View Full Version : The Lone Rangefinder Rides Again, or How to Avoid the Loan Arranger.
Wayne R. Scott
01-02-2007, 14:58
In response to Ruben’s thread for an Anti-Gas Forum, I thought we could list reasons to use only one rangefinder in this thread and how to save money for real important things like film and or foodJ
If I were to sell the fixed lens cameras that I have accumulated over the last three years I could easily buy a single Leica M camera with quality lens and be able to do 90% of all my people photography.
I think for 2007 I will just use one rangefinder body and lens per month and par down my collection.
Any ideas from GAS afflicted members.
Wayne
Hi Wayne,
Perhaps because of language shortcoming I didn't get you. Do you mean that during 2007 you will be using 12 different rangefinders and lenses, one combo per month ?
Wayne R. Scott
01-02-2007, 15:39
Hi Wayne,
Perhaps because of language shortcoming I didn't get you. Do you mean that during 2007 you will be using 12 different rangefinders and lenses, one combo per month ?
Ruben,
You understand the English language just fine, I didn't express my meaning very well. The way it reads does indicate that 12 cameras and lens will be used for the year, one each month. I think I am going to simplify my rangefinder cameras down to just two or three bodies with just a few lens, maybe 21mm, 50mm and 75mm. I am just trying to quit buying one of every camera I read about and concentrate more on photography this year.
If I can express my ideas I can formulate a plan to rid myself of GAS and follow it for the year 2007.
Wayne
Good luck on your de-acquisition program, Wayne! A simple, clean, maybe even austere yet functional kit has its attractions. I think I've sorta reached a saturation point at which it's getting tough to yearn after anything more than what I've got... which certainly covers the spectrum of my usage in multiple ways.
thanatos
01-02-2007, 22:51
One man's de-acquisition program is another woman's GAS.
IGMeanwell
01-02-2007, 23:01
I always find the best way to keep myself from acquiring more gear is to keep reminding myself all the other ways i can use that extra cash.
I mean usually it still circles around to more photography equipment usually I can dissuade myself... however its not always successful
amateriat
01-02-2007, 23:42
One (or perhaps two) truly good "go-to" cameras, IMO, clearly beat out a closetful of close-but-no-cigar picture-makers, and I think this helps concentrate the mind just a bit ...less-is-more and so on. But it all depends.
Good luck on your quest!
- Barrett
For over a year and a half I've restricted myself to shooting my R-D1, mostly with the CZ 50/2 and the M-Rokkor 40/2, and very seldomly using the CV 25/4 or the J9 85/2.
All my other cameras and lenses are either gathering dust or mantle piece display items (and pretty ones at that). Would I sell those other cameras? No. I tried selling my M2 Golden Dragon and hardly anyone was interested. So, I'm keeping it unless someone makes me an offer I can't refuse. All the other cameras might come to use one day, I hope (or fear).
I my specific GAS desease, the biggest problem is that I don't sell anything, I just buy. This after a traumatic experience many years ago, when I was still healthy and sold a Kiev 80. Following that episode, and being poorer than today, I passed many years weaping why the hell I sold that only MF I had. Years later I bought a 100% full C330 system plus additional toys for it and took my vendetta. But that vendetta, like all vendettas, never ended.
Yes, I am sick.
schaubild
01-03-2007, 02:47
Less is definitively more.
To lower the weight of my travel equipment I started to select cameras and lenses beforehand. The goal is each camera with one lens only. Might not be the perfect simplistic approach, but I managed to come down to four (cameras and lenses) :)
Works in most cases.
markinlondon
01-03-2007, 03:02
I'm currently rethinking my gear based on usage. When I work out what I actually used over the last year it really comes down to one body and a 50mm for over 90% of it. I am seriously thinking of selling up a pile of kit but it's hard to let go sometimes.
Welcome back, Ruben.
I'm currently rethinking my gear based on usage. When I work out what I actually used over the last year it really comes down to one body and a 50mm for over 90% of it. I am seriously thinking of selling up a pile of kit but it's hard to let go sometimes.
Welcome back, Ruben.
Hi Mark !
There is a local porno joke about the difference between theory and practice, which once I managed to refrain from translating it to the forum and now I will do the same.
Good luck !
Ruben
PS: your icon guitar pic was legendary, what a pitty for me you changed it.
dazedgonebye
01-03-2007, 04:28
I have goals for my kit. I've been selling bits and pieces that I accumulated in the process of deciding on these goals.
Kits:
FSU 35mm kit::2 bodies, 3 lenses, 1 tele-finder (I'm alost there)
Modern 35mm kit:: 2 bodies, 5 lenses, 2 finders (I've got it)
Medium Format Kit:: 1 body, 3 lenses (haven't started this one yet)
Large Format Kit:: 1 body (crown graphic) 2 lenses (haven't started this one yet)
Digital Kit::1 body, 4 lenses (got it)
Now, the FSU, medium format, and Crown Graphic kits will stay as they are once completed. The modern 35mm and digital kits are subject to upgrading as money is available for better bodies/lenses.
