Photography or the Thought of Photography

[roteague]

I guess we all like buying gear to some extent. I have the 4x5 for all my serious work, a Nikon F5 for a walking around camera and a digi toy for non-serious, playing.

[Los]

i have a similar issue as scrichton, but my problem comes from not using the camera i prefer as much as the others. i'd prefer to use the 4x5 for everything, but the 135 is always available in the bag for surprise opportunities, the 67 camera might not be the best choice for me around strangers but works with friends and family, and the digi p+s seems to get all the work with posting gear for sale or looking for a home for feral kittens. there is also the issue of content for me. is the subject something i want to print and put in the album or on the wall? if the answer is no, i usually do not reach for the 4x5...the one i'd rather use.

[Dick Hilker]

As an amateur, my choice of gear isn't dictated by the requirements of the job, so there's the temptation to try yet another camera or lens to see if that will improve my pictures. After having accumulated a couple of 35mm cameras, two bodies and a bunch of gear for medium format, a Wista 45RF and most recently a digital p&s, I can understand the problem of selecting the right camera for any particular application. Usually, the choice is fairly obvious, based on the subject or location. But, as I set off on a field trip, I most often take just about everything, "just in case" and end up using the silly little digital because it was so tempting to fire away at anything that looked at all promising, only hauling out the heavy artillery for the "sure thing" shots, or when the quality of the planned picture was of enough importance to take the time and spend the money on film and processing.

Did buying more gear make me a better photographer? No, but it's made it harder for me to blame lack of equipment for not doing as well as I'd like and convinced me that the most important thing is to get out there with whatever you have and make pictures. I don't mean by that to just take the digital approach and rapid-fire at everything, but to use whatever camera you have to hone your skills and thereby improve your output, rather than assuming that the next lens will be able to transform your work from where it is to where yhou want it to be.

[r.e.]

For casual photography, I take one camera and one or two lenses and look around for opportunities that work with the gear.

For example, a couple of weeks ago I was travelling in Connecticut and brought along a Leica M3 and 90mm lens. On the deck of the ferry between Connecticut and Long Island, I took the attached photograph. Obviously, the photo could not have been made with my view camera. If I'd had my Mamiya 7, which can't frame this closely, I would have taken a completely different photograph of my subject, if any at all. But it was just right for a Leica M3 and 90mm lens from just beyond the minimum focus distance (3 feet/1 meter). I'm just attaching this to make a point about working with what you've got, not claiming that it is a work of art, although the dog's owner, with whom I was travelling, was pleased as punch

The same applies to a number of other photographs taken on this trip. If I did a series in very low light, it was because I was using a relatively fast lens. If I had instead taken my Mamiya (for which my lenses are f4 and f4.5), or for that matter my view camera, I just would have taken different pictures.

Speaking only for myself, this approach makes more sense than lugging around 20-25 pounds worth of camera gear and/or fretting about whether I'm bringing the right gear.

[J Peterson]

I have a dirty confession to make.

i spend hours, days, too many months of my life scouring the pages of ebay looking for old polaroid cameras, shitty old lenses and cheap film.

I think it could be actually classified as an addiction. Know where I can score?

[ljb0904]

When I go hiking, I take my 4x5. Sometimes I take my 20D with one lens as well. That's it.

I want to make photographs. If others just want to have equipment, so be it, and more power to them. For some it's coke bottles, others guitars (I have 5 of those, can't play worth a damn), others currency. Me, I collect memories and feelings on 4x5 transparancy.

[Rakesh Malik]

When I go hiking, I take my 4x5. Sometimes I take my 20D with one lens as well. That's it.

Same here... though when I know I won't have time to stop and set up a shot, I leave the 4x5 at home... but when I want to photograph, it's my first choice, even though my 4x5 kit weighs in at 40 pounds + water and food.

