article idea for View Camera

[Mark Sawyer]

Cameras and lenses are just tools. The art is far more important that the tools.

I suppose this is true. Still, the eye, the mind, and the heart are also "just tools" for our art...

It's a wonderful idea, Steve, but better perhaps as a full issue than an article...

[Paul Fitzgerald]

Hi there,

Steve, great idea for a series of articles.

"Cameras and lenses are just tools. The art is far more important that the tools."

ROFLMFAO. Attached is a photo by George Hurrell of Norma Shearer, she is the art he is only to observer BUT which lens did he use???

This does not have the signature of a Petzval, RR, Dagor, Protar, Unar, Tessar, Heliar, Celor or Verito. Did he remove the rear cell from a Petzval, use half of a Dagor / Protar, remove the front cell from a Unar, change the cell spacing on a Tessar or Heliar, used slightly exposed and developed film as a filter inside a Celor, or was he just playing with a Verito???

Enquireing minds would like to know.

[Jonathan Brewer]

What a pair of eyes!!.........Some folks in the past haved declared a certain way of shooting, that may belong to a certain 'ism' or style, as the truth, and other ways of shooting passe', ...........regardless of any question of style , regardless of how soft or sharp, regardless of whether it's selective focus, or sharp from in front of the lens element to the next galaxy, the good work counts, however it's shot.

I think the idea of which tool to use is idea driven, for years I bought into this by buying the sharpest lens, because I'd convinced myself at the time, that sharper was better, because it gave you a clearer, more detailed version of the subject matter, and that version was better than a shot of the same subject matter shot w/a lens that wasn't as sharpest, and I think for years quite a few folks, me included, were always after the sharpest lens.

I did some things that I look back on now that were crazy, buying ultrasharp
lenses that cost a fortune, and putting stuff over the front lens element to mess up that performance to do portraits, instead of saving a fortune and buying an absolutely cheap piece of glass that would do the same thing with a gread deal less hassle. There's nothing wrong with having sharp lenses for shooting certain subject matter, but that can become an obsession and a mindset that tends to exclude the value of a P&S, or a Petzval, I think it was that way for the longest.

Wide open, selective focus, glamour, Hurrel, P&S lenses, Petzvals, all this and quite a bit of stuff I can't think of at the moment, are all viable ideas/tools/mindsets. I am glad to see the new interest in Brass lenses, classic lenses, old cameras, and some of the ways some folks are using them to produce various textures and nuance, which I think signals to some folks that this kind of photography or using any of these classic tools is ok.

I I'd love to see as many articles/books/forums spring up around the older gear as possible, because so much of what they produce is unique and distinctive, and worth passing on to anybody that becomes interested in using this stuff.

[Ralph W. Lambrecht]

Cameras and lenses are just tools. The art is far more important that the tools. I'm not even slightly interested in such an article.

The craftsman, in full control of his tools but without a single creative bone in his body, will not produce art. But the artist, full of great ideas but without any knowledge of his tools, will similarly fail to communicate his art.

You need to understand both.

[Jonathan Brewer]

'You need to understand both.'..........................agreed. That's where exposure of just what some of these lenses can do comes into play. The Cooke PS945 can be used for portraiture and obviously without the headaches of stretching black toule netting over the front lens element with rubber bands, or screwing/unscrewing different strength diffusions filters on and off a lens, while trying to figure out what strenth is giving you just the right texture on a face. This same lens can be used closed down for still lifes/landscapes with a very detectable sparkle in the highlights, it's a very flexible tool,....................someone along the line, awhile ago, mentioned something to the effect that while they like their stuff sharp, they were beginning to like some of the stuff they've seen shot w/the Cooke.

Yes, ideas/inspiration must drive a shot, but knowing just what these various tools can do/finding out a new way of using an old tool, can give you ideas. Using some of these tools, invite/force you to do things differently, if you shoot mostly closed down, shooting wide open forces you to have to deal with just where to nail your focus, because shooting wide open and selective focus, and where to put your focus are joined at the hip, there is no one without the other.

I guess what I'm saying is that the idea part of the art, versus stretching the gamut that envelops your stable of tools and/or just what you can do w/a particular tool, ..........they feed off each other.