What do you expect?

[reagan]

Not really sure how to word this, so I think I’ll just throw it out there and see what comes back. This post is not meant for debate. I’m not looking for a right or wrong. It’s not about “good camera / bad camera”, brand name / generic” or “bunch of gear / a little gear.” I’m not speaking about tech-stuff or looking for “I shoot a Smena-cron B17 because the shutter is quieter blah, blah, yadda, yadda…” Rather, I’m curious about the thoughts of others concerning your personal expectations of you and your equipment. What do you hope will happen in you or through you that brings you to use the gear you use?

And I understand that some of us [myself for sure] have collected, shall we say, various kits for various reasons, but there’s one or two shooters in the pile that we go to when we have in mind to get out there and “get serious.” Several years ago I read a quote by Julia Cameron that said, “Through the use of a few simple tools, my creativity will flourish.” A painter who prefers fat brushes wouldn’t “feel right” using a skinny brush. He feels more creative with a fat brush, so with a skinny brush, his creativity might be hampered before ever approaching the canvas. (“This is not going to turn out right using THIS stupid brush!”)

So my question is maybe this… (without mentioning your gear preference or performance…)
What inner gratification do you expect when using your choice of creative tools?
Just for instance…
I use the gear I use because I know it will give me…
[a] the confidence to create good images. (“Now that I have a 21mm, I know I can create images that are much better than before.”)
[b] the shear enjoyment of using the equipment. (“Good pics or bad, this Cronmax XP is just fun to shoot!”)
[c] the approval of those images by my peers. (“Ahh, you used a Zuisenlux! Nice shot!”)
[d] the comfort of perceived flexibility that won’t limit my creativity.
[e] …other……?

Thanx,
CV…etc.

[schaubild]

A specific lens/format combination will help me to get the images/views I have in my head onto paper. It much depends on the mood if it's panorama, MF, LF, shorter or longer lenses.

When I can't make my mind at home, I'll have quite a collection of lenses and cameras in my car, otherwise it's one (maybe two) cameras with a fixed focal length.

I shoot a lot of digital, but must say that I never had stronger feelings for these SLR's (except when I paid for them :-). This is definitively not the case with my MF, LF equipment.

[back alley]

i like the feel of older gear, lots of metal and glass.
my hands are small but i like a bigger camera.
i like hefty too.
the semi wide view is what i see, camera in hand or not.

capturing a moment in time is what i love along with the play of light & shadow, chariscuro. (sp?)

[Honu-Hugger]

Confidence in the dependability and reliability of the equipment is first and foremost, along with knowing the specific qualities of the lenses I am using. These things are givens, settled so long ago when the equipment was first selected that I seldom give these issues any further thought. A silky smooth film advance, a precise and barely audible click of the shutter, and a slight hydraulic resistance to the focus ring are all nice qualities. Real metal and glass, as God intended, are also a given.

My greatest pleasure comes from using equipment that belonged to my Dad or Grandfather; I really sense they are with me in a way when I compose and take a picture, although unfortunately I still have to take personal responsibility for the outcome :).

[RML]

What inner gratification do you expect when using your choice of creative tools?

To be fair, I expect nothing! But I know that if I don't feel that certain pleasure during or after I've been out shooting, I feel a bit empty and disappointed that I didn't come home with something "decent". I say "decent" but I have no idea what that really means. Perhaps it means that I felt good to be out, felt good to be shooting, felt good that my eye didn't let me down, felt good that there were interesting subjects and scenes to shoot.

Damn, now I'm thinking about this and I can't stop. I can't come up with an answer either, but that's alright. As long as I keep thinking, right? :D

[lushd]

Not at all sure if this is what you are after but ...

1. Manual rangefinder cameras feel right in my hands. This mean I have a tool I am comfortable with and can work without being distracted by its demands (hence my loathing of automatic devices - too complicated and demanding, even in auto mode).

2. They are controllable and predictable - I know just what the pictures from my Jupiter 8 will look like. It may just be me, but other devices seem to have more of a lottery about their results.

3. Because of this I can indulge and record my personal delights - I know I will get pictures that represent the ideas in my head. A portrait of my children or just the way the light falls across a gate (look in my gallery!) will be the picture I set out to get and not a fluke. I get a huge blast of pleasure from this and even more if someone else likes the picture and understands my idea - real close communication with another human being.

4. Ever got a set of pictures back and said - blimey! just look at those smooth tones/colours etc etc? I think we all get pleasure from seeing the technical craft aspects of our work executed well by our chosen tools. I get more of this from a rangefinder than any other type of camera.

