The curse of expensive equipment?

Koolzakukumba said:
Let's face it, none of these lenses is stellar wide open and that includes the Noctilux. They're last gasp lenses for low light or for throwing backgrounds out of focus.
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That is the stuff of which Internet arguments are made. "Stellar" is subjective. There are those who would argue that the look they give wide open IS "stellar" because no other lens gives the look they can. The question then becomes is one more "stellar" than the others... 😉
 
Vince Lupo said:
Oh c'mon, Noctiluxes are for more than just shooting park benches.....

You can shoot your mother with one:

Or a good friend:

Or a kid:

Or how about a nice road (or two!) in a far-off land (and who says you have to choose between travel and a Noctilux):

So it can have many purposes. Actually I don't think I've yet shot a park bench with it.....hmm.
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I'm crushed, Vince... beautiful work, but you've completely shattered the illusion. *sigh*

However, apparently until you shoot a bench, you can't be considered a "great." So get out there and find that bench so you can experience your platitudes as a "great" photographer.
 
Many thanks, though I am slightly slinking away into a corner knowing that yes, regrettably, I have not photographed a bench with either the f/1 or the f/0.95. I will try harder!

But seriously, the thing that gets me - personally - is that I need to justify to myself the honour of owning such a lens (and yes, I worked my butt off to buy it and the camera to which it's attached). If I am going to be the bearer of this special item (I think of that great Canadian poet, John McCrae, who said 'to you from failing hands we pass the torch' -- know the poem?), then my photos need to be as good as they can be. It's an obligation. And I need to use the heck out of it. And -- and this is a big AND -- I need to remind myself that there are other aperture settings on this lens besides f/0.95. There's actually f/4 -- and f/5.6. And goodness -- f/11!

So to me, that is the challenge. Justify ownership - demonstrate it through your work, not as a piece of jewelry. And I try to, every day it's in my hands.
 
Vince Lupo said:
Or how about a nice road (or two!) in a far-off land (and who says you have to choose between travel and a Noctilux):


Roads Less Traveled #1 by Vince.Lupo, on Flickr

So it can have many purposes. Actually I don't think I've yet shot a park bench with it.....hmm, come to think of it, not a bad idea!
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Love that final shot, Vince. In the same sort of genre I enjoy myself. No Noctiliux, though, but a 50mm f2 Zuiko auto-macro on an OM2.

craigowl.jpg
 
Vince Lupo said:
Just shot these ones 30 minutes ago. I'm out of town working on my laptop, and I've been fighting its screen calibration for a while. Hopefully the density is right on both:

Believe it or not - this first one is not shot at f/0.95!

Gary by Vince.Lupo, on Flickr


Riley by Vince.Lupo, on Flickr
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Amazing! The first one looks like 2.8 or 4?
 
wpm said:
It's your life, live it. If you can afford it and it is something you can get use from, do it and ignore the naysayers. If it doesn't work, sell it. It isn't necessary for me but that's me. Don't sweat the small stuff, just shoot it and enjoy. At your age I could no more afford it no less a body to put it on. The most "fun" I had was with my pawn shop Pentax super program 30 some years ago. Using what I had allowed me to have memories of places and people important in my life. I love using my Leicas and am fortunate to have what I have. Like everything else in life, I follow my own compass.
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Hear, hear.

I think it's about reasoning from the particular to the general, sometimes described as "transference". For example: "selfish rich bankers ruined our economy then made us pay to bail them out and I lost out as a result" becomes "anyone with a lot of money to 'waste' on a LeiCanIkon deserves all the nastiness I can give them".

I don't believe, as others have suggested, that it's envy. I think that it's quite different from envy and more to do with peoples' sense of fairness. I think that it's misguided in many cases, possibly most cases, but on a forum such as this, which spans continents, wealth bands and political leanings, I think it's inevitable.

Besides which, it's always fun to poke the rich, as Private Eye and Le Canard enchaîné have proven for many years.
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Envy is one thing; for people to demand that everything be "fair" is quite another. When you think about it, this demand for "fairness" is even more childish than envy.

