If I knew then what I know now....

[Frank Petronio]

I wouldn't have wasted so much time and money experimenting with so-called exotic speed and bokeh lenses, Prontor shutters, barrel mounts, etc. and just stuck with the "modern" normal Symmars and Sironars in ordinary black dial Copals of the 80s and 90s....

I would have stuck with a Sinar monorail for quality work and a Crown Graphic for handheld, down and dirty field work....

I would have shot more on 4x5 than smaller formats or 8x10....

I would have shot negatives instead of chromes....

Gotten more drum scans....

And most of all, I would have stopped the car and done the shot regardless.

What about you?

[Mike Anderson]

As a beginner I appreciate that advice.

[Jeffrey Arthur]

Wasn't experimenting with all the lenses and gear worth it? One of my favorite things you did was experimenting with the heliar lens.

[BradS]

well, we're not dead yet....

I'll play. If I could do it all over again, I'm not sure I'd change much. I do wish that I had not wasted so much time, money and energy trying so many different cameras (both 35mm and 4x5). I would steer well clear of 8x10 and stay with 4x5 and 35mm. It turns out that the three cameras I've bought new (yes, only three! of over 100) and taken care of have lasted the longest and would have been just fine (I really didn't need all those others).

And, yeah, I cannot even begin to count all of the times I've driven by a place and thought, I would come back and photograph there...and never did...so, I agree with the OP, stop and take the damned shot no - matter what. Life is short and you may not pas this way again...and even if you do, the light will be different, a forest fire will have passed through the area, the building will be torn down or, they'll have put up a stop light at that intersection....seize the moment.

I used to take photography much, much too seriously. Worrying and obsessing, as so many do, about every little stupid detail. Learn to relax and enjoy yourself.

finally, as photographers, we are often forced to choose between "living the moment" and "capturing the moment". I really wish that I would have chosen to live the moment much more often than I did.

[Dan Fromm]

I've screwed around a lot with lenses for several purposes, regret getting few of them. But I wish I'd tried my 55/2.8 MicroNikkor AIS reversed for photomacrography before buying and trying other lenses of roughly the same focal length. At magnifications where it covers the format being shot, it is much better than good enough. Trying it first would have saved a lot of fumbling.

To add to the consensus, I should have shot more and I should shoot more.

[Jody_S]

I've come to realize that I'll never be more than a mediocre photographer. Competent, perhaps, but never inspired. If I had to do it all over again, I would take up model railroads or antique race cars or something that I might have a chance of being good at.

Photography-wise, I should have bought better LF gear (and film!) in '98-00 instead of my FD 800 5.6L. And I should have stuck with it then instead of giving up when I had a couple of discouraging failures. But I hadn't discovered Usenet and online LF communities, I didn't even have a book or a magazine. I just looked at stuff on fleabay and decided to try it. Oh, and I should have sought out galleries and museums that displayed photographs. Any photographs.

[Frank Petronio]

Oh experimenting with the lens and cameras was sort of fun, most of the time, but in the end I circled back to being quite happy with the same stuff I was using 20 years ago. What worked for pros back then was good, reliable, simple stuff so it probably wouldn't make a big difference whether it was a Sinar or a Toyo or Nikon or a Canon. I know that a $200 Nikon FM would be just as useful as a more expensive 35mm camera.

And even though I maybe broke even or slightly profited on the trading, it absorbed a lot of time that could have been spent photographing and editing, learning and all that. So I kind of regret the gearheadedness.

[Dan Fromm]

I've come to realize that I'll never be more than a mediocre photographer. Competent, perhaps, but never inspired. If I had to do it all over again, I would take up model railroads or antique race cars or something that I might have a chance of being good at.

Jody, if you measure yourself honestly against others you'll never measure up. In every field I've worked in, professionally or as a hobby, I've had the pleasure of knowing and rubbing minds with people who were better than me. That's life. There's no shame in recognizing reality and going on anyway.

[jnantz]

i'd probably wouldn't have bothered with the toyo i have
and would have just used a speed and a 5x7 with a reducer ...
its a nice camera but kind of useless when other things will do ...

and i would have used a coffee based developer from the start
and not wasted my time with xtol, dk50 tmaxrs and a few others
i have over the years. i keep sprint and ansco130 around though .. just in case.

[dave_whatever]

So I kind of regret the gearheadedness.

But then you might have spent 20 years wondering if you'd have been better shooting 10x8 or 35mm or whatever. Don't they say its better to regret something you did rather than regret someting you didn't do?

Personally I wish I'd have manned right up to 4x5 from digital/35mm about 5 years ago instead of messing around with 645 and then a 6x7 back on 4x5 for a couple of years.