Pál_K
Cameras. I has it.
An interesting statement which deserves its own thread.
As you are a professional photographer, I can understand your viewpoint and am not disputing it. I think there's also another approach - at least for the amateur or hobbyist.
In 1971 I started with the normal 55/2 lens that came with my new Pentax - it was all I could afford. When I could get another lens, I chose to "wait until I mastered the normal lens". So I used the 55/2 lens as my only lens for 15 years (but still not a master
). I learned to see everything with a view of how to capture it with that lens. I never felt I missed anything. Today, with many more cameras and lenses, I still choose to photograph with essentially one camera and one lens at any one time. Part of the reason is my wish to travel light, but also when I use a particular lens, such as 28mm or 90mm, I look at scenes differently - appropriate to the lens I have.
Being interested mostly in neighborhood, city, architecture, nature, and landscapes, perhaps there is no pressing need to have the right lens at the right time. If I see something somewhere where I know the image needs to be captured within a certain focal length range, I know I can almost always do that later.
Yet, even for trips across the country or even to other countries, I've still taken just one main camera with one fixed focal length lens and a smaller compact camera with its fixed focal length lens. Why? Because being able to travel very light with minimal equipment is "liberating" and allows me to enjoy the trip more. I don't want to be thinking of which body, which film, which lens.
Chriscrawfordphoto
Real Men Shoot Film.
An interesting statement which deserves its own thread.
As you are a professional photographer, I can understand your viewpoint and am not disputing it. I think there's also another approach - at least for the amateur or hobbyist.
In 1971 I started with the normal 55/2 lens that came with my new Pentax - it was all I could afford. When I could get another lens, I chose to "wait until I mastered the normal lens". So I used the 55/2 lens as my only lens for 15 years (but still not a master
Today, with many more cameras and lenses, I still choose to photograph with essentially one camera and one lens at any one time. Part of the reason is my wish to travel light, but also when I use a particular lens, such as 28mm or 90mm, I look at scenes differently - appropriate to the lens I have.
Being interested mostly in neighborhood, city, architecture, nature, and landscapes, perhaps there is no pressing need to have the right lens at the right time. If I see something somewhere where I know the image needs to be captured within a certain focal length range, I know I can almost always do that later.
Yet, even for trips across the country or even to other countries, I've still taken just one main camera with one fixed focal length lens and a smaller compact camera with its fixed focal length lens. Why? Because being able to travel very light with minimal equipment is "liberating" and allows me to enjoy the trip more. I don't want to be thinking of which body, which film, which lens.
I am going to write an article on that in a few days. I need to shoot some example photos for it, and the weather has been crappy the last few days.
Limiting yourself to one lens lets your equipment control you. Cameras and lenses are tools, we should control them.
Cascadilla
Well-known
I agree with Chris--the reason I bought my first serious camera was to be able to change lenses to create the particular images that I wanted. There are certainly good arguments for "keeping it simple" and I'm not suggesting that everyone should go out and buy every lens available for a particular camera system, but the variety of viewpoints that different lenses can provide is valuable. It isn't always possible to zoom with your feet, and that technique won't always allow the perspective that nearer or farther camera placement can enable.
To get back to the original post about how to carry accessory finders, my solution has been a Zeiss #440 for 21, 35, 50, 85 and 135 lenses and a pre-war Zeiss finder that has 28,50,85,135 and 180 finders. One is mounted on the camera I'm using; the other is in my camera bag. Those two cover everything I own for my Contax bodies and aren't that hard to carry in my bag along with some lenses and a camera body and film. I won't claim that they are the equal of Leica single focal length finders (they're not) but they work for me.
To get back to the original post about how to carry accessory finders, my solution has been a Zeiss #440 for 21, 35, 50, 85 and 135 lenses and a pre-war Zeiss finder that has 28,50,85,135 and 180 finders. One is mounted on the camera I'm using; the other is in my camera bag. Those two cover everything I own for my Contax bodies and aren't that hard to carry in my bag along with some lenses and a camera body and film. I won't claim that they are the equal of Leica single focal length finders (they're not) but they work for me.
Godfrey
somewhat colored
I've been through many cycles of how I perceive the photographic pursuit, and there were times when I thought the same way. But, at least at the present time, I'm in a different place: When I'm out shooting, I'm looking for specific things and don't need to carry a kit that would allow me to get any shot, I only need to carry what I think I want to concentrate on and focus on getting.
There are infinite number of photographic opportunities out there to be had, no one can ever get them all. I can't carry an infinite array of camera equipment to handle them either. So I go out with a limited kit with the intent of making a limited number of excellent photographs, and when I see something excellent that doesn't fit what I'm carrying at the moment, I know that opportunity exists for when I DO have that kind of equipment in my hands and file it away for future reference.
So I usually carry one to three lenses, max, usually one or two, and enjoy hunting for the photos that the equipment I've chosen suits best. And if something slightly off the center of my intent appears and I think it's worth it, I use my ingenuity to try to get it ... and don't feel bad if I don't.
It's called the principle of creative constraints: Putting constraints on what you can do by choosing a limited amount of resources at your disposal inspires you to become creative about what you're doing and try different things that you might not try if you simply had all the resources to do anything you want easily.
Works for me. Might not be the right approach for others. Life's like that.
G
Pál_K
Cameras. I has it.
You have eloquently captured what I was trying to describe earlier - thank you!
Chriscrawfordphoto
Real Men Shoot Film.
