your images vs your gear...a poll

your images vs your gear...a poll

  • huh?

    Votes: 42 25.9%

  • images = gear

    Votes: 7 4.3%

  • images < gear

    Votes: 35 21.6%

  • images > gear

    Votes: 78 48.1%
  • Total voters
    162
  • Poll closed .
back alley said:
so, you guys know that i'm not talking about the amount of gear versus the amount of fine images here, eh?

it's more about the quality of each...like owning a 25k leica s2 and shooting pics of your cat...

some obsess over gear's little idiosyncrasies and all their pics are fuzzy or dull...
Click to expand...

I agree. It's especially evident with Leica... There are lots of people around considering Leica lenses and cameras are the best... Sometimes, but some other times they are not... Voigtländer present lenses are a lot better than those Leica lenses used by Bresson, but owning today's Voigtländer lenses doesn't make us better than Bresson...

What is strange is that lots of people (not real photographers) are impressed in the wrong direction and think if someone's using a Leica 50 Summicron that person's more prepared for better photographs than other one using a Voigtländer 50 1.5 Aspherical or 2.5 Skopar... I'd think the second one knows a lot more about photography and cares about that and not about price... Bresson could have done his work perfectly even with a cheap SLR like a Pentax K1000... It has very little relation with the gear used...

The case of Leica is so amazing that even Ken Rockwell makes fun of it, and in public, even if he likes Leica gear as all of us... If we had to choose an expensive gear brand with lots of bad photographers supporting a company, that would be Leica...

Cheers,

Juan
 
images < gear.
(I'm always striving for improvement in images)
-and thats exactly how I want it.
How boring life would be if I had no desire to make my images "better".

*thats how i interpret this poll. - ymmv
 
I have a lot of different screwdrivers in my toolbox, but they certainly don't make me a better craftsman. Similarly, I have lots of different lenses and camera bodies, but they don't make me a better photographer. Only using the gear and taking lots of pictures and then even more pictures will improve my skills (which have a long way to go.)
 
JOE IS BACK!

Has anyone told him he's a lot more fun since they added some more mods and took all that responsibility away from him?

😀
 
SteveM_NJ said:
images < gear.
(I'm always striving for improvement in images)
-and thats exactly how I want it.
How boring life would be if I had no desire to make my images "better".

*thats how i interpret this poll. - ymmv
Click to expand...

KenR said:
I have a lot of different screwdrivers in my toolbox, but they certainly don't make me a better craftsman. Similarly, I have lots of different lenses and camera bodies, but they don't make me a better photographer. Only using the gear and taking lots of pictures and then even more pictures will improve my skills (which have a long way to go.)[/quote]

plus 1.

Exellent topic. Though i did vote huh as in `duh', for myself.
All the photographs i still look at and admire were taken by some guy/woman without a bag full of gear, not that i will ever achieve their standards but it is better dream than `bokee'

regards, CW
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I do a lot of work using FORTRAN, Assembly, DOS, and WORDSTAR. It's all I need. A lot of the Assembly does not need an OS to run, wrote my own. Very simple tools, gets the job done.

That's work, I collect cameras.
 
my response is uncomplicated. my gear is a lot better than my photos, so images < gear. regrettably that makes me a dilettante, a poser. but i am trying to improve.
 
FrankS said:
We all know where this thread is leading, don't make me have to shut it down!

(joking!)
Click to expand...

Originally Posted by Keith
JOE IS BACK!

Has anyone told him he's a lot more fun since they added some more mods and took all that responsibility away from him?
Click to expand...


More gearhead ... less grouch! 😀

edit ... mind you that could have a lot to do with being in the middle of a Canadian summer rather than the Canadian winter! 🙂
 
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I don't understand your need to rationalize your gear when it's just a hobby. Buy what you like and you can afford - just don't allow ownership of competent gear to be confused with your ability to make proportionally competent photos.

I've been fortunate enough to be able to afford and use a number of lenses and cameras to have now settled on a small simple kit that suits the type of images I like to make. I don't delude myself into believing that my gear is responsible for the quality of my images nor do I feel that obsessing over my (or anyone else's) choice of gear and its relative impact on my photography is productive or informative.

Like most things, proficiency in a task comes with practice. Excellence comes with talent and lots of practice (10,000 hour rule). Equipment/gear, no matter how superior it is to others will replace talent and hardwork/practice.
 
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monochromejrnl said:
I don't understand your need to rationalize your gear when it's just a hobby. Buy what you like and you can afford - just don't allow ownership of competent gear to be confused with your ability to make proportionally competent photos.

I've been fortunate enough to be able to afford and use a number of lenses and cameras to have now settled on a small simple kit that suits the type of images I like to make. I don't delude myself into believing that my gear is responsible for the quality of my images nor do I feel that obsessing over my (or anyone else's) choice of gear and its relative impact on my photography is productive or informative.

Like most things, proficiency in a task comes with practice. Excellence comes with talent and lots of practice (10,000 hour rule). Equipment/gear, no matter how superior it is to others will replace talent and hardwork/practice.
Click to expand...

i agree, well said.
 
monochromejrnl said:
I don't understand your need to rationalize your gear when it's just a hobby. Buy what you like and you can afford - just don't allow ownership of competent gear to be confused with your ability to make proportionally competent photos.

I've been fortunate enough to be able to afford and use a number of lenses and cameras to have now settled on a small simple kit that suits the type of images I like to make. I don't delude myself into believing that my gear is responsible for the quality of my images nor do I feel that obsessing over my (or anyone else's) choice of gear and its relative impact on my photography is productive or informative.

Like most things, proficiency in a task comes with practice. Excellence comes with talent and lots of practice (10,000 hour rule). Equipment/gear, no matter how superior it is to others will replace talent and hardwork/practice.
Click to expand...

Will or won't?

Cheers,

Juan
 
Juan Valdenebro said:
Why does Eric Clapton have more than one guitar on stage if he sounds great with any of them?

Because they're his tools. He uses them for different things.. Even if with just one of them he could do most of his songs in public and keep everybody happy... But he prefers to get all he knows he can get, instead of getting a bit less and having a simpler set...

It makes more sense to me owning and carrying several cameras and lenses.

The perfect camera for everything doesn't exist. Personally I've found I can get more and better photographs (both) with more than one body and one lens.

Cheers,

Juan
Click to expand...


I like this quote. Makes sense to me.
 
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