5. I own 2 leicas, 5 x Zorki 1, 2 x Zorki 4k, 3 x Kiev 4, a Yashica GSN and a FED 2. If you told me I could only keep one, I would keep a Zorki 4k for the pleasure I get in handling it and the lovely images from the Jupiter 8.

[leica M2 fan]

Wish that I could express my feelings as well as you just did. :)

[yossarian]

Working in camera stores meant I had "hands-on" with a lot of everything. I've used
and owned an enormous amount of equipment over the years. But there have been
those few moments when I was so immersed in the image I saw (and was preparing
to shoot) that I lost contact with the rest of the world around me. And this has happened with different cameras. In each case it was that moment of identifying
what I was seeing as "my image" of that place, that time, and the equipment in use
was completely beside the point. I can recall incidents like this using the following
cameras: Lubitel; Ricoh 500G; Fujica AZ-1; Contax 137MA; Contax RTS II; Maxxum
7000; Zero Image Pinhole; Bessa L. OK, I think that's enough. My point is that when the moment occurs, I make do the best I can with what I have. I might have
wished to have different--"better"--equipment, but the key elements making the shot successful for me would have been the same.

I'm a gearhead, so I like having nice stuff. But I can get by with far less than the best.

Fred

[lushd]

Thanks Leica M2 fan!

Really like what Yossarian said - does anyone get that tingly feeling up the spine when there's a good picture right in front of you? Don't you just have to stop and take it or feel itchy and uncomfortable for a bit? Sometimes I think the picture takes me.

[wtl]

e)...other...

(simplicity as M6 gives. I am not that smart...)

[nomade]

Feeling that i'm on the top of the world...

[Gid]

What does it for me is when form and function come together simply in a solid, well balanced,well engineered piece of equipment.

[Todd.Hanz]

I expect a minimal amount of fuss with a maximum amount of character/quality.

Todd

[Dave H]

inner gratification comes from the fact that the camera is my slave not the other way round. If my pictures are rubbish I cant blame anyone other than myself, if they are as intended then I can say "I made that".

[Jocko]

... Either a camera which I barely notice, or one so full of character it has a personality and thus becomes a pleasure in itself. There was a Chinese camera called the "Three Friends" - these being the photographer, the film and the camera. Perhaps this is the ideal; a camera like a friend; utterly familiar, wholly dependable, able to bring out the very best in you.

[Nick R.]

I like my gear to be as transparent as possible. That is, if I have great gear, I can only blame myself for the (lack of) quality of my shots. In that way, my gear becomes transparent.

[Gabriel M.A.]

What do I expect? Not the Spanish Inquisition! :D

(sorry, couldn't resist)

[yossarian]

If you take all these responses down to their essence, we may be expressing it differently, but we all want essentially the same thing. Hey, remember the gun
that grew out of James Woods' hand in "Videodrome"? May be a little creepy, but
it follows the thread of the camera as an organic extension--natural, doesn't impede,
something which looks and feels like it belongs.

I guess I've never found my one ideal camera. I'd probably have to design it myself.

Fred

[MelanieC]

I use a Leica M3 and a Rolleiflex TLR because they were my father's, and are therefore precious to me. My father died when I was 12. This is the age when, normally, you would just maybe start getting to know your parents as people, so all of my memories of my father are childish and unreliable and I have a hard time really remembering him, as opposed to an image or an idea of him. I'm not a materialistic person, but I tend to be very attached to things that were his.

My father's cameras are concrete and real. He probably wouldn't have called himself a photographer, but he did like to take pictures, lots of them, first mostly of my mother while they were courting and after they were married, and later, of my brother and of me as we grew up. The fact that he owned these two cameras tells me that he liked things that were well made and well designed for their intended purpose. It also tells me that he had expensive taste and was maybe not too smart about saving his money. These are traits that I have also. For these reasons just handling his cameras makes me feel closer to my father.

I consider myself lucky that of all the cameras in the world my father could have left behind, he left these two. I had no idea while growing up that the Leica my father brought on every outing and occasion was a classic. I didn't even really know that the Rolleiflex was a camera at all. I thought it was a toy with a funny viewscreen that made everything look backward. My father used to let me walk around the house using it to navigate when I was very small. I'm sure I walked into plenty of walls Rollei-first doing this. Luckily, it is no worse for wear.

I'm quite spoiled, because these are the cameras that introduced me to photography (all of two months ago) and I have nothing to compare them to and therefore no good technical reasons to prefer them over any other. What I can say is that every time I get pictures from them it's like magic, and that I can barely believe that the scene I shot has been transformed into this dreamy black and white image that seems to highlight everything important -- eyes, outlines, light -- and subdue the rest. I've never been good at taking pictures; even my snapshots are terrible. And I'm sure the photos I'm taking now aren't that great either, but at least they're better, and I enjoy them (as opposed to thinking to myself, "Why did I waste the film on that?")

