Achieving Focus*

Strapps

Strapps

Suspended / Banned
Messages
3,064
Name
Dean
Edit My Images
Yes
As you've probably gathered from recent musings, I'm at a bit of a loss of where to go with my photography. I lost my mojo toward the end of last year** but I think I've moved past that, given that I went out with three cameras last weekend and used each of them. My enthusiasm is certainly coming back and I'm making time for photography and looking for local places and events worth visiting but I'm still a little confused about where I want to go.

I asked about a Leica M6 recently, thinking that a really great camera would cure my GAS and I could concentrate on the quality of the results. To be honest, the price of Leica glass has put me off that idea - several of my cars have cost considerably less! I could reduce costs by getting a pattern M-mount lens but I'd only wonder how good the results could be. I thought about maybe getting an older unmetered Leica body but I hardly use my Zorki-4 so I doubt I'd be any more likely to pick up an M3 or M4 as I head out the door and there's still the indecision over lenses. A Bessa or Hexar wouldn't change the lens cost issue either. Of course, me being me, after thinking about the Zorki I was trawling ebay for L39 lenses for an hour or so ...

The digital elephant in the room is that I've already got an X-Pro1, which has been compared favourably to Leica quality (I've seen one article referring to it as the digital camera Leica should have made). Why make a huge investment in Leica lenses when I could buy a couple of the very well regarded Fuji lenses instead for the same money, and, assuming I'm flush one day, I could perhaps get a Leica lens and an M-X-mount adapter anyway.

I have a reasonable collection of 35mm gear, too much of it if I'm honest, so I need to make good on my repeated claim that I'm going to sell some. I'm intrigued by large format though I hardly use my RZ so perhaps I should take that out more often before making a decision to get into another format.

This has been more of a rambling brain dump than the succinct statement and query I thought it'd be. I'll round it off with the query anyway and hope for your indulgence. Have you felt similarly in the past? How did you get past it?

Is the only real answer to try a bit of everything and see what sticks?








* Photography pun, LOLs, ROFL, etc.
** lomojo? Or does that sound like I've developed*** a real liking for plastic cameras?
*** I'm a punning machine :D
**** Everyone can get lucky once in a while
 
My mojo usually goes during winter. Comes back when the sun shines ;)

The little Fujis are excellent.

Go places you've never been and try to photograph things you don't normally. Just for a change.

I tried a 52 this year. Was hoping it would lead to something interesting. It didn't, it just became a dreadful chore. Don't try that :)
 
build your own camera? few cheap and fairly easy kits
the lomo camera's are fun
 
srichards said:
I tried a 52 this year. Was hoping it would lead to something interesting. It didn't, it just became a dreadful chore. Don't try that :)
Click to expand...

:LOL:

I've got an idea for a longer-term project which isn't time-bound, though it's going to take a while as I look for appropriate subjects. I need to start taking a few photos instead of thinking about it, get started and go from there.

pingu666 said:
build your own camera? few cheap and fairly easy kits
the lomo camera's are fun
Click to expand...

I did start thinking about making a 5x4 field camera from carbon fibre with ally or brass movements but got distracted, possibly by a cloud that looked like a dog or something. I have the attention span of a goldfish with ADHD at times.
 
  • Like
Reactions: PMN
And funnily enough, I read this story on petapixel, followed the link and found this ...

Photography Professor Chap said:
On Dead Ends.


When you’re at a dead end, you can’t see where you started. You look to the right and you look to the left and you have no options. You’re attached and estranged from your beginning. Then you look forward and there’s a wall.

This is the best place to be. It’s true in science, in business, in art and in love.

Why is this such a good place to be? Well, you cannot have a breakthrough without being at a dead end.

The breakthrough comes because you’ve exhausted all of your resources. And you know what? All breakthroughs happen in exactly the same way. There’s a wall in front of you and you have to break it. And all breakthroughs happen because of an act of faith.

You think to yourself, I’m gonna go back a bit…and i’m gonna crash through that wall. And you will. You’ll probably get cut, scratched…you might even tear your clothes a little bit.

The thing on the other side is a garden. And it is all there for you.

Hopefully, if everything goes right for you, you’ll hit another wall…
Click to expand...

Funny how these things turn up, isn't it? :)
 
get one of the kits then :)

my recent goal is to slow down, to spend more time on each shot, do stiched panoramics, use filters etc
 
I find that GAS strikes particularly badly when you're not using the kit. When you actually go out and use it you just enjoy it more for what it is and I find it cures the GAS.
 
3 camera no wonder you lost interest , think back and try to remember why would got into photography and look for that spark again and remember to enjoy it and stop and look around at yourself from time to time ..
 
shannensdaddy said:
Come to think about it , I have about 5 , lol
Click to expand...

I have 20-something. Taking 3, one of which was getting a run-out ahead of being put up for sale, was a good day, mainly because I wasn't faffing about trying to choose which ones to put in the bag. :)
 
For me it has been an realisation of what I realy like playing with and concentrating on that. I think my 35mm Nikon gear is as close as it gets to the element of pure enjoyment so thats where I am playing at the moment and I have today even bought an old F2 to further enhance that. What I have realised is real old stuff just gets hard work for me and I have made a decision to cut and run from a few of the older items that just are not working for me, mainly old and cranky 35mm stuff.