Life is not fair - it never has been and never will be. Get over it. Suck it up and deal with it. "Only in Heaven will the playing field be level," to quote the author of The War of Art.

"I want a __________ camera. I can't afford one. Life is not fair. I hate people who own __________ cameras" is no less irrational than "I want a http://www.businessinsider.com/photos-tour-the-65-million-gulfstream-g650-2013-7?op=1 . I can't afford one. Life is not fair. I hate people who own http://www.businessinsider.com/photos-tour-the-65-million-gulfstream-g650-2013-7?op=1 ."

I could not afford a Leica for decades. I did not demand "fairness" or hate those who did own Leica. I did not demand instant gratification. I didn't judge others who owned Leicas. When I was able to at long last purchase my very own Leica, I felt grateful and fortunate to be able to do so. I did not feel superior to those who were unable to purchase a Leica.

There are people who simply need to grow up and face reality. Wanting something does not mean that you are somehow entitled to it, regardless of the reality of your bank account balance. Neither does it mean that you are being somehow cheated because someone else owns what you want but can't afford. I recognize the fact that uttering these concepts will cause great umbrage. That is of no concern to me.

Being an adult regarding these matters is usually not fun, but it beats going through life thinking and acting like a spoiled, self-entitled child.
 
I'm not sure if it is so much to do with fairness or envy. I doubt anyone would be upset if another person was 9k richer, I think what people get emotional over is the fact that the 9k was spent on a single exotic lens that many people think is unnecessary. I think people get upset because they think the money was wasted, in the same way some people get upset over people smashing new iphones on youtube or lighting cigars with hundred dollar bills.

But, if everyone who could afford to went and bought noctliuxes to put in blenders I wonder what the economy would look like?
 
nongfuspring said:
I'm not sure if it is so much to do with fairness or envy. I doubt anyone would be upset if another person was 9k richer, I think what people get emotional over is the fact that the 9k was spent on a single exotic lens that many people think is unnecessary. I think people get upset because they think the money was wasted...
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I agree , that seems to be the gist of some of the posts.
I`m not clear how relevant it is though...
 
Michael Markey said:
I agree , that seems to be the gist of some of the posts.
I`m not clear how relevant it is though...
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It's quite difficult to waste money. Yes, the Noctilux is a lot of cash but the people who make them have families to support and I'm sure they'd consider it money well spent. Even if you like to waste money in your local pub you're still helping to pay the wages of the staff and brewery workers.
 
Koolzakukumba said:
It's quite difficult to waste money. Yes, the Noctilux is a lot of cash but the people who make them have families to support and I'm sure they'd consider it money well spent. Even if you like to waste money in your local pub you're still helping to pay the wages of the staff and brewery workers.
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Agreed and , as has been mentioned in threads many times before , it can be a matter of priorities too.

At the moment I`m shooting with a seventy quid Bessa L and a forty quid Pentax ME because I enjoy using them.

The Leica glass is sitting on the shelf , but I enjoy using that also.
Odd maybe but there it is.😱
 
Envy is one thing; for people to demand that everything be "fair" is quite another. When you think about it, this demand for "fairness" is even more childish than envy.

Life is not fair - it never has been and never will be. Get over it. Suck it up and deal with it. "Only in Heaven will the playing field be level," to quote the author of The War of Art.
Click to expand...
The point of being human, if there is one, seems to me to be about creating fairness in the world. I consider striving towards equality, fraternity and liberty rather more mature than saying "Suck it up and deal with it".
I rather think that, when we work together, we create things. When we work alone, we can only destroy.

Some young people learning to work together for a fairer world...

14280609376_f44b8aa2e7_b.jpg
 
Michael Markey said:
... At the moment I`m shooting with a seventy quid Bessa L and a forty quid Pentax ME because I enjoy using them.

The Leica glass is sitting on the shelf , but I enjoy using that also.
Odd maybe but there it is.😱
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Hi,

I think you've hit the nail on the head there. To me it's all about fun, fun, fun. Alas, you can have as much fun with a charity shop 50p camera as you can with a digital M9 and a lot of people resent that...

Regards, David
 
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