Equipment-related mind blockade

[Don_ih]

High quality cameras and lenses are the same as any other high quality tools. They reliably do what you want them to do. That doesn't make them magic - they don't give you skill. They more easily allow your skill to generate the result you want or need. Inferior tools can easily frustrate that by being imprecise and unreliable.

That said, there are actually a massive number of high-quality photographic tools, from many different manufacturers.

What if your photographic output cannot keep up with the quality of your equipment?

Sell it.

 

[RalphLambrecht]

Having a bunch of cameras is easier than collecting freaking old Fiats etc. That's endless, unless you are rich!

if you can still count your money, you are not rich!

 

[Klaus_H]

It is not easy to admit that the limiting factor in photography is behind the viewfinder of the camera.
But it is fun to work with high-quality equipment.

 

[guangong]

When one has the best quality camera equipment they can afford, they can only blame themselves if the quality of the photographs is poor.

How true! This can also be said about painting, sculpture, etc. However, buying the finest quality tools saves money in the long run since there is no need to endlessly upgrade. Furthermore, fine equipment generates a certain respect respect by the user. I am still using equipment bought in esrly 1960s.

 

[RezaLoghme]

Its a moot point, otherwise we'd all be using box and pinhole cameras issued by the state. Thankfully there is freedom of choice.

 

[Pioneer]

The quality of your equipment may make it easier to get where you want to be...as long as you know where you are going. If you don't, then nothing will get you there no matter how many times you use it.

 

[TomR55]

"The camera is an instrument that teaches people how to see without a camera." ~ Dorothea Lange. Assuming that the equipment in question works correctly, then I don’t think that this lesson is any easier with better equipment.

 

[Philippe-Georges]

See the quote by Nobuyoshi Araki in my signature...

 

[Alex Benjamin]

From a purely technical point of view, many photographers have managed to exploit the qualities of Leica glass much more proficiently than Henry Cartier-Bresson did.

Few of these, if any, have managed to give us as significant a body of work.

"There are no bad pianos, only bad pianists", someone famously said. Same applies with cameras and photographers.

 

[RezaLoghme]

Still, there is Steinway, Bösendörfer and others, why play on the honkey tonk tack piano if there are alteratives?

 

[Milpool]

Still, there is Steinway, Bösendörfer and others, why play on the honkey tonk tack piano if there are alteratives?

It depends on the music you are playing. Sometimes the intent might be for a honkey tonk tack piano sound, faulty intonation etc.

Obviously as we all know there aren’t any definitive rules about the tools we use. I would say if you are competent skill-wise and find that the tool is really an obstacle in achieving what you envision, it might be a good idea to find a different tool. In practice these cases are usually relatively extreme though.

On the other hand hobbies are also about enjoyment, and I think it is perfectly fine for someone to buy the best equipment if that is part of the enjoyment. It irks me when people throw out “pearls of wisdom” like there are no bad [whatever thing] only bad [whatever person doing stuff with the thing]. Revelations. Where’s that screen shot of give-me-break Picard when I need it.

 

[RezaLoghme]

Or eye-rolling Eddie Murphie 2000s meme GIF

 

[BrianShaw]

It's not like those "pearls of wisdom" are wrong, though. Like any stereotype, they are true often enough that they were, and are, true sometimes... just not always. Like with painting and piano playing, photographers need to use the equipment that helps them see photographically and photographically capture what they want to see. Incessantly talking about it really doesn't do that very effectively.

 

[RezaLoghme]

In many hobbies and professions, especially when these are carefully guarded by online forums and their dignitaries, you often find advice towards beginners to start with some crappy cheap gear and then "earn" your way up into the circles of enlightenment and expensive kit.

You can do that or start with a Steinway and just focus on your technique instead of having it CLAd at Joey's Bargain Basement Piano Parlour, starter strings included.

From "Leica Lenses for Normal People":

"
When I was growing up, a guy I knew got himself a Lexus sports car. I don’t know what model. It doesn’t actually matter to this story. When I saw the car, the conversation went something like this:

Mid life crisis dude: Sick car right?

Me: Why didn’t you get the Porsche?

Mid life crisis dude: This car has a backseat and is convertible.

Me: It isn’t a Porsche

Mid life crisis dude: The maintenance is lower for the Lexus, the ride is better, there is a Lexus dealer here in town, and it is also brand new.

Me: It isn’t a Porsche.

Mid life crisis dude: It costs $20K less.

Me: It isn’t a Porsche?

This anecdote suggests that there are people in this life who may or may not be having a mid-life crisis and decide to drive a Lexus sports car. There are others who drive a Porsche. Lexus people are practical and care about features. Porsche people understand features but they know that with some things in life features, price, etc., take a backseat and, when it is all said and done, it is all really about “the show.”

Nobody is going to care about your features and logical decision when you drive down the street in that understated Lexus. Heads will, however, turn when your Porsche comes rolling down the street.

The Hasselblad CVF II 50c is the Porsche in this story."

