why i'm looking at gear differently these days...

[back alley]

first, let me say this isn't an 'i'm done' thread...i will always appreciate different gear and i doubt that i'll ever lose the thrill of playing with new toys...
that being said...

a short while back i made an image (took a photograph) and i knew from the moment that i spotted the scene, to taking the shot, to processing it at home on my computer...that this was going to be a great image.
no modesty here, most have not commented on the image, but i love it and after so many years of shooting feel like i have finally taken at least one great shot.

immediately after taking the shot, i started to think that i needed to upgrade my gear...my talent had finally met it's limit with my current gear. i started a thread about that here but that was a complete bomb! i did not express myself well or come close to what i was trying to communicate.

anyway, those thoughts were short lived as i realized that i had already taken my 'great' shot with my current gear, and that it wasn't the gear but me...i saw the scene, took the shot and processed the image. the gear was fine for the job.

since then i have decided to add to my kit just 2 more lenses...a 25 and a 75. i think that should cover the type of photography that i prefer.

if i were to win a lotto would i change my kit? maybe, but only because i like new and shiny...not because i need to!

 

[rxmd]

What more proof do you need that your current gear is fine if you take great shots with it?

 

[Rob-F]

It's a nice feeling, knowing that we have all the gear we need or want for the shots we take . . . for a while, at least.

I concur on the 25mm (or 24mm) and 75mm focal lengths. They are perhaps the shortest and longest we really need with an RF . . . well, sort of.

 

[kxl]

Of course you don't need any more. Your current gear is perfect for that brand spankin' new bag 😉

Seriously though, I would think that a lot of us are in the same boat. Me, I'm good with my current RF and SLR/DSLR gear, and somewhat content with my small digi gear (NEX5 and Lumix LX-3 that I got from you).

So, unless I come across an absolute steal at a thrift store or unless I suddenly get a windfall, I'm done buying gear.

Of course, I do have some gear that I hardly ever use that I will likely put up for sale in the next few weeks.

 

[redisburning]

I bet Senna wanted a faster car

And Michaelangelo new and better paints

once you find a fundamentally perspective changing bit of kit, the whole search was worth it. lately Ive felt this sentiment about selling my Leica, maybe feeling a bit of that "any camera will do" mentality. but you know what, I never, ever felt that before I had one. And when I think about what I would use if I did get rid of it, it's apparent that I have forgotten how I struggled with certain things because using the M2 is so easy.

just like I think about how I could sell my Parker 51s. for some reason I feel like a pen is a pen is a pen. yet, it took me a long time to figure out that the 51 has the best shape for my hands, and the nib I like the best. and I look at what my handwriting was like when I had to use a ballpoint.

how can I think this? it's because I found something so good that it made me forget that I ever had problems. and when I think about selling it, it's because Ive lost sight of that.

so, I won't stop buying gear. Ill try new things (like LF, TLRs, a Parker 61, that sort of thing) and see what sticks. If you handed me a large pile of money I would buy a ton of Leica lenses. I'd probably sell most of them afterwards, but I cant say with honesty that I have exhausted every possibility and that I can let it go.

besides, there are many more 50mm lenses I just have to try.

 

[redisburning]

btw the point of my post is not to compare myself or back alley to people as remarkably gifted as Ayrton Senna or Michaelangelo (I know in my case I am most certainly not as good a photographer as they were at racing or visual arts respectively), but rather to suggest that there is nothing inherently wrong with wanting new tools.

as long as you understand that total output can never exceed the greater of the tool and the user.

 

[rxmd]

btw the point of my post is not to compare myself or back alley to people as remarkably gifted as Ayrton Senna or Michaelangelo

But maybe you are a better photographer than Ayrton Senna or a better driver than Michelangelo 🙂

 

[Keith]

Limitations of any particular piece of photography gear don't exist IMO ... unless maybe where you're photographing motor sports or similar.

When I start to get too entrenched in technology and this way of thinking I grab an old 1933 Voigtlander Brilliant I own and go out and use it for a roll or two. It makes me realise very quickly that this camera, as basic as it is, still has more ability than I do!

If I had the courage to put all my high tech camera gear into a box and bury it somewhere, leaving myself only that little Voigtlander scale focus TLR, I'd learn a damned site more about actual photography than I'm learning currently. New and shiny is great but it teaches you nothing!

