What do you do?

Bill Pierce

Bill Pierce

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Cameras are like tools in a toolbox, different tools for different jobs. When film cameras dominated photography, learning to use different cameras wasn’t that difficult. A rangefinder Leica, and SLR Nikon or Canon, 2 1/4 SLR or TLR, a sheet film view camera - all had the same basic controls. Shutter speed, f/stop, manual focus and even film advance with the exception of the view camera were similar. And the handheld light meter - you probably used the same one with all your cameras.

Not so with our digital toys, even similar ones from different manufacturers - and once in awhile, different models from the same manufacturer. Mysterious multifunctional buttons and LCDs with long, scrollable lists of menu options are just different enough between brands and sometimes models that using multiple cameras, different tools for different jobs, requires the memory of a wise old elephant. Since most photographers are not elephants, using different tools proficiently enough to be able to think about what is in front of the camera rather than the camera itself has become a lot more difficult in the digital age. My answer to using different tools for different jobs is a little strange. If I find myself with some unexpected free time, I take out a camera and practice with it, annoying my wife and dog to the point where for my own safety I have to photograph in the back yard or go for a walk. Practice with a camera? I can hear film photographers laughing at me. What do you do?
 
I set-up and use my digital cameras like film cameras as much as possible... easy with Leica or most Fujis. Anyway, I still only use shutter speed, aperture, exp comp and single point AF...but of course, format. The main difference is I like Auto ISO... I let it run through out very usable range of up to 100-12800 depending on the camera.
 
AlwaysOnAuto said:
I just set them (digital cameras) on.................wait for it.......................AUTO.
Click to expand...

LOL

jsrockit said:
I set-up and use my digital cameras like film cameras as much as possible... easy with Leica or most Fujis. Anyway, I still only use shutter speed, aperture, exp comp and single point AF...
Click to expand...

Likewise.

For the few digital cameras I have, I have them configured to how I shoot 95% of the time. So, mostly I’m just changing aperture or shutter speed. I tend to keep the ISO at 200 and will occasionally use 400. So, there’s not too much I need to practice with - except the X-Pro1 - where I need to practice holding it to not inadvertently hit buttons on the back. Undoing unintended operations is about 70% of my involvement with that camera, so I suppose I need to practice undoing the function I unwittingly invoked.

For me it’s ironic that digital cameras allow me to make tens of thousands of photos per year, yet I won’t make even 200 with them.
 
The only results I was able to get from FED-2 back then were on ORWO slide film.
I used S-16 instruction which was inside of every film package. Static, outdoors only shots.
With only film and book it was not possible for me to figure out how to get anything else.
Not to mention bw, at home processing. Not so many public darkrooms, either.

To me practicing with film camera was outside of family budget. Until I started to waste huge amount of time in the darkroom (wife and dog ain't happy) and switched to less expensive bulk film, DIY developing. Again, it took huge amount of time.

Our family first digital camera was advanced FF (FujiFilm :) ) P&S. It was not very different from EOS film Rebel. Same SPAAM. :) Shutter, Program, Auto, Aperture and Manual modes.
But comparing to film EOS, FF P&S allowed me to see what exactly I'm getting with S, A and M. No waste of time, instant results.
Once we went for Digital Rebel it was major breakthrough. I learned all types of photography with it. BIF, sports, gigs, macro and such.

But guess what.
Our daughter became first female photographer at night clubs in Toronto.
She used Canon 5D MKII wide zoom and TTL flash. She has zero knowledge of TTL, what aperture is, no idea about most of the menus. Yet, she was taking amazing pictures of people. Classic portraits and funky stuff with drugged shutter.


In short, lets be honest, digital cameras will give, on average, better pictures than old film RF cameras , just by auto or on P. No need to hire anymore. :)

But P for practicing with digital cameras is good self entertainment. :) .
Last weekend I got assignment to photograph real estate. Which I didn't really want, but... I happened to know more than average. Especially on post processing for how to get sloppy images looking better :) .
 
It's not just digital cameras. The last roll of film my wife shot with her Nikon F6 had the leader of the film wound completely back into the cassette. I had the camera set to leave it out to simplify loading the film onto the reel in the changing bag. I asked if she had rewound it manually. She insisted she hadn't. I started trying to find the menu item for that option. I eventually gave up and had to look it up in the manual.
 
For me, owning fewer cameras and changing them less frequently helps.

Sony A7R4: The catch-all "Fn" button isn't as convenient as directly mapping a feature to a button, but OTOH, it's just one button to remember. Between that and "My Menu", I've got things pretty well covered. I expect to own this camera long enough for it to become boringly familiar.

Olympus Pen-F: Familiarity has grown over time, have already established my routine for product photos using pixel-shift.

Sony RX100: Annoyingly, setting custom White Balance is just a regular menu item, but since the camera can remember last menu item used, that's where I park it. Otherwise, I know I can find it on page 3 of the Shooting menu because I've used it so often.
 
Simple, I only have owned one digital at a time, three in total. Sold (or gave away) the older camera. All good, well maybe not always. I have accidently engaged some feature and had to search the instructions to find out how to reset camera. Otherwise I use aperture preferred auto most of the time with a mirrorless and manual lenses, along with exposure biasing.