And:

"
For Leica enthusiasts, using a Leica camera to make pictures isn’t the point either. Therefore, when Leica critics say things like “the images from my Canon R5 are as good as a Leica” or “My Sony G master lens is as good as a Leica Summicron” those statements don’t make sense because they miss the point of shooting with a Leica camera.

For Leica owners, the pictures, image quality, feature set, etc. are only a starting point for discussion. Image quality and functionality are important but not the metric for success.

(...)

In my experience, the Leica camera is often part of the show and it doesn’t matter if your Fuji can make a similar picture for 1/4 the price. I know with 100% certainty that I can make approximately the same images with a Minolta Dynax 5 as I can with my M7 but nobody in their right mind wants to play cameras and lenses with a Dynax 5. The pictures might be nearly the same but the experience is different and THAT is the point."

You are welcome.

 

[Milpool]

It's not like those "pearls of wisdom" are wrong, though. Like any stereotype, they are true often enough that they were, and are, true sometimes... just not always. Like with painting and piano playing, photographers need to use the equipment that helps them see photographically and photographically capture what they want to see. Incessantly talking about it really doesn't do that very effectively.

They are obvious and not very insightful, and in my experience are usually trotted out in a derisive way.

 

[mshchem]

We live in a unique time when amazing machines are available for a fraction of their original price.

There won't be anything new, made in Sweden, made In Germany, made in Japan......

Hopefully this stuff survives, at least until I'm not around.

 

[RezaLoghme]

indeed, prices for top end gear are low, and the difference to mid-range equipment is much smaller than in the old days, e.g. Hasselblad vs Mamiya (7, anyone?).

 

[Don_ih]

Is this thread flavoured cherry or just plain vinegar?

 

[mshchem]

In many hobbies and professions, especially when these are carefully guarded by online forums and their dignitaries, you often find advice towards beginners to start with some crappy cheap gear and then "earn" your way up into the circles of enlightenment and expensive kit.

You can do that or start with a Steinway and just focus on your technique instead of having it CLAd at Joey's Bargain Basement Piano Parlour, starter strings included.

From "Leica Lenses for Normal People":

"
When I was growing up, a guy I knew got himself a Lexus sports car. I don’t know what model. It doesn’t actually matter to this story. When I saw the car, the conversation went something like this:

Mid life crisis dude: Sick car right?

Me: Why didn’t you get the Porsche?

Mid life crisis dude: This car has a backseat and is convertible.

Me: It isn’t a Porsche

Mid life crisis dude: The maintenance is lower for the Lexus, the ride is better, there is a Lexus dealer here in town, and it is also brand new.

Me: It isn’t a Porsche.

Mid life crisis dude: It costs $20K less.

Me: It isn’t a Porsche?

This anecdote suggests that there are people in this life who may or may not be having a mid-life crisis and decide to drive a Lexus sports car. There are others who drive a Porsche. Lexus people are practical and care about features. Porsche people understand features but they know that with some things in life features, price, etc., take a backseat and, when it is all said and done, it is all really about “the show.”

Nobody is going to care about your features and logical decision when you drive down the street in that understated Lexus. Heads will, however, turn when your Porsche comes rolling down the street.

The Hasselblad CVF II 50c is the Porsche in this story."

And:

"
For Leica enthusiasts, using a Leica camera to make pictures isn’t the point either. Therefore, when Leica critics say things like “the images from my Canon R5 are as good as a Leica” or “My Sony G master lens is as good as a Leica Summicron” those statements don’t make sense because they miss the point of shooting with a Leica camera.

For Leica owners, the pictures, image quality, feature set, etc. are only a starting point for discussion. Image quality and functionality are important but not the metric for success.

(...)

In my experience, the Leica camera is often part of the show and it doesn’t matter if your Fuji can make a similar picture for 1/4 the price. I know with 100% certainty that I can make approximately the same images with a Minolta Dynax 5 as I can with my M7 but nobody in their right mind wants to play cameras and lenses with a Dynax 5. The pictures might be nearly the same but the experience is different and THAT is the point."

You are welcome.

Very well said. "Play cameras and lenses "

 

[chuckroast]

When I was young and didn't know anything, I thought make, model, and prestige of equipment mattered a lot.

When I learned a little, I though make, model, and prestige didn't matter at all. It was all about me.

Now that I have serious mileage, I have come to understand that make, model, and prestige don't matter at all for people who have poor- nor non-existent craft and technique. Make and model matter for people who are experts and use the devices to their fullest. Prestige matters only to people who need attention from others and/or who are collectors.

This is true of cars, cameras, shotguns, airplanes, guitars, drums, fountain pens, lathes, and pretty much anything else people obsess about.

I've watched school children make incredible images with Instamatics back in the day. I've watched so-called "pros" make absolute dreck with Hasselblad. Craft and vision may be somewhat correlated to experience, but it doesn't follow perfectly.

By way of example - Itzhak Perlman could play a beat up old pawn shop violin and sound amazing. But, he'll sound more amazing on his Soil Stradivarius, an instrument probably worth in the neighborhood of $15-20 million USD. None of us could come close, even on that instrument.

 

[MattKing]

This thread has now descended to labels and name calling, so it is now being closed.