Does owning a camera,such as a Hassleblad or Leica, make one a better photographer ?

spoolman · May 2, 2016

I just want people's opinions on this topic. I had always wondered if owning,what I would describe as a premium quality camera,would help me be a better photographer or are cameras like these considered a status symbol.?

Thanks,

Doug

Dali · May 2, 2016

No, you are a good photographer or not regardless the camera because being a good photographer has very little to do with gear.. To convince you, do you think nowadays pictures are better than those taken 50 or 75 years ago?

In another domain, does a luxury car make you a better driver?

frank · May 2, 2016

You can't buy talent.

That said, some tools are better than others, but it's an individualistic thing and dependent on the task at hand.

Poisson Du Jour · May 2, 2016

Definitely not. But sadly it remains a widely held belief amongst people looking for direction and purpose.
Skills and experience make the photographer what he is. The equipment is just a collection of tools, a means to an end.

Sirius Glass · May 2, 2016

Those do not make the photographer better, but they improve the quality of the optics and the camera so that those are optimal and any mistakes are owned by the photographer.

RobC · May 2, 2016

If having premium quality equipment makes you feel better about yourself then it might improve your state of mind when making images so in that sense equipment can help make you a better photographer. However, if you're crap at photography then you're crap at photography regardless of how good your equipment and how it makes you feel. A talented photographer can make good images with any camera equipment.

bdial · May 2, 2016

They came to have a status symbol status because a lot of good photographers were known to use them as tools.
But on their own, no, they make make someone a better photographer any more than using Edward's tripod holes on Weston beach would.
They may help make one a better technician though, which will help in becoming a better photographer.

Alan9940 · May 2, 2016

Sirius Glass said:
Those do not make the photographer better, but they improve the quality of the optics and the camera so that those are optimal and any mistakes are owned by the photographer.

Oh, crap Sirius Glass, now you hit that proverbial sore spot! If my pictures are no good, I can't blame the equipment!!

Seriously, though, IMO what good equipment does for the photographer (or, can do) is make it more fun to photograph. Does my Leica M6, Hassey, Deardorff, or any of the few folders that I own make me a better photographer? Um, no, but they're damn fun to use!

TheFlyingCamera · May 2, 2016

If I own a Ferrari, does it mean I can win a Formula 1 race? If I own a Steinway, does it qualify me to solo at Carnegie Hall?

RobC · May 2, 2016

Does driving a rolls royce make you part of the nobility? No, but it might make you feel like you are even if no one else sees it that way.

removed account4 · May 2, 2016

hi doug

i asked the same question a while back
(there was a url link here which no longer exists)

its a mixed bag.

the road is long and winding.
have fun on your trip

john

Colin Corneau · May 2, 2016

They do and they don't. How about that?

What has to be present first is the talent and the drive. With those, a quality tool will help create something better. Without it, well...

jerrybro · May 2, 2016

Some tools make it easier to do quality work, but a craftsman can build a house with the basics.

OptiKen · May 2, 2016

Owning a camera makes anyone a better photographer....you really can't take pictures without one.
It really doesn't matter what kind of camera either. I've seen great shots taken with an iPhone, a Brownie box camera, and Instamatic, and a Leica.

Mostly, owning a camera such as a Hassleblad or Leica will make one poorer but feel like a better photographer. They don't even have to work to feed the ego

summicron1 · May 2, 2016

spoolman said:
I just want people's opinions on this topic. I had always wondered if owning,what I would describe as a premium quality camera,would help me be a better photographer or are cameras like these considered a status symbol.?

Thanks,

Doug

No

NedL · May 2, 2016

Honestly, it would make me a worse photographer, at least for a while. It even happens when I use my 1950's 6x9 folder, I start to "try too hard", and want every frame to be perfect, and then it gets stiff and serious and I lose the sense of creativity and fun and imagination. So it would cause an internal struggle not to take it and myself too seriously!

frank · May 2, 2016

Using a top notch camera and lens takes away the possibility of blaming your equipment, so you may put in greater thought and effort. But if one is a crap photographer with no "eye", no equipment is going to change that.

Thomas Bertilsson · May 2, 2016

Knowing your equipment and materials is important, so you know strengths and limitations.
Some equipment has more strengths than others.
Some equipment has more limitations than others.
Draw your own conclusions.

The most important thing is to work a lot, to look at your results, adjust where you're not happy, but ultimately to tell a good story or show an alluring picture.
I think that while equipment is important, we cannot let ourselves become stagnant and rely too much on it.
What you tell with your pictures is a reflection of you, your person, and your soul; the camera will not do that for you.

Ko.Fe. · May 2, 2016

I don't think what 6x6 SLR with focusing, framing done by looking down will do me anything better. Can't comment on this. I have hold Hasselblad in my hands. It was same as holding Rolleiflex. Smoke but, no cigar.

I do own Leica camera and lens. It happens what all of photographers I really think as better ones, did have Leica for their best photography. But this is not the reason why I do own one old Leica camera and one new Leica lens. Same as better photographers I know and care for, I have tried something else and else and else before Leica. I did exactly the same. Did it made me better one? No idea, all I could tell, I have photography tool which is better. Not because it had Leica label on it, but simply for technical aspects. It is smiple, extremely well made camera. Made as I need. And lens is the same.

onre · May 2, 2016

I have a FED-5. I think it's close enough to a Leica.

(runs away, dodging insults)

Doc W · May 2, 2016

spoolman said:
I just want people's opinions on this topic. I had always wondered if owning,what I would describe as a premium quality camera,would help me be a better photographer or are cameras like these considered a status symbol.?

Thanks,

Doug

I don't think that this is a serious question. I think you are trolling.

hoffy · May 3, 2016

No

/thread

Andre Noble · May 3, 2016

For some people, yes.
A reliable camera gives me more confidence.
A sharp lens with no distortion gives me more confidence.

Ko.Fe. · May 3, 2016

onre said:
I have a FED-5. I think it's close enough to a Leica.

(runs away, dodging insults)

I do have FED-2, as first camera I was able to get pictures with. It is my second choice after film Leica even now. Recently burned hole in the FED-2 curtain by opening at f1.5 under bright sun and above white snow. And changed it by myself. I'm getting keepers with this camera, but M is more easier to fiddle on the street.

Arklatexian · May 3, 2016

spoolman said:
I just want people's opinions on this topic. I had always wondered if owning,what I would describe as a premium quality camera,would help me be a better photographer or are cameras like these considered a status symbol.?

Thanks,

Doug

While working in a camera store back in the 1950s, I sold a new Leica M-3 DS to a lawyer friend and years later he sold it to me. I still own and use it in 2016. Most any other brand of camera by most other manufacturers would have been worn out and consigned to the scrapyard a long time ago. The same is true of my Hasselblad that I bought used in the 1960s or early seventies. Status symboles? Only someone who has never owned and used one of these over a prolonged length of time would make such a dumb statement about either of these wonderfully put together pieces of great photographic equipment. Will it make you a better photographer? You and I both know that in the right hands a Brownie Hawkeye selling for $15.00 or less when it was new, can produce 12 prize-winning photographs on a roll of 620 film. It is my experience that you can never go wrong buying "Quality" in photography as in most other things...........Regards!

Does owning a camera,such as a Hassleblad or Leica, make one a better photographer ?

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