Productivity and Gear -

[BradS]

I noticed that after I sold the Crown Graphic, my LF productivity dropped significantly. It dropped again after I sold the old B&J wood field camera.

Yeah, OK the crown graphic is obvious...It's cheap, hand held and self casing....what could be easier (in LF terms).

The old B&J was also relatively inexpensive and fairly easy to carry and fun to use to boot!

I'm starting to think my remaining gear is being babied...I'm not shooting because...its too pretty! Arrrgh!

You ever have this problem?
What to do?

[Sheldon N]

Take a ball peen hammer and make a nice dent in the most prominent, non functional area of your "pretty" camera.

Then go out and make pictures with it.

:)

[Scott Rosenberg]

unless you're a collector, cameras are tools. at least that's how i look at it. if there was a particular camera that i had some emotional connection to - grandpapy taught me all about photography with this camera - then i suppose i'd be less willing to subject it to the rigors of field use. but for me, i rely on my cameras like a carpenter relies on his/hers hammers.

if you buy cameras to use to create images, and for a fear of damaging them you're not creating images with them, well, i'd suggest that was not a good investment and would recommend finding a tool you're more comfortable using. that is, if you buy cameras to use to create images.

[Alan Davenport]

Put your pretty camera on the tripod, then turn around to get at the camera bag which you laid on the ground. While you're reaching for the bag, kick the tripod over into the stream that had until this point been the object of your attentions. Voila! The camera has been baptized, no more worries.

Please don't ask me how I came up with this idea.

[Brian Vuillemenot]

Just do what I did- take the camera into harsh environments with lots of wind, rain, sand, dirt, fog, and sea spray. Set it up on a tripod, and then turn your back for a few seconds to fiddle around with things in your camera bag. Pretty soon, your camera will have all kinds of distinctive battle scars. Mine went from a pristine new camera to one with bent brass and chipped wood held together with Elmer's glue and plastic wood in just a few short years. Still takes perfectly decent photos, though...

[eric black]

While I try to keep lenses pristene for resale value if I get interested im moving in another direction, my camera will never be listed in as new condition. Lots of battle scars mostly related to how it is packed and carried into the field- it aint pretty, but it sure gets used alot- fact is, the more broken in it gets, the more I like the look of it

[Jim Galli]

LOL! Yep, I've done more pics with the tatty 2D than all the other cameras combined. Send your pretty camera to Tonopah for 6 months and I'll "fix it". Get to work! No more excuses :D:D

[Daniel Geiger]

Productivity sounds to me like quantity. Although I shoot less with LF than with SLR, I think in general I make better images with LF. So possibly you just trade quality for quantity. I also agree with cameras as a tool. While pristine glass is good, don't look at my barrels.

[BradS]

You know, it's funny...I don't hink it's a "pretty camera" thing...certainly not a pretty glass thing. And, despite what my accountant might say, I would never admit to being a collector. I looked upon the old B&J Commercial View camera as a thing of great beauty. It was clean and as nice as new. That never bothered me though. I humped it into the woods regularly and just generally loved to use the thing - quirks and all.

No, there is some other psycological hurdle...maybe, it has to do with the hassle factor. I don't have any really good means of carrying the new Canham - I need a backpack or something. Maybe, it has to do with the effort required to pack up and set up...

Maybe, I'm just making excuses for myself. I've not shot anything...nothing, not even a family snapshot in at least a month! Sheesh! maybe I'm in a rut...a slump?

Bah!
(back to work).

[BradS]

Productivity sounds to me like quantity. Although I shoot less with LF than with SLR, I think in general I make better images with LF. So possibly you just trade quality for quantity. I also agree with cameras as a tool. While pristine glass is good, don't look at my barrels.

Well, yeah...but, I don't really shoot any small format anymore. I carry the little Ebony RW45 around with me like it were my small camera...my accountant, of course, thinks I've gone mad.

[John Kasaian]

Take your camera sking. It will never be the same after.

[Frank Petronio]

Quantity does equal quality, if you work hard enough.

Once I had a got a big windfall and bought the ultimate $15K Hasselblad kit along with a $500 beater Rollei for nasty outdoor conditions... and after a year all the best photos had been done with the beater Rollei...

[BradS]

Take your camera sking. It will never be the same after.