 

[GaryLH]

When I start to get too entrenched in technology and this way of thinking I grab an old 1933 Voigtlander Brilliant I own and go out and use it for a roll or two. It makes me realise very quickly that this camera, as basic as it is, still has more ability than I!

+2000 🙂

Feel exactly the same way. When I grab Voigtlander Perkeo or Bessa II... It is actually all I really need. My problem is I am a gear hear. :bang:

Gary

 

[Sejanus.Aelianus]

i will always appreciate different gear and i doubt that i'll ever lose the thrill of playing with new toys...

That's as good a reason for taking pictures as any other 😎

Look at it this way, if gear heads didn't exist, we'd all still be using 10x8 cameras on wooden tripods and wearing hats we could use as shutters.

😀

 

[btgc]

wearing hats we could use as shutters.

Not that bad if tailor could fix also shutter and vice versa 😀

 

[Chriscrawfordphoto]

Joe, post the photo here. I didn't see where you posted it before. I'm glad to see you happy about your work, it is better than you always think it is.

 

[Athiril]

Not much I'd add to my main... maybe a few more backs for convenience, and a new light meter. But I would like to get a much smaller, lighter camera, with a nice fast lens. I would definately get some Lee filters, instead of my el cheapo chinese stuff though! 🙂

The only thing that is a must have for me atm, is that damn Plustek 120 when it comes out.

 

[John Bragg]

Limitations of any particular piece of photography gear don't exist IMO ... unless maybe where you're photographing motor sports or similar.

When I start to get too entrenched in technology and this way of thinking I grab an old 1933 Voigtlander Brilliant I own and go out and use it for a roll or two. It makes me realise very quickly that this camera, as basic as it is, still has more ability than I do!

If I had the courage to put all my high tech camera gear into a box and bury it somewhere, leaving myself only that little Voigtlander scale focus TLR, I'd learn a damned site more about actual photography than I'm learning currently. New and shiny is great but it teaches you nothing!

Well said Keith. I am having more fun using simple kit than I ever thought possible. Back to basics is good and a very humbling experience. It frees the mind to be creative with no worries about the bells and whistles.

 

[daveleo]

Looking back, I don't think any piece of gear (in and of itself) added a step of improvement to the pictures I was making.
But of course I love buying stuff and also "If I only had ___, I'd be great" and of course that's all silly.

Gear is fun to use, but (as you know) . . . it all comes down to you.

I am seriously thinking of selling off the D60 and six lenses and getting that Fuji X100, and stop all my silliness.


EDIT: the singular big improvement in my final images has been a computer program for manipulating them before printing. It has NOT been a camera or lens. Actually a surprising observation for me.

 

[starless]

I am convinced that the less equipment you have, the better your pictures will become. Thinking less about what camera or lens to use in a certain situation will let you concentrate on the picture-taking itself.

Good luck!

 

[Bike Tourist]

I have left a trail of perfectly good photo apparatus, abandoning it in favor of something else I wanted to try. For a while the new gear was inspirational. Then, came the hard work of actually planning what images to create, inevitably leading to more thoughts of if only I had this then I would take better photos. On the plus side, I had experience with most of the fine photo-optical devices deivised in the 20th Century.

But, then came the 21st Century with retirement, limited funds, diminishing property values and the realization I couldn't continue to earn enough through my photography hobby to pay for continious gear upgrades.

Now I have two cameras, each with one lens. Each has more potential for creativity than I will ever uncover.

 

[oftheherd]

Joe, post the photo here. I didn't see where you posted it before. I'm glad to see you happy about your work, it is better than you always think it is.

Yes, please.

 

[Murchu]

Take a read of The War of Art. Wanting (note I said wanting, not needing) new gear is just another distraction or strand of the resistance we face when it comes to taking images.

 

[jsrockit]

Many who desire the Christmas morning rush of playing with new toys (specifically photographic toys) overlook the reality that most photographers function most efficiently with gear they have owned long enough such that the gear is a seamless extension of their hands and vision so that all the actual thought process and awareness is given to seeing and making an image and not on cameras and kit.

This is true to some extent, but it's also not that hard to get used to a camera as long as you use a basic enough camera.

It's not the camera, it's the image, that's all that really matters.

While the image matters most, the camera does matter too... or we'd all be using the same camera.