My portfolio is filled with hundreds of images that would NOT wait for me to come back another time. You're either prepared or you lose. I've lost out on photographs that would have been great because I was lazy and didn't carry the right gear. I don't like to lose and I don't make that mistake anymore.
Corran
Well-known
I have a couple of pill canisters that can fit 2 or 3 VFs so carry the appropriately-sized one with me.
Usually 15 and 25 VFs, sometimes the 3rd is a fisheye view for a circular fisheye I adapt to the camera.
Usually 15 and 25 VFs, sometimes the 3rd is a fisheye view for a circular fisheye I adapt to the camera.
Pablito
coco frío
This is a ridiculous statement. It may be true for you but why impose your way of working on others?
A good portion of the Magnum photographers work only with a 35....
Godfrey
somewhat colored
Making photographs is not a competition for me. I never "lost out".
Every photograph is a unique moment in time. You can never "go back again later" and make the same photograph you might have at one time. You go back to an interesting site and make another photograph that is hopefully as satisfying as the one you saw at first, whether you made it or not. That said, it doesn't matter at all, unless you are being paid to capture and portray some specific event, like a news photographer or a sports photographer might.
I once made a living doing some of that; I don't any more. I do photography to enjoy seeing and sharing what I see. What I don't manage to photograph is unimportant to me, as long as what I do photograph is satisfying and meets my intent. "The one that got away ..." is irrelevant.
I don't think you should be surprised to hear that your views on this subject are not the same as many other photographers', Chris.
G
Chriscrawfordphoto
Real Men Shoot Film.
I'm not imposing on anyone. People ask me questions on RFF and by email, and my threads on here are answers to those questions. People are free to take my advice or learn from my example....or to ignore my views.
That makes great mythology, but I doubt it is true. Magnum is a group of working fulltime professional photojournalists whose livleihood depends on "Getting The Shot" with no excuses. You can bet they carry and use more than one lens. Even Cartier-Bresson did, despite the myth of him only using 50mm lenses and never cropping.
S.H.
Picture taker
When I'm out wanting to get pictures (and not just play with gear I love), I don't bother fiddling with these in the field. They stay on the body they are on. It is too easy to lose or damage something this small, and also because I have a wide array of finders and bodies which, mechanically, are not 100% compatible, some are loose on the shoe, some are tight to fit.
For example, using your gear list, I would use the M3 body with the long lenses, and each IIIf with a wide and its finder. 3 bodies, possibly loaded with different film speeds accounting for the need of higher speed using longer lenses (but this is dangerous if you use like me an external cell). But it would still be like bringing a few pocket knives to a gunfight imho.
Using my own gear list I would feel better with a SLR (Nikon F) for Summicron 90/Elmarit 135 if you want to stay with leica (yes it mounts
), a M4 or equivalent for 35-50, and a dedicated body for the wider lenses with a good finder, external or not. Much better than trying to locate the right finder in its container in a loaded camera bag, in the rain, when the light is fading fast.I reality though, I would use three lenses (wide, 50, long) and one body or maybe two: it does imply having either a SLR or a body with a carefully chosen VF, able to accommodate simply and accurately your usual lenses, possibly with the help of one external VF. The more gear in the bag, the more time lost choosing between lenses, the less good pictures taken because opportunity/concentration loss.
Pictures of war correspondents in the 50s or in Vietnam show that some are carrying a SLR + long lens and a RF + short, or two RFs (or three bodies). Not a bad combo, it is taking it to the extreme.
Chriscrawfordphoto
Real Men Shoot Film.
Joe sent me two of his lens caps with the shoe to hold the lens's finder. They arrived this afternoon and they're beautifully made! Here's a photo of my 90mm Elmar and 28mm Color-Skopar with their finders mounted on Joe's caps.
A very elegant solution. Often, I wear a photo vest and put a few lenses in its pockets if I don't feel like carrying a bag. These caps are perfect for that, since my plastic compartment box takes up a lot of pocket space.
Thanks, Joe
pschauss
Well-known
I use a single VIOOH viewfinder which can be set to (or close to) all of the focal lengths that I use. The disadvantage is that, for the longer lenses, the image is very small. I found, however, that I am careful to match the distance setting on the finder to that on the lens after focusing, framing is considerably more accurate what I got with the single focal length finders that I had been using.
peterm1
Mentor
A few years ago I found a cache of small neoprene pouches which are of just the right size for carrying small Leica RF lenses or accessories like viewfinders, spare batteries and the like. They have either zip closures or cord / friction lock closures depending on the specific design. I ended up buying perhaps 10-12 of these and for a long time used them mainly to store small more expensive lenses (mainly Leica and Canon RF lenses as noted above). But I also used them for accessory finders. I rather like these as, being made of neoprene they offer some protection against damage from minor bumps especially in the field and can be confidently placed in a camera bag without risk of damage to the finder or to any cameras or lenses. I have also considered using small plastic boxes that K&F Concept lens mount adapters come in (these lenses always arrive with one of these boxes which are quite robust and well made. With the addition of a bit of bubble wrap or foam internally they are the perfect size for accessory finders.
farlymac
PF McFarland
Well, I searched all over town and could only find plastic compartment boxes that were either too small or too large. After returning one I bought at a craft store I looked around to see what else they had, and there were small bags for holding jewelry in various materials. I got the cheapest ones because they would be easier to mark with a felt pen, and being of a lighter color easier to make out the lettering. They came in a pack of five, just enough for my four finders and loose caps. They fit very well in the bag now.
Storage Solution by P F McFarland, on Flickr
PF
Storage Solution by P F McFarland, on Flickr
PF