Sheesh, I used to carry an old Pentax in a fanny pack while riding across open desert on a Honda XR-600R at speeds...well....in fact, the old pentax was never much bothered and still works and looks fine.

[Preston]

I baby my gear after a fashion because I can't afford to replace it in the event of a disaster. My Tachihara and my Mamiya 645e have seen lots of use in the Sierra in all kinds of conditions, and I am happy to report that they look 'used' but work very well.

I do baby the ground glass and my lenses, though.

Keep shooting, and above all...have fun!

-PB

[David Karp]

Maybe its the Crown and its features. It is easy to use. It sets up quickly. Not too much to think about in the way of movements. Even using the groundglass, it is much easier to get up and working and making photos than field cameras with lots of movements. The thinking is about the photo, not about what to do to to optimize the photo with all of the movements. Maybe that is what you miss.

[Kirk Fry]

The Crown is a point and shoot. Pop it open, pull it to the infinity stop, sunny sixteen, pull slide, and bang. Done. None of that other stuff, tripod, movements, dark cloth, meter, etc......... At the end of the day you have a gorgeous negative/slide.
K

[BradS]

yes, I think that Kirk and David have it. The crown is just too darned easy to use and the big B&J commercail view, once it is fixed to legs, is very similar to the crown....drop the bed, run the back out onto the bed, compose, focus, push in a film holder, pull the slide (oops! I left the shutter open again!!! :) ) and shoot! Quick and easy.

[Rakesh Malik]

No, there is some other psycological hurdle...maybe, it has to do with the hassle factor. I don't have any really good means of carrying the new Canham - I need a backpack or something. Maybe, it has to do with the effort required to pack up and set up...


If it's just a matter of hassle, then you should start shopping for a good backpack pronto. I'm on the hunt for one myself, because I'm trying to carry my 4x5 over greater and greater distances, and this is proving to be an issue... because the harness on my pack doesn't fit me properly, and my pack doesn't have enough room for extra stuff like warmies for cold weather.

In the end though, the best camera is the one you use. Follow Jack Flesher's Chamonix threads for a great example of this (because the Chamonix 4x5 is pretty inexpensive, not because it's a Chamonix).



Maybe, I'm just making excuses for myself. I've not shot anything...nothing, not even a family snapshot in at least a month! Sheesh! maybe I'm in a rut...a slump?


I think that everyone goes through periods like that. For me, it's usually when I'm particularly stressed out about something, like when I'm trying to buy and sell a house and move and all that. During times like that, I just go out hiking or hit the dojo. Or both, since there are two days in a weekend :)

Everyone has their own form of therapy. :D

[BradS]

---UPDATE---

Tonight I scored a new Crown Graphic (well, new to me anyway) at a fair price and I'm ecstatic!

It's a side range finder model with a Kodak Ektar mounted in an old Supermatic-x shutter (are these any good?) and comes with a whole sh*t load (that's a physics term) of extras -- film holders, a fancy case, a graphlite, synch cords and even some flash bulbs!

I can't wait to get back to the big point and shoot!

[David Karp]

Congratulations!

[PViapiano]

Brad...sometimes circumstances just don't permit you to get out there and photograph...family, job, weather, whatever...but I never let that get to me, especially if you're just shooting for shooting's sake. That never makes any sense to me, but hey, that's me...even with digital I was never a high output photographer. I went to Europe for 3 weeks once and took 1200 photos with a dSLR with a very, very high rate of keepers, whereas some people I know shoot that in one day. I went to Maui last month for a week, brought my LF gear and shot 30 sheets, not a whole lot I admit, but almost every shot, save for maybe two or three, is absolutely wonderful (pats self on back ;))

Also, sometimes you just can't lug the LF out everywhere you go. I have an RZ that's great, but that's hard to bring along sometimes as well. Maybe there's a Leica in my future...just a little something for the jacket pocket?

Now that I have a small darkroom setup, I can use the off days to print from my collection of negs...great fun!

[BradS]

Hey Paul,

Yeah. I'm with you. I never have been a big producer...I took the nikons to Dublin and Cardiff a couple of years ago and only came home with about fifteen rolls of exposed film for two weeks!

I too have recently reentered the darkroom. I've got an old Omega D2 setup and am able to print 4x5's...what a luxury! and so much more fun and easier (to print) than 35mm.