Work gear vs fun gear

[PaleBlueDotCitizen]

I have a photoshoot booked for next Tuesday with a gorgeous young lady. I am looking woefully at my 5D2 and humungous L lenses that I know I'lll have to use (as always). Ever since I got my X100 6 months ago I've tried not to touch the clumsy, clunking Canon. The X100 brought me back to my old film M days and rejuvenated my passion for photography.

Today my Ricoh GXR/M-mount arrived and I've been playing with my M lenses on it.

I really am not looking forward to a day of lugging the Cannon (deliberate spelling).

The fact is it's a paid shoot and for the rapid pace of the work I need to use it.

Like a cheating husband though, my heart will be elsewhere...

 

[Chriscrawfordphoto]

I bought a 5DmkII back in January to use for commercial work. I used film in Leicas, a Hasselblad, and Olympus OM SLRs for my fine art work. I was impressed with the 5DmkII's image quality. Really impressed. I agree with you that the camera is not fun to use at all. Its basically a 35mm SLR with a digital sensor, and it is WAY to damn big for a 35mm SLR. To me, an ideal 35mm size is my Olympus OM-4T bodies. Anything bigger, and I might as well lug my Hasselblad and get better quality. Still, for color work, the 5DmkII gives really incredible image quality, so I have used it for some of my fine art work lately. The image quality is worth the bother, but I still prefer my film cameras.

 

[Ronald_H]

I do not 'work' as such in the photographic field (work means you get paid for it, right?) but lugging around a Hasselblad kit and a D200 as digital proof cameras is a bit... tiresome. Especially when you are shooting in an old four story boarding school with no elevator. The results are what make it fun.

What I do consider fun though is shooting with quirky cameras and no obligations. Things like a Polaroid 195, a Yashica 44 or a Werra 3. And I got an old Zenit C lying around too. And a Pentax 110...

 

[Andrea Taurisano]

I'm no pro so you may just skip my humble 2 cents, but am not sure that work and fun have to be two worlds apart. A friend of mine, a pretty appreciated wedding photographer in Italy, recently went from his old "Cannon" outfit to a two lense X-pro1 outfit. He's enjoying his work more than ever. So are his clients.

Perhaps you could do your coming photoshoot with the Cannon, and then give your client 10 minutes free shooting with your X100 at the end, so that you can test the little RF on a professional assignment and decide whether you may just go for this next time?

 

[xxloverxx]

Perhaps you could do your coming photoshoot with the Cannon, and then give your client 10 minutes free shooting with your X100 at the end, so that you can test the little RF on a professional assignment and decide whether you may just go for this next time?

That's what I'd do. Being uncomfortable will only stifle your creativity. That's why I'm still searching for the perfect folder to replace my Mamiya 645.

 

[Photosynthetech]

I use my X100 for my wide along with a dslr with a longer lens for work.

A couple of work shots with a fun camera

It doesn't all have to be work

 

[willie_901]

The X100's field-of-view limits it's utility for portraits. I only frame fom the waist up with the X100 because the perspective doesn't work for most people's faces when the lens is closer.

You could do portraits with the XP1 though.

Getting paid just means responsibility to others. Fun just means you enjoy what you are doing. Fun and work are not mutually exclusive for me. When I get paid I use D700s because of their versatility, long battery life and toughness. The extra weight and size is required (at this point in the market) to be maximize responsibility.

I would use the X100 during a gig where candid shots or a quiet shutter were important. But in many cases a D700 with an 85 mm lense works just as well because people are used to having me around and I'm not that close to them.

 

[giellaleafapmu]

For me the fun (if this is the world to use) is in the result. Packing two bags of lights and charging some forty batteries is not fun but if this is what it has be done to get the images then this is a necessary price to pay for the "fun" of producing what I need/want. Anyway, I agree that for some reason SLRs become too large at some point, still I don't fine them really bad to use and in the studio there is no problem, for traveling I would use something else but in a studio they are fine...also you clients will be reassured that you are really a pro...

GLF

 

[kshapero]

I try to keep it simple. I use a Nikon D7000 for work and my M3 and/or Nikon F for my enjoyment and for that special client who “gets it”.

 

[Keith]

I shot a gallery opening the other night with my D700 and 35mm Zeiss prime. In the compressed time I have to capture what the client expects, I have to work quickly to shoot all the video instalations and gallery patrons intereacting before it starts to thin out and lose it's atmosphere.

When I was done, instead of breathing a sigh of relief at putting the heavy Nikon down and chilling out as I normally do, I grabbed the OM-D out of my bag and scurried back into the gallery to put the Oly through it's paces while there was still some subject material left.

The fifty or so exposures I took with the tiny OM-D was the most fun I've ever had in that gallery and the Oly felt like a feather in my hands! 😛

 

[dct]

[...]
When I was done, instead of breathing a sigh of relief at putting the heavy Nikon down and chilling out as I normally do, I grabbed the OM-D out of my bag and scurried back into the gallery to put the Oly through it's paces while there was still some subject material left.

The fifty or so exposures I took with the tiny OM-D was the most fun I've ever had in that gallery and the Oly felt like a feather in my hands! 😛

And how do you rate the fun results compared to the Nikon shots?

 

[jsrockit]

All gear is fun gear for me since I don't make a living doing photography. I used to feel the smaller the better, but I have to agree with Chris; the 5d MKII is worth the hassle. I basically sold my M9, bought a 5d MKII and a M8, and put the rest of the cash in the bank.