Edit: I only buy used, 2-3 generations back. And, if I were to consider a second body it would be the same or perhaps a later iteration of the same model.
 
Since I own a massive number of digital cameras and actually use some of them, I play with them as often as possible. It helps that I have all the Nikons set the same, all the Fujis set the same and the one lonely GRII doing it's own lonely thing...alone.

My digital shooting is a lot like my film shooting. At least from what I can remember. It's been years since I shot film at all. First of all, I turn off all sharpening and noise reduction and tone down the contrast. I adjust those in post processing. All cameras are by default set to aperture priority, auto WB and auto ISO (400 as the default) and everything is on B&W with yellow filter. This sorta puts me in the ball park for the way I used to shoot Tri-X and HP5+ when I did film. I seldom shoot color and I'm not fond of the fancy film emulations Fujis use. C'mon now, does anyone really like the Acros look? And for the last few months I've abandoned Raw altogether and I've been shooting everything JPEG. Even though I still post process the JPEGs. Why? I like that my B&W photos start out in monochrome. Just like Tri-X and HP5+.
 
That whole "A film camera is a film camera" went out the window when they started including features such as different exposure modes, shutter drives, AF modes, and more. So I had some experience with all that before I got into digital. I went through a lot of camera systems before finally going back to Nikon SLRs.

Still don't use a lot of the features on my digital models, setting them up as basic as possible. Now if I shot more often, I could find a need for more functions as I'm always trying to better myself behind the eyepiece. But it's nice to have a camera that doesn't need to be constantly monkeyed with to capture the changing scenes in front of it.

PF
 
In the pre-Covid-19 era, I used to take a camera + its user manual with me on long-haul flights and bookmark the functions I had an interest in. Cheers, OtL
 
Taking pictures is not so hard but figuring out menu hierarchies and features can be a bit challenging at times.

I'm more of a visual learner and wish manuals (or support web sites) had a more info-graphic approach than a classic text/narrative structure. But that's just me.
 
Bill Pierce said:
Not so with our digital toys, even similar ones from different manufacturers - and once in awhile, different models from the same manufacturer. Mysterious multifunctional buttons and LCDs with long, scrollable lists of menu options are just different enough between brands and sometimes models that using multiple cameras, different tools for different jobs, requires the memory of a wise old elephant. Since most photographers are not elephants, using different tools proficiently enough to be able to think about what is in front of the camera rather than the camera itself has become a lot more difficult in the digital age.
Click to expand...


Really? I don't think it is very difficult. No one manufacturer has a system of controls worldly different than anyone else's. Sure, Sony buries too many features in their menus (that can be customized of course, but that requires reading the manual). Canon uses some odd nomenclature for some things. Etc, etc. But if you master one system you can usually get by OK on pretty much anything else after a few minutes. It's kind of like driving a car; sure, a Ford and a Honda and a Peugeot are all a little different, but not enough to hinder someone from using them.
 
Camera as Camera

Camera as Camera

Everyone sounds like they're using their cameras as, well, cameras. For the posts, it doesn't sound like anyone is shooting videos with stereo sound and editing them in camera or using any of the other "features" that most manufacturers have included in the camera arms race. Of the posters, how many are using their camera as a camera with some bracketing or other typical camera features and how many are using video or other advanced "features" that are not found in film camera?
 
What I did during isolation...dusted off many of those shelf queens and put them to use. 201 different film cameras in 13 months.

Since becoming fully inoculated, I have been putting my favorites into a less eclectic rotation. But I think that my unintentional project has made me a better photographer, as shooting the same subjects nearly every day has forced me to see rather than look, and using cameras with what most would see as limitations has given me a better understanding of the exposure triangle, and the importance of film and developer choices.

https://flic.kr/s/aHsmT38MYM
 
KenR said:
Of the posters, how many are using their camera as a camera with some bracketing or other typical camera features and how many are using video or other advanced "features" that are not found in film camera?
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I do admit I don't use the video features, or the various in-camera processing options. Raw, Manual or Aperture Priority and occasional adjustments to ISO or WB or drive mode or bracketing covers most of what I need to do. And those features don't change a whole lot from brand to brand.
 
KenR said:
Everyone sounds like they're using their cameras as, well, cameras. For the posts, it doesn't sound like anyone is shooting videos with stereo sound and editing them in camera or using any of the other "features" that most manufacturers have included in the camera arms race. Of the posters, how many are using their camera as a camera with some bracketing or other typical camera features and how many are using video or other advanced "features" that are not found in film camera?
Click to expand...
Video and audio are set to highest quality, regular frame rates (24 or 30 FPS). I'll worry about 4K/6K/8K video at high frame rates when I actually have a camera that offers such features, and have occasion to try it out.

In-camera effects: I'll usually do a quick review of what's available, and if it can be done better in post processing, I probably won't use them. Olympus Pen-F has best implementation due to combination of dedicated effects control and simultaneous raw+JPEG output, so there's no penalty for using the in-camera effects. But since discovering how well Adobe Lightroom can stitch multiple images into a seamless panorama, HDR image or HDR panorama, I see little point in doing these in-camera or settling for JPEG-only output.
 
"What do you do?" I reload the camera or the film holders......
 
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