CALM - Cameras and Lenses Matter

VinceInMT · Feb 10, 2023

I have a few cameras but only two were purchased to scratch an itch: my Rolleicord VB and a Mamiya 645 1000S system. The rest sort of found me and it’s fun taking an old folder or my Minolta 16P out and just shooting for fun. I never really obsessed over cameras but the darkroom was another story. For the past 40+ years I’ve always made sure that I lived in a place that afforded me a dedicated darkroom, not something shared with anything else. Having the room is as important as having the equipment.

And I get the whole GAS thing, especially when applied to other interests. Magnetic recording machines, particularly reel-to-reel tape machines, are one of my weakness and I have a few, OK, like a few dozen. I have a bit of everything from wire to reels, to 4-track, to 8-track, to cassette, and, of course, all the media that goes with them.

And guitars too. I can play, more or less, but not well enough to justify owning some of them but it’s nice having them around, just like my old cars, another obsession.

Vaughn · Feb 11, 2023

eli griggs said:
The thing about tools in "sets", like the Hasselblad or Canon FD is, sure, you can do a lot with the one or two 'correct' lenses, but there are always so many more opportunities, that call for a more rounded out 'tool set', that'll be missed or passed by because you have only a touch of the kit needed.

Just like some folks can get by with a 1/4" 6mm & 10mm socket and wrench, most of us mortals need relatively full set of tools to do a job, for better or worse!

But carrying all that on my back across creeks and up mountains, I'll leave the torque wrench at home.
I do not disagree with you, but after a few decades of doing this, my tool set has become more narrow and specialized, rather than varied. Since I contact print only, I seem to have gathered a selection of formats (LF), but some equipment is shared between formats and the formats are equipped alike. YMMD, and probably should.

At the same time I have some cameras from earlier decades that might see the light occasionally, so to speak. Sometimes one might have the urge to make a 1.75" square carbon print from an accidentally double-exposed neg from a thrift store Diana camera with out-dated Tech Pan film (taken some time early in the first decade of the 21st Century).

faberryman · Feb 11, 2023

eli griggs said:
The thing about tools in "sets", like the Hasselblad or Canon FD is, sure, you can do a lot with the one or two 'correct' lenses, but there are always so many more opportunities, that call for a more rounded out 'tool set', that'll be missed or passed by because you have only a touch of the kit needed.

Just like some folks can get by with a 1/4" 6mm & 10mm socket and wrench, most of us mortals need relatively full set of tools to do a job, for better or worse!

All that is well and good, but how many focal length and special purpose lenses does (did) Hasselblad offer for it's film cameras. Do you really need, and need to carry, ten or twenty lenses, so you don't miss any opportunities? What constitutes "a relatively full set of tools"? Do you really need to throw in a 500mm Tele-Tessar on your trip to Paris to photograph architecture just in case? And does the set of tools include a Sherpa? Ask yourself, for any iconic photo in the history of photography, how many lenses did the photographer have on him at the time he made it?

By the way, I have a couple of adjustable wrenches, a minimal socket wrench set, and a pipe wrench. I almost always use an adjustable wrench because I am too lazy to futz around with trying different sockets to find the one which fits just so I can use my socket wrench, and I used the pipe wrench a couple of times before they invented plastic plumbing.

Don_ih · Feb 11, 2023

faberryman said:
What constitutes "a relatively full set of tools"?

That's going to depend on what you're doing. If you're walking down the street taking pictures of peoples' backs or people looking at cell phones, one lens is good enough (or maybe no lens...). If you want to take pictures of birds or wolves or the advancing army, one lens is good enough (but not the same lens you'd use in the previous example. If you want to take pictures of flowers or bugs, one lens is good enough (but it's not the same lens as either of the previous examples). If you want to take landscapes, one lens is good enough (this one might be the same lens as one of the previous, but probably not).

One lens is good enough. But if you want to do different things, you might need a different lens.

And, of course, you can't fit 8x10 film in a Leica.

In other words, you need everything in case you want to do something.

faberryman · Feb 11, 2023

Don Heisz said:
In other words, you need everything in case you want to do something.

No emoticon?

Don_ih · Feb 11, 2023

faberryman said:
No emoticon?

I didn't need one. It really is something like that. You either just do whatever with what you have or you gotta have everything before doing anything. It's similar with woodworking. Most people just collect tool after tool and never actually make anything - they also think having a tool magically brings with it the ability to use it (er, nope).

faberryman · Feb 11, 2023

Don Heisz said:
I didn't need one. It really is something like that. You either just do whatever with what you have or you gotta have everything before doing anything. It's similar with woodworking. Most people just collect tool after tool and never actually make anything - they also think having a tool magically brings with it the ability to use it (er, nope).

Yes, I think that is frequently true. Not either/or, but frequently true.

eli griggs · Feb 11, 2023

Experience, desired access optically, planed shots, all play a part in deciding what opportunities you should plan for and which kit has a likely, no matter how remote, possibility.

Yes, a 500 Tele-Tesasar lens would be ideal in Paris, when you stop to consider that much of that City must be seen and photographed from attics and rooftops, something still photographers, movie makers and print publications have pointed out, sometimes from airships like early balloons, etc, for a easy one hundred and fifty years.

Landscape, cityscape or simply reaching out and eliminating the surpurfuless elements are equally well done as with any other photographic lens, given the narrow opportunities within that lenses grasp.

Where a photographer may suffer in terms of failure of imagination, he/she can gain from directly seeking out viewing/shooting locations in such a 'target rich' environment.

A day walking outing with one or three lenses should always be considered as a scouting location and theme's inspirational foray, and never done with a blind inner eye.

IMO.

VinceInMT · Feb 12, 2023

eli griggs said:
….Where a photographer may suffer in terms of failure of imagination, he/she can gain from directly seeking out viewing/shooting locations in such a 'target rich' environment.

A day walking outing with one or three lenses should always be considered as a scouting location and theme's inspirational foray, and never done with a blind inner eye.

For me, breaking through a creative block on a location usually entails spending more time there. When I am out with my camera “scouting”, I find it challenging to come up with much, however, I am a member of our local urban sketchers group and our leader picks some random place in the city where we meet up to sketch what is there. I’ll pick some viewpoint of, usually, a building and sit for 2 hours sketching it. Even the most mundane structures yield numerous surprises during that session which tells me that spending time really looking, not just glancing, is the key. After all, one cannot draw the thing without looking at every detail.

eli griggs · Feb 12, 2023

VinceInMT said:
For me, breaking through a creative block on a location usually entails spending more time there. When I am out with my camera “scouting”, I find it challenging to come up with much, however, I am a member of our local urban sketchers group and our leader picks some random place in the city where we meet up to sketch what is there. I’ll pick some viewpoint of, usually, a building and sit for 2 hours sketching it. Even the most mundane structures yield numerous surprises during that session which tells me that spending time really looking, not just glancing, is the key. After all, one cannot draw the thing without looking at every detail.

Hedgehog sketching is a great way to explore your situation, and create notes of things you want to revisit in that area is simply good scouting and walking outings should no be a race to get somewhere.

With all the public opportunities to relax and enjoy the City, we've all seen in media, taking time to sketch scenes and to graphically isolate features that attract your attention is all, to the good of remembering and returning to a scene, time after time as often as you wish or is needed, to allow your photographic muse to flourish

IMO.

CALM - Cameras and Lenses Matter

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