I'm trying not to buy anything that is not a component of one of those kits and when I upgrade a lens or body, I'll sell off the old piece.
So, I have limits on my gas by having specific goals that I'd like to achieve. I was very proud of myself...for awhile there, till I reallized that my limits amount to "I'll quit when I have everything I could possibly want!"
Seriously. Having a focus and a plan to your aquisitions might help limit you to thing you will actually shoot and eliminate the impulse buy of pieces that just look cool at the moment.
Wayne R. Scott
01-03-2007, 05:44
Less is definitively more.
To lower the weight of my travel equipment I started to select cameras and lenses beforehand. The goal is each camera with one lens only. Might not be the perfect simplistic approach, but I managed to come down to four (cameras and lenses) :)
Works in most cases.
Yes, I think 4 Alpa's with lens would be about all I could afford. If I sold all 150 of my cameras, my furniture, boat, cars, trucks and farm. Why did you have to post with your Avataar? Now I want an Alpa:)
Wayne
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Hi Magus,
If confessions and brakes is what we are talking lately to escape the flames of the infern, or at least stop by at any sanctuary in our way, I have my own too.
Beyond the customary dozen fixed lens cameras I have three full flexed systems, the OM slr, the Mamiya TLR, and Kiev RFs. According to my status at the food chain, my point of sanity has been to avoid by any means both the LTM and M mounts, a fairly heavy cross to carry while enjoying participating at RFF. Yet, otherwise crossing this barrier, even at the tempting advise for entry level position, that our friend Roland ("Ferider") so patiently gave me for several weeks, I would be today in a place I don't even want to think about.
OM, Mamiya TLR and Kiev RFs. Quite old fashion, quite not at the top of the top. But if I am sincere to myself I must say that with all the lenses and bodies involved in these three systems, I have not started to scratch their technical possibilities.
Now my ANTIGASPLAN is to avoid for as much time as possible to even look at eBay. (of course this is not a total seal since I still can lurk at what friends here are selling, and some half frame camera there is already driving me nuts again.)
Cheers,
Ruben
nightfly
01-03-2007, 07:02
Leica makes it easy to avoid GAS by making their stuff so damn expensive.
Leica makes it easy to avoid GAS by making their stuff so damn expensive.
No no no my friend, if you ask Ferider will show you the way :angel:
PS:
DEAR FERIDER,
I am teasing you a bit but I send you my warmest regards and thank you for welcoming me today.
And I have not forgotten nor your kind coaching nor that amazing bird pic from your Pen system.
Flyfisher Tom
01-03-2007, 07:34
Imagine you are going to your dream vacation city (Paris, Florence, Venice etc), you have only one small carry-on bag for your clothes, personal items, camera/lens, and all other essentials for your trip. What camera/lens would that be ? Then sell everything else :)
Or just sell everything as you suggest and get the one leica body and lens that you already stated you could do 90% of your work with. Buy your ideal combination of said kit, and then no buyers regret a few months down the road.
Of course, none of this will be easy ;)
Imagine you are going to your dream vacation city (Paris, Florence, Venice etc), you have only one small carry-on bag for your clothes, personal items, camera/lens, and all other essentials for your trip. What camera/lens would that be ? Then sell everything else :)
Or just sell everything as you suggest and get the one leica body and lens that you already stated you could do 90% of your work with. Buy your ideal combination of said kit, and then no buyers regret a few months down the road.
Of course, none of this will be easy ;)
In that case I may not even take sockets in my bags :)
But seriously speaking Tom, in my opinion it is an issue of self discipline in the general behaviour of oneself, which if I don't manage to control I don't see myself surviving elderness.
mc_vancouver
01-03-2007, 08:07
I've been a serial GAS addict for many years: I don't even know if that qualifies as truly gear acquisition syndrome, as I usually had to sell one camera or lens to get another. For a while, in my twenties, I had the most gear: two Canon F1's, a Leica, several Canon primes, a zoom, and two Leitz lenses. But I never, ever lugged it all around. I'd take out a body and a lens, or two lenses. Perhaps it was memories of dragging newspaper bags around when I delivered the morning and evening papers as a teen, whatever, I never liked having all that gear, and psychologically it weighed on me as much if not more than the actual weight of all that glass. So I sold it. And began a crazy buy one-sell it-buy another theme that has gone on for years: from one make to another, 35 to 120 back to 35. There were, sometimes, extenuating circumstances which forced me to sell: tuition needed, a major car repair, etc. Other times, I got bored with the camera or lens or both. I think my happiest times were when I had a new Konica Hexar with the silent mode and had no choice but to compose for a 35mm lens.
Actually, even when I've had more gear, I've enjoyed going out with one camera and one lens, and just seeing with that lens in mind. Some days it might be a telephoto, and if a wide-angle shot presented itself, I had to think: How can I do this with a 90mm? Of course, if you're out with a wider lens, and shoot something that would have been better shot with a longer lens, you can blow up the image, the perspective remains the same so other than grain you get with blowing up, you are carrying, in effect, a longer lens whenever you use a 35 or 40 or 50...
