I was thinking how much I prefer carrying around worn equipment. While by no means a careless user of equipment, I am made nervous around new things. I like working with lenses that have signs of use. Like me they have lines and marks of experience and I have come to understand their strengths, weaknesses and how they respond to challenging problems. This lens cannot be pointed too close to the sun, that shutter runs slow, and this camera works best with the 65mm lens. With these worn things I am more likely to conceive of the right picture under the right conditions and know how to use that lens to best advantage. It's always a bit of a crapshoot, true, but a good piece of equipment seems to give a little leeway. Large format photography is not about the perfect algorithm, but about multiple pathways and choices that can be utilized to solve visual problems. To me, a new ultra-sharp super-symmar is a solution looking for a problem - but not necessarily my problem. Whereas an old Velostigmat offers a more generous vantage, perhaps not as sharp, but capable of rendering an image in sometimes unexpectedly beautiful ways. My camera, a little paint-worn is robust and capable, I trust it to handle that heavy objective and to tolerate my big hands without losing varnish, dropping a nut or requiring frequent repairs in the field. I think that getting to know your equipment, hazarding the multiple steps required for a shot, appreciating the expense of film and of lost opportunities and, most importantly - engaging the hands directly in the process makes for better, more interesting photography.
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