About TRADITIONAL

[dee]

I bought an M 8 and Digilux 3 because my ASdee can't cope with a modern DSLR interface .. not to mention kinda not seeing them as ''camera ''

OK , an extreme situation of mind blindness , but I can't really call the shutter dial / aperture ring mode '' traditional '' , because , not withstanding it's long survival , my 30 odd year old daughter , and , I suspect , most new photographers would consider a Nikon D 300 etc , or my Pentax K 10 D , of compact digital camera to be '' traditional '' ...

Makes me wonder how rapidly it's all changing !

dee

[Livesteamer]

Maybe it's about simplicity. Yesterday I shot two rolls of a friends graduating daughter in her gown and cap. I was using an old M3 with it's five basic controls and my old incident light meter. Friend had a new digital camera with a myriad of controls, buttons and menus along with a thick instruction manual which she was struggling to figure out. I wonder which is simpler, to learn f stops and handheld metering once or to learn an inch thick instruction manual every two years with your new digital camera?.
Joe

[craygc]

Twas my wife's birthday yesterday (she's not quite 30) and amongst other things I got her a Canon G9 (closest Ive ever been to owning a digicam of any kind). She has no trouble going through the manual and working things out. As for me, within 5 minutes the damn thing was driving me crazy ...way toooo many controls and parameters for a camera. I work in technology so its not that I cant comprehend it, and I dont mind putting in the time with scanning and post processing, but I just cant get interested in the camera being such a complicated device.

[ChrisN]

Traditional is simply whatever you grew up with. I can easily cope with the "complexities" of a dSLR, but I grew up (photographically speaking) with my father's Voigtlander rangefinder, and my OM10, and I still find these very comforting to use.

[Gumby]

Originally Posted by ChrisN

Traditional is simply whatever you grew up with.

Sometimes... and other times it is simply whatever your father grew up with. "Traditional" is a very context-sensitive term and, often, a very poor term for discriminating differences between things or, um, traditions.

p.s. (to OP)... out of curiousity, what is "ASdee"?

[oftheherd]

I have yet to spring for a DSLR. I have owned two P&S digitals, with some manual control. I have actually taken more shots with them since I got them than all my film cameras put together. Especially snap shots of my grandson. It is fun to do so. He is now 4 years old and likes to see the photos of himself as soon as I take them.

However, I still feel better using film cameras. I am not sure why. Probably is something to do with tradition or some such. Especially my folders. But I haven't given up on my FX 103's nor my Fujicas either. But I don't really feel they are "traditional" since Yashica and Fujica got me back into photography nearly 35 years ago, and I have used them ever since. Nor have I made any commitment to digital other than as a snap shot camera.

[MickH]

The great Kenneth Williams had a different interpretation of "Traditional" altogether.

[rpsawin]

Originally Posted by craygc

Twas my wife's birthday yesterday (she's not quite 30) and amongst other things I got her a Canon G9 (closest Ive ever been to owning a digicam of any kind). She has no trouble going through the manual and working things out. As for me, within 5 minutes the damn thing was driving me crazy ...way toooo many controls and parameters for a camera. I work in technology so its not that I cant comprehend it, and I dont mind putting in the time with scanning and post processing, but I just cant get interested in the camera being such a complicated device.

Yep. The thing I love about my M2 & MP is they have no modes...just moods.

I have a G9 I keep in my gear bag and I finally gave up fighting with it and use in auto mode as a p&s. I think if the G9, or any dslr, were my only platform I would eventually committ the menus to memory. It's a style issue and I agree with yours.

Best regards,

Bob

ps...I shoot with a M7II as well....why would you ever give that up?

[dee]

My G2 tends to be auto only , 'cos it's so complicated , but it's fine as point and shoot .
[ It also creates sensible file sizes , something which seems to have been lost along the way ! ]
emma the M 8 is dream in that I can do just what I have ever done - take an average reading , set manual , and no fear of light / dark subjects having vastly fdifferreing exposures .
Ditto the Dig 3 .
On my Pentax K 10 D it's just not ''right '' !
Thanks for all your comments .

Regards

dee

[hlockwood]

Originally Posted by craygc

Twas my wife's birthday yesterday (she's not quite 30) and amongst other things I got her a Canon G9 (closest Ive ever been to owning a digicam of any kind). She has no trouble going through the manual and working things out. As for me, within 5 minutes the damn thing was driving me crazy ...way toooo many controls and parameters for a camera. I work in technology so its not that I cant comprehend it, and I dont mind putting in the time with scanning and post processing, but I just cant get interested in the camera being such a complicated device.

That's because the G9 (I have one) is not a camera; it's a computer that happens to take pictures.

Harry

[Pablito]

It is what you make it. Any dslr can be simple as a Leica m6, OM1 or FM. Just put it on manual exposure, centerweighted metering and take pictures. Very reliable and predictable way of working.

[georgef]

you know,....you dont HAVE to use all the parameters in the camera!
I don't think I have used much of any other mode than aperture priority on my cameras, ever, even though my TOPCON film RF had three controls and my CANON 1Ds has 1,000!
Still, its easier and cheaper for camera manufacturers to put controls in the software than hardware, so things like aperture rings will eventually go the hidden route.
Then my son, now 6, will ask me why-oh-why do I bother with squinting and focusing instead of the AF that already comes with the camera! Never mind handheld light meters he he he!

[feenej]

I went to take a picture in a darkly lit bar with my pal's digicam. Turn the flash off? Forget it. Not without the manual. Select a certain shutter speed? Hopeless. One time my friend handed me his new dSLR because we were gonna take a group shot and he could not figure out how to use the self timer. Took me three minutes of staring at the thing to figure it out.

I took a pass on the jumbo plastic digicams, tho I do think that they are great cameras. I like the plastic on my Bessa. Lightweight.

[Spider67]

"Traditional " once a friend here in Austria said to me "so you do traditional photography"
And in an instant I saw myself as an old withered mountaineer with lederhosen who made the filmemulsion himself ina big cauldron, scooping it up with a wooden spoon to check if it turned out right and expalining in antiquated vernacular the rituals of traditional photgraphy ("always look at the mountains first that ´s were the sun comes out and sets", "I´ll teach you the arcane Rule of the sunny 16!" ...etc.)

[Argenticien]

Originally Posted by georgef

you know,....you dont HAVE to use all the parameters in the camera!

Well, agreed on that, but, there's still the problem of wanting to use the traditional features that aren't there but should be. Last weekend at an arboretum, a stranger handed me her digital P&S and asked if I might take a picture of her and her husband. I immediately began raising the camera to my eye to look through the RF/VF, and had it up to nose height before realizing there was not one; it was one of those models where you can compose only using the LCD monitor on the back. I sheepishly apologized as they giggled and I extended the camera to arm's length to shoot. Mind you this was made sillier given that I'm 37 and they appeared to be 55-60, but I was having the old-fogey moment!

[photophorous]

I started using my mom's "old manual" camera in the mid-90's, when I was about 18. Still use it. Love the thing. I always thought of it as old school and traditional, but one day I noticed it had an "auto" setting. Turns out I love simple electronic SLRs from the 70s and 80s...not exactly all manual and traditional. I guess you consider what your parents used to be traditional. Oh well. I still prefer it over a DSLR. I think that's why I like my Bessa R2A so much. It functions pretty much the same way.

Paul

[Jonni]

Originally Posted by hlockwood

That's because the G9 (I have one) is not a camera; it's a computer that happens to take pictures.

Harry

Isn't that so for any digital camera?

[georgef]

Originally Posted by Jonni

Isn't that so for any digital camera?

EPSON RD1. take a look and fall in love