The fickle nature of photographers...

ChristopherCoy · Mar 8, 2021

Why are photographers particularly fickle? Give any photographer a premium tool to do their work, and undoubtedly that photographer will find something wrong with it. Do painters complain about brushes? Do Sculptors complain about chisels? Do dancers complain about the wood floors they install to slide across?

"I really like this ________ camera. It feels good in my hand, it's got a lot of heft, I just wish it had am eye level finder."

Now, give that same photographer a prism finder that he/she was complaining he/she didn't have.

"This prism finder works, but it's obsessively large. It add's a lot of bulk."

Ok, so which is it? You don't like the waist level finder, so you were given a prism finder, and now you don't like the prism finder because it's too big?

Either eat your damn cake, or give it to someone else!

BrianShaw · Mar 8, 2021

I wouldn’t use the word “complain” and would replace it with the word “prefer” or “show preference for specific”.

Complaining about cameras seems mostly an online photography forum characteristic.

For the few years that I used a camera in a professional setting, I can assure you that we tried some and, for one reason or another, chose to use specific cameras... either due to the uniqueness of the application or due to individual preference. We always compared features without whining.

gone · Mar 8, 2021

There may be at least two reasons for this. The first is that photography is so heavily dependent on the type of tools needed to get certain shots. You're just never going to get the same quality of portraits using a Kodak box Brownie that you can w/ a Leica 90 2 Summicron. Even the choice of film or developer can make a huge difference in a photographic image. So photographers are slaves to our technology........ painters, sculptures and printers, not so much. It's strangely like auto racing. Even the best drivers can't overcome the lack of speed w/ a junk car.

The other reason is, photographic tool makers have been remarkably deaf to their customer's needs and wants. They almost always leave off one or two important features, leaving the photographer to hope the latest models will be better. A satisfied customer doesn't constantly spend money to "upgrade" his or her work tools.

BrianShaw · Mar 8, 2021

Regarding “stuff hoarders”... experimentalist like to experiment and experiencialists like to experience. It’s all good; th we e is no need for a “one size fits all” answer when we have the huge diversity of options that we have.

Alan Edward Klein · Mar 8, 2021

ChristopherCoy said:
Why are photographers particularly fickle? Give any photographer a premium tool to do their work, and undoubtedly that photographer will find something wrong with it. Do painters complain about brushes? Do Sculptors complain about chisels? Do dancers complain about the wood floors they install to slide across?

"I really like this ________ camera. It feels good in my hand, it's got a lot of heft, I just wish it had am eye level finder."

Now, give that same photographer a prism finder that he/she was complaining he/she didn't have.

"This prism finder works, but it's obsessively large. It add's a lot of bulk."

Ok, so which is it? You don't like the waist level finder, so you were given a prism finder, and now you don't like the prism finder because it's too big?

Either eat your damn cake, or give it to someone else!

Well, we need some excuse for the lousy pictures we take.

JBrunner · Mar 8, 2021

I love all my cameras.

John Bragg · Mar 8, 2021

I think as time goes on and ability improves, some of us seek simpler tools. A Nikon FM2n or an Olympus OM1n are great tools if your mind is in tune. More modes can be downright confusing.

ChristopherCoy · Mar 8, 2021

momus said:
The other reason is, photographic tool makers have been remarkably deaf to their customer's needs and wants. They almost always leave off one or two important features, leaving the photographer to hope the latest models will be better. A satisfied customer doesn't constantly spend money to "upgrade" his or her work tools.

But did they really? Did they really leave off one or two important features leaving us wanting more? Or do we just want more because we don't know how to, or don't want to be satisfied?

ChristopherCoy · Mar 8, 2021

John Bragg said:
I think as time goes on and ability improves, some of us seek simpler tools. A Nikon FM2n or an Olympus OM1n are great tools if your mind is in tune. More modes can be downright confusing.

I just took the new to me F2 from 1971 out for its first test roll. I also brought along my spot meter. As it turns out, I was less concerned with using the spot meter, and had much more fun using sunny 16, or the archaic bouncing needle in the camera.

removed account4 · Mar 8, 2021

its human nature to complain instead of being proactive / doing something ....
people forget the gear has very little to do with making photographs, but its all there is to talk about..but
then again without the agitator the laundry doesn't get clean.

Auer · Mar 8, 2021

Gearheads complain about gear.

A lot of successfull photographers spend their whole career using the same or slight variations (newer models) of gear.
Digital is a whole different thing of course. Not going in to that here.

John Bragg · Mar 8, 2021

ChristopherCoy said:
I just took the new to me F2 from 1971 out for its first test roll. I also brought along my spot meter. As it turns out, I was less concerned with using the spot meter, and had much more fun using sunny 16, or the archaic bouncing needle in the camera.

Exactly, I took my F5 out and shot on manual the whole time. Some of us feel more connected that way, like stick shift instead of auto gear box.