I now have only this: a Bessa R3M, the 35/1.7 and the 50/1.5 Voigtlander lenses. No doubt I'll sell the body in due course...
schaubild
01-03-2007, 08:20
Wayne, I didn't say four Alpas. It's only two, and a Seitz and an XPan (if I go analog and medium format only). Just to calm you down a little :)
(sorry, couldn't resist)
No no no my friend, if you ask Ferider will show you the way :angel:
PS:
DEAR FERIDER,
I am teasing you a bit but I send you my warmest regards and thank you for welcoming me today.
And I have not forgotten nor your kind coaching nor that amazing bird pic from your Pen system.
Ruben, I hear you ...
I conciously avoided asking if you got your Leica yet, when welcoming you :)
Cheers,
Roland.
PS: I'm down to 3 Leicas now but don't ask me how many lenses :)
....
PS: I'm down to 3 Leicas now but don't ask me how many lenses :)
You mean 3 Leicas only at the Leica drawer only...
:angel:
At the minute I am satisfied with my two rangefinders and digital SLR.
Ever since it came out, the black MP was on my wish list then I saw a silver one, beautiful.
At the minute I am satisfied with my two rangefinders and digital SLR.
.....
So this is the right moment for a good self portrait. :)
(PS: perhaps you should do it with the finest grain available film as to have the biggest possible enlargement and pin it at a reserved space in your home, for the desolation GAS hours to come, in case they come):bang:
I don't remember myself in that state of mind regarding GAS. But everyone is different.
Cheers,
Ruben
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dazedgonebye
01-03-2007, 11:17
One of the dangers I’ve found in carrying a full bag of lenses is that I take fewer pictures. I end up thinking “which lens should I use for this shot?” instead of “how do I shoot this with this lens?” Much time is wasted switching lenses.
Thankfully, I’ve found that this can be at least partially addressed by carrying two bodies. :D
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Richard Black
01-04-2007, 03:46
This discussion resonates with me as few have. I took a vacation last summer and hauled 4 cameras and assorted lenses. I used each of them, but I can't think of a time that I changed lenses while out taking pictures, except one time from a 50mm to a 28mm on my Bessa R. Left the room with the 50 on it. I prefer to travel light with no more than 2 lenses, but I may have more in my car. Confused? You bet. Great discussion!:bang:
In my opinion there are no absolute rules about less is more or vice-versa. In my past freelancer times, I used to tour the West Bank and Gaza Strip with 5k OM gear (plus water at summer). I remember very well the following rule: whatever lenses are in my belt pouch, and cameras pending from my shoulders - they are going to be used. Whatever is in my back pack it is very likely it will not be used.
How many Zuikos can you smartly arrange in a medium size front belt pouch ? 6 or 7. I was continuously exchanging lenses during action and I remember that other freelancers were too, many with Leicas. Agencies employee photogs, used two "bazookas" (two super big zooms mounted on two superbig cameras). One bazooka in use - the other going to get the customary bump, to be paid by the Agency, insurance covered by its turn.
Now, I also remeber myself a few years ago in Prague, with a wonderful couple sitted in a kind of bench one in front of the other, some 35 meters from me. The were expressing a sensational sense of love & youthness. And all Prague landscape behind them. I just had a 35-70 zoom and it was clear I make a single step towards them I will ruin the pic. I did have time, I din't have the lens. So I did what I could but I never again will go abroad without a 500mm or 200 at least.
So it is also an issue of attitude, no one better than the other. If you are ready to miss a few opportunities, and some time a great one, in order to walk lightly - that's also a healthy approach, the Vietnameese warfare one (who defeated both France and USA). If you are carrying 2 or 3 lenses and do all or most of what you want - perfect.
I have grown in the other way, walking heavy, the Patton one if you like. But I need and do use all what I carry.
Now I am faced with amateur picture taking at the street, and obviously I am not going to look like an US marine. Still not infringing my logics, since the variety of needs at the street is not so wide. But next time I am in a trip abroad I will be a tourist, looking somewhat absurd and strange to the locals wether or not I carry few or more gear (and it also depends on how do you carry it) So what the hell...
Confussion about what lens to pick ? Yes, sometimes I have been confused. But it was because I was confused, not because of the gear.
I am also aware that the masters of photography have and are using few gear. But neither I am a master nor I could be happier if instead of copying someone else (with the exception of Beniliam of course), I achieve to be the master of myself.
Cheers,
Ruben
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markinlondon
01-05-2007, 08:34
It's where the beams cross ... ;)
For Christmas, my wife just got her FZ7 upgraded to an FZ30. Really neat camera. The long Vario Elmar (12x) with image stabilizer makes photos possible that would otherwise not be ...
But then, it's digital :( Cheers,
Roland.
I always thought using a Leica meant never having to use the "u-word" again :)
I did use a friend's Panasonic digi compact a few weeks back, it was good. I think it's the Panasonic version of the C-lux.
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