I want my cameras to give me pictures that I like and that mean something to me. I don't really care what anyone else thinks about my pictures, although it's nice if my friends don't think they suck. My cameras are beautiful, and a pleasure to operate, so I enjoy looking at them, holding them, and using them. I therefore appreciate them as equipment. Finally, they have sentimental value for me. These are the reasons I use these cameras.

[Steve B]

I've found by looking back at my favorite pics that most of them were taken with my rangefinder. Like most people I tend to use certain set ups for certain types of shooting, etc. Like I might take a fast auto focus set up to the bicycle race, or a medium wide and a tripod to catch the evening light on the landscape. But aside from those generally technical decisions I find that the ease of mobility when using a simple, light camera encourages me to invest more energy in finding the right angle or composition. When I shot medium format I found that I was lazy and didn't want to lug the big kit up the hill or take the time to set up spontaneously. With the RF hanging around my neck I find I take more shots and move around more and am more willing to try different stuff. I also enjoy using solid feeling classic cameras as I am an enthusiast of both cameras and photography.

[Bertram2]

)
What inner gratification do you expect when using your choice of creative tools?


Inner gratification for me comes from the right choice, feeling I have taken the right one for this place or idea or object or daytime or whatever. Can be any type of camera, even a P&S.

The choice of the tool is one part of all the preparation work, as choosing the location, the film and filter, the model, the daytime the season.

The right one is the best one. In other words the best one is always relative and so the reverse POV leads nowhere. A camera can be as nice as a camera can be at all, if it does not support perfectly the process of realizing my intentions it's the wrong one anyway. Therefore this signature.

bertram

[JimG]

I like vintage cameras that allow me to identify with an era that is more meaningful to me. When I use a camera that was made in the 30's or 40's I feel like I have a connection to that time. I also like that when you use an older camera your not just pushing a button and letting the machine do all the work. Anyone using a manual camera has to think about what their doing and understand the whole process. Today it seems like it's more about the camera then the message in the photograph. Old cameras don't have megapixels they have heart.

[reagan]

Some really good thoughts here.

So on one hand, “IATG”, It Ain’t The Gear, since the best of cameras are no more than paper weights in the hands of an uninspired photog. And “even a Brownie can be Hasselblad” when wielded with confidence and passion and knowing you’re going to love whatever comes out.

Performance / reliability breeds confidence. And at the same time, like many, I have taken pleasing photos with cameras and accessories that were broken or ill-fitted for the subject (though I prefer not to.) :( “This meter is all over the place - oh well, Sunny16.” – “The RF won’t line up… hmmm, have to guesstimate.” – “Crap, flash batteries are dead/low light/wrong film/cousin’s wedding. Soooo, slow it down, crank it open and lean against the wall to keep it steady.”

But in another way, It IS the Gear… at least to some extent.

THE LOOK seems to inspire us, though “pretty” has nothing to do with it… “it’s in the eye of the beholder.” Brand new and mint works for some. For others, like me, brass can be worn through, leather cracked (and even smelly!) and glass shining hazy. And we STILL just can’t wait ‘til the weekend so we can assault the streets, cafes, farmlands and birthday parties, Bad Boy in hand, like a National Geographic photog on safari.

As Doug stated above, as Gordon Coale has expressed before and MelanieC shared perfectly and as I’ve found out by recently “re-discovering” my dad’s Kodak, there’s also, at times, a certain sentimentality that inspires a zeal that has total disregard for the name, model and serial number engraved on the tools.

“It feels right in my hands.” – We all know that “feel.” We look for heavy… or light… big or compact … knurled, embossed or smoooooth. That’s a personal thing too... “in the hands of the beholder.” Fat brush/skinny brush. But when it feels right, “Now THAT’s a camera! And I AM ready!”

There must be at least some mental assumed oomph that comes with a name. We’ve read/heard/been told that “the Greats used badda-this and badda-that. So now that I have one, I’m like the Greats.” [English] “Zorki” is waaaay too close to [slang] “Dorky” in my mind and really gave me an early subconscious bias as to it’s possible merits. But in a short time, that inference was dismissed when I decided for myself that I was actually enjoying and growing fond of the little beasts.

Yeah, 99.9% of my pictures suck. But finding that special "Three-Friends-type" gear that has a look, performance, feel and history that matches my personal individual look- performance- feel taste AND history brings about a confidence, enthusiasm, pleasure and fulfillment that leads me time and time again on a creative excursion, brings out the best in me, and delivers me home again as nomade put it, “On top of the world.”

Fun, ain’t it! http://www.rangefinderforum.com/forums/images/icons/icon12.gif Thanks folks!!