[cobalt]

Hi.
I am a reformed gear-aholic of sorts. But I bought several different cameras in several formats for a reason: to learn. I know: how to shoot and process digital capture, how to shoot 35mm, 645, 6x6, 6x7, 6x9, 4x5, 5x7 and 8x10 film and print digitally as well as chemically, how to shoot film, print digitally on transparency film and contact print and/or enlarge, and how to shoot film, scan and print digitally.
WHEW!

After all the experimenting, I have decided that I don't want to shoot (99% of the time) without obtaining the quality I achieve using rather large bits of (b/w) film. Therefore, I recently sold my MF film scanner, My last digital camera (fuji S5--best I've owned, and I've owned many.), and all 35mm gear save for a Yashica Electro (amazing fat little lens!).

If I have the time to set up and shoot at leisure, I prefer 8x10 and 5x7.

After various and sundry Hasselblads, Pentaxes, Mamiya TLRs, Rb/z67s Nikons (film and digital), the camera I carry around nearly everywhere I go is a Fuji gw690, and I have another on the way.

The camera is simple, will accomodate NO batteries, has a ridiculously sharp lens, and can potentially double as an anti-personnel device if needed. Oh, and the 6x9 negatives yield a tonality that approaches 4x5 film. I generally do not use a meter, and find I am becoming a better photographer for it.

I use two lenses for 8x10, an Eastman Ektar and a

[cobalt]

Hi.
I am a reformed gear-aholic of sorts. But I bought several different cameras in several formats for a reason: to learn. I know: how to shoot and process digital capture, how to shoot 35mm, 645, 6x6, 6x7, 6x9, 4x5, 5x7 and 8x10 film and print digitally as well as chemically, how to shoot film, print digitally on transparency film and contact print and/or enlarge, and how to shoot film, scan and print digitally.
WHEW!

After all the experimenting, I have decided that I don't want to shoot (99% of the time) without obtaining the quality I achieve using rather large bits of (b/w) film. Therefore, I recently sold my MF film scanner, My last digital camera (fuji S5--best I've owned, and I've owned many.), and all 35mm gear save for a Yashica Electro (amazing fat little lens!).

If I have the time to set up and shoot at leisure, I prefer 8x10 and 5x7.

After various and sundry Hasselblads, Pentaxes, Mamiya TLRs, Rb/z67s Nikons (film and digital), the camera I carry around nearly everywhere I go is a Fuji gw690, and I have another on the way.

The camera is simple, will accomodate NO batteries, has a ridiculously sharp lens, and can potentially double as an anti-personnel device if needed. Oh, and the 6x9 negatives yield a tonality that approaches 4x5 film. I generally do not use a meter, and find I am becoming a better photographer for it.

I use two lenses for 8x10, an Eastman Ektar and a Schneider Symmar. Might let go of the Ektar (14 inch) soon, but NEVER the Symmar. Anything I can't do (in 8x10) with these, I don't need to do.

I am considering letting go of my other Ektars: 127, 203, 152, because I rarely shoot 4x5 any longer. But my 240mm Caltar (Rodenstock) will be wrested from my cold, dead hands--it is just too sharp and contrasty to give up, and covers 5x7 wonderfully.

I find that walking around with the Fuji (about 43mm in 35mm terms), has improved my composition. I am forced to learn how to see with that perspective. I am becoming a better photographer because of it. Same with the Schneider in 8x10.

If I need/lust over more gear, it will be in the form of yet a third Fuji...same format...same lens.

[John Kasaian]

Thinking about photography often leads to modifications and aquisitions.

I got this idea for some night photography, which lead to an ebay $40 AeroEktar roosting in my garage.

I got another idea for a ULF pinhole and now a wine barrel awaits my attention.

I got the bug to shoot LF aerials and now I have a room full of aerial cameras and processors left over from WW2 and earlier, plus part of a freezer dedicated to 9-1/2" roll film (did I mention the sprained back I got for free while strong arming a K-17?)

Yeah, its an illness.