MattKing · Mar 8, 2021

Partially because a lot of good photographic equipment is relatively cheap, and relatively portable.
It is hard to be fickle about pianos, but relatively easy to be fickle about harmonicas.
A lot of the stuff we use is or was aggressively priced, and is or was sold into a competitive marketplace.
Some of the other stuff - like medium format SLRs - was originally a major, major investment, but now is priced like a hobbyist camera.
For many professional users, the RB67 kit you just bought would have had to have been financed over months or years when it was bought new.

ChristopherCoy · Mar 8, 2021

MattKing said:
Some of the other stuff - like medium format SLRs - was originally a major, major investment, but now is priced like a hobbyist camera.
For many professional users, the RB67 kit you just bought would have had to have been financed over months or years when it was bought new.

But why would you make THAT kind of investment in anything - cars, houses, cameras - and then complain that it doesn't have what you want? Or that a room or backseat is too small? You knew what you were buying before you bought it. Why complain about it after the fact?

MattKing · Mar 8, 2021

ChristopherCoy said:
But why would you make THAT kind of investment in anything - cars, houses, cameras - and then complain that it doesn't have what you want? Or that a room or backseat is too small? You knew what you were buying before you bought it. Why complain about it after the fact?

Most don't. Many on the internet do.
I remember our friend Gordy, who transitioned his commercial and wedding photographic studio from a studio view camera and Speed Graphics, to his "little" cameras - RB67 and Koni-Omega.
It was a major investment to buy those new cameras. He liked them, and didn't complain.

lecarp · Mar 8, 2021

"Why are photographers particularly fickle?"
It's not Photographers, it is Humans in general.

"Do painters complain about brushes? Do Sculptors complain about chisels? Do dancers complain about the wood floors they install to slide across?"
The answer is yes, yes and yes. I know this from experience.

Vaughn · Mar 8, 2021

Never hear this stuff in real life -- just forums...which attract people who say such stuff.

removedacct1 · Mar 8, 2021

In my experience, a photographer that consistently complains about their equipment, isn't really complaining about their equipment - they're lamenting their own shortcomings as a photographer. ANY camera will make a satisfactory photograph in the hands of someone willing to understand that camera and make an effort to learn how to get the best from it.

guangong · Mar 8, 2021

ChristopherCoy said:
Why are photographers particularly fickle? Give any photographer a premium tool to do their work, and undoubtedly that photographer will find something wrong with it. Do painters complain about brushes? Do Sculptors complain about chisels? Do dancers complain about the wood floors they install to slide across?

"I really like this ________ camera. It feels good in my hand, it's got a lot of heft, I just wish it had am eye level finder."

Now, give that same photographer a prism finder that he/she was complaining he/she didn't have.

"This prism finder works, but it's obsessively large. It add's a lot of bulk."

Ok, so which is it? You don't like the waist level finder, so you were given a prism finder, and now you don't like the prism finder because it's too big?

Either eat your damn cake, or give it to someone else!

As one who sculpts in stone, there are vast differences of quality in chisels and hammers. The big divide is between steel and carbide tiled chisels. Hit a carbide tipped chisel even slightly off angle and a $100 goes south. The iron that the hammer is made of must be soft enough. Steel is much too hard. There are also unforeseen dangers lurking within the stone. With painting of all kinds - oil, watercolor, pastels- the quality of the medium makes a big difference in ease of use and results. Same is true of brushes, especially water color brushes. My #12 sable brush, which I bought decades ago is no longer available, and sable substitutes don’t cut it. My sable brush, when last listed sold for $600. Try to find one now. Quality paper also hard to find. Also, art supply stores are disappearing along with photo stores.
Oh yes, and dancers do complain about the floors, especially ballet dancers. Constant complaints in years past about floors at Lincoln Center, NYC.
Furthermore, the environmental nannies believe that painters consume their paints on crackers, just as they believe photographers drink a shot of darkroom chemicals every now and then.

Sirius Glass · Mar 8, 2021

I am very happy with my Nikons and Hasselblads and I do not complain about them. My philosophy is to buy the best equipment I can afford so that if something goes wrong I can look in a mirror and see all the sources of my problems.

Andrew O'Neill · Mar 8, 2021

Trust me. Painters complain about their brushes. I've heard them. We also complain about relief printing carving tools... and brayers!

BrianShaw · Mar 8, 2021

Ice skaters have been known complain about the ice, too, just like bartenders complain about ice. You’d think ice was simple but differences matter.

Andrew O'Neill · Mar 8, 2021

BrianShaw said:
Ice skaters have been known complain about the ice, too.

All the time! The worst ice I played hockey on was in Japan!

Vaughn · Mar 8, 2021

And really...who is one going to chew an ear off of about the trials and tribulations of one's art/hobby/passion...one's spouse?!

MartinCrabtree · Mar 8, 2021

Photographers are lightweights. Try Harley-Davidson owners. Spend $20-40K and then another $10K or so changing it. Then whine about $12 for an oil filter.

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