used to one in my hands. If i switch alot of different ones, with different lenses, different finders, i just have to start it over every time.
Now at least i stopped using lots of different films.

 

[gns]

There are those people with more money than sense in any field. It's not really worth worrying about or even fair to criticize them. If they are having fun, great for them. Ther are no rules about how to do this.

For what it is worth, My approach is always to keep it simple. One camera, one lens, one film. Why? The possibilities with just one set up are infinite already and it is difficult enough to figure out where to point the damn thing. Adding a bunch of other variables just seems to make it even more difficult, doesn't it?

I have been using a Panasonic LC-1 to get my fet wet with digital. It has a zoom lens! Arrggh!
I got an accessory viewfinder for it and put a big fat rubber band around the lens barrel to keep the zoom set at one focal length.

Have fun,
Gary

 

[Bertram2]

Sometimes i feel myself belonging to the very same group, Joe, Bertram. 🙁
And the more cameras I own the less good photos i make, i need some time to get used to one in my hands. If i switch alot of different ones, with different lenses, different finders, i just have to start it over every time.
Now at least i stopped using lots of different films.

No matter how you feel , Pherdinand: Your photos do not look as if you would belong to the group I mentioned. ;-)
But what you say about the handling , changing back and forth from system to system, that's my experience too. From manual focus to AF and back for example or from AE to manual settings, always a PIA with a lot of mis-takes at the beginning.
Not less stressfull the change from a VF camera with preset focus to a RF .

Personally I hate it to change. The camera must be so familiar to me that it does not exist as a machine anymore. It simply must be an extension of my biological perceptivness, then it works best. Sounds a bit bombastic but decribes best
this certain feeling of a perfect tool.

Even changing lenses can destroy such a harmony, and today I understand very well why so many good street shooters have done and still do most of their photos with one lens only. Often it's a 28, 35 or even 50, depending from the personal approach. It seems to be something like the unavoidable result of a process of adaption, man to machine and machine to man, depending from a defined task (people) within a defined environment (city).

It's fascinating , I often thought if one lens could be enuff ......., would be a bit too radical, wouldn't it ? ;-) And of course it cannot work if you have a large porfolio, with landscape, portrait, nudes and architecture for example.

Would be a kind of intellectual purism ( = stupidity) to try this all with a 35 for example. IMHO at least, but if here are other opinins I am interested in all input related to this issue.

Bertram

 

[Doug]

Simply having a variety of camera gear doesn't mean you must have it all in active usage. You can use that part of your total gear that seems best suited to the project(s) at hand, and leave the rest in plastic bags with dessicant, and batteries removed. As whim or other projects arise, stored gear and previously active gear can be swapped out. In other words I don't think it's necessary to actually dispose of "excess" gear in order to simplify. In this way you can avoid regrets and financial loss! 🙂

Isn't it of value to have the right tools for the job? Sure, and to explore the potential of the tools (perhaps one tool for a time) to expand the quality of the results through experiment.

I think it certainly does happen that one may acquire new gear in an attempt to "buy creativity." Years ago when I worked in a camera shop, we had one memorable customer who had inherited enough to afford the best. He would buy quite a complete set of cameras and lenses in a fitted case... I remember a beautiful Hasselblad outfit... and then a few months later He would trade for an equally complete Leica kit, Bolex movie stuff, or large format, etc. He was at least perceptive enough to be dissatisfied with his banal results, but not wise enough to attend to his own inner vision. The energy spent on learning each new kit surely hindered creative effort as well. Frustrating for him.

I seem to go through phases in which results aren't very satisfying, and I may put down the cameras entirely for a time. Some ideas and projects just aren't as successful as others, or become exhausted. This may be a good time to organize exhibitions or publications, guide others, and look at a lot of other art...

 

[rbiemer]

As I read all the thoughts here and think about this I have some more to add.
Bertram2 I agree with you about some of the different forums. I have lurked at some that if you didn't have the "correct" fetish/badge/totem then nothing you ever did could possibly be any good. I'll take my religion away from the web,thank you.
There was one particular place that was/is mostly pretty civil and lots of good info but one member there seems to own every possible camera,lens, and accy and posts lots of picture of those but I could never seem to find any photos taken with any of that fine gear.
My father has been an amature woodworker for alot of years and he does own many hammers but AFAIK he has two of the same KIND in only one case--he has two claw hammers: the one his dad owned and the one he uses. He does,however have an amazing number of glass paper weights. I like them OK but I don't really "get" his attraction to 'em. Which doesn't matter cuz they're his thing.
I think its legitimate to own however many cameras you want even if you get 'em just to put on a shelf but that's not why I buy them.
Do my cameras make me happy? Nah they are just things. People make me happy and when I have used my cameras well that makes me happy.
Do I like and enjoy my cameras? Absolutely!
Right now I do not own a 35mm SLR and I don't miss having one. I tend to find some thing and see how far I can go with it, so for my forseeable future, I'm sticking with the rf cameras. When and if I find that I need a different tool to translate what I see then I will use that tool and not regret the change.
So, maybe, if it's the journey not the destination that counts and cameras are the means to the end then cameras are the journey?
Or. as soon as I find the perfect Henway, I'll stop getting new camera gear.
What's a Henway?







About two pounds.
Rob

 

[Bertram2]

Hi Doug

>>In other words I don't think it's necessary to actually dispose of "excess" gear n >>order to simplify. In this way you can avoid regrets and financial loss! 🙂[/FONT]

Absolutely, decided never ever to sell something again. Makes me more careful with buying new stuff.


>>I He was at least perceptive enough to be dissatisfied with his banal results, >>but not wise enough to attend to his own inner vision. The energy spent on >>learning each new kit surely hindered creative effort as well. Frustrating for him.

Very well described, spot on !!


>>I seem to go through phases in which results aren't very satisfying, and I may >>put down the cameras entirely for a time. Some ideas and projects just aren't >>as successful as others, or become exhausted. This may be a good time to >>organize exhibitions or publications, guide others, and look at a lot of other art

MY experience too, sometimes I fall into the big black no-idea-hole. But up'til today I found my way out again and again without a new toy 🙂

Best,
Bertram

 

[DougK]

I think in my case, aside from having fun collecting cameras of all types (I consider that a separate hobby), it's been a matter of finding the gear that "fits" me and what I want to do. So far, I haven't found that camera although I'm definitely getting closer to at least knowing what I want in said camera. Now if they can just make the Epson RD-1 a lot more affordable, I'd be in heaven 🙂