Also my recent purchase of the Pentax 645N has made me realise how good something can be when just done properly, that system just blows me away so much so that I may in the near future let my RB67 go.

I suspect you need to find the system or kit that gets you going and sometimes it isn't the most expensive.
 
srichards said:
I tried a 52 this year. Was hoping it would lead to something interesting. It didn't, it just became a dreadful chore. Don't try that :)
Click to expand...

I did a 52 last year (well, a little more than 4/5 of a 52), and while it was indeed a chore sometimes, it pushed me into doing things I'd never tried, and thinking in different ways. I'd always taken shots that came before my eyes, and for the first time I needed to do more than just look for the shot, sometimes I needed to make it happen. I thought it was really valuable as well as a chore... but it was a right pain trying to do it all on film, so around half the shots were taken with an infernal machine of the binary kind...

One thing that has started to interest me is to put up prints of a few of the nicer shots on the walls, simple Ikea frames... the idea is to change the shots from time to time, and eventually to keep them all being images taken in the last month or so. It givs a different kind of satisfaction.
 
Are you actually focussed - but on the equipment? When you write about "trying a bit of everything" it still reads to me as being equipment fixated. Don't get me wrong - if you're interested in the equipment rather than the results, fine; you're enjoying what you do. But apparently, you aren't. So, what do you think you should be focusing on? If not the equipment, that leaves two broad areas: the technical side, technique, mastering skills in every conceivable branch of photography; or the results - producing images you like, or that others like (with a sub category of wanting to win competitions as an end in itself), or to express yourself through photography and convey a message, an emotion or at least something of what you feel to others?

I've used cameras from sub miniature, through half frame, full frame, 6x6, 6x7, 6x9 and 5x4. They are all tools, and when I go out I pick the camera that will be the best tool for what I actually want to do. Sometimes I'll go out with a 5x4; sometimes a medium format (I don't use smaller formats now), and sometimes a digital camera will be the best tool for the job. But my focus is on the results, and I choose the camera according to what will give the results I want in the easiest manner.

If you know what you want, it's easier to find ways of achieving it.
 
StephenM said:
Are you actually focussed - but on the equipment? When you write about "trying a bit of everything" it still reads to me as being equipment fixated.
Click to expand...

I meant it as a blanket statement to cover trying different equipment and different subjects, though the question was aimed more at others who've had similar experience, hoping that they'd share what they learned.

StephenM said:
So, what do you think you should be focusing on?If not the equipment, that leaves two broad areas: the technical side, technique, mastering skills in every conceivable branch of photography; or the results - producing images you like, or that others like (with a sub category of wanting to win competitions as an end in itself), or to express yourself through photography and convey a message, an emotion or at least something of what you feel to others?
Click to expand...

Not quite the question I'm asking; I'm interested in how other people have approached the issue, I'm not assuming that there's any one definitive answer, a pot of Velvia at the end of the rainbow, if you will.

I've concentrated on 35mm over the last few years and built a nice collection of cameras and lenses but I've come to realise that (for me, at least) they're really not much more than variations on a theme. I know what I like (manual focus, a meter, lenses which should be interesting if they're not 'good' and slide film) and I'm keeping some but the rest will be moved on to loving homes. Or homes where they'll be dismantled for parts with a hammer, I don't really mind as long as the buyers don't expect a refund because the camera couldn't withstand a 2lb lump hammer.

I've decided that I'm not going to get new kit for now* but will instead use the stuff I know I enjoy, trying different subjects. I think that part of the problem is the time I've spent looking at the gear instead of what I'm pointing it at so I'm going to do it the other way around for a bit. :)









* Except if I find a 6x9 folder I like.
 
OK. Well, my solution is simply to photograph things that catch my eye, and hopefully show others what I saw and felt through my prints. End of story. What camera I use depends entirely on what I want to produce in terms of a print. It's mainly 5x4" black and white film, and I could get along quite happily with that and a single 150mm lens.

Ultimately, it's the print that matters to me and not the way I got there. I wouldn't be happy if I had to use a digital camera, but that's as much due to the limitations they'd place on what I could achieve in a print, so I'm not entirely equipment neutral - a 5x4 would be the best single camera for me.
 
Last edited:
You know that M-mount cameras are designed to be backwards compatible with L39 via a simple adapter, don't you?

You could pick up a Bessa/Hexar/M6 and run it with cheap lenses for a while, upgrading as and when funds allow.
 
Mr Will said:
You know that M-mount cameras are designed to be backwards compatible with L39 via a simple adapter, don't you?

You could pick up a Bessa/Hexar/M6 and run it with cheap lenses for a while, upgrading as and when funds allow.
Click to expand...

Yes but why bother? The glass is the important bit, the camera is essentially a light-tight box and as long as the shutter speeds give you what's indicated, it's job done. My Zorki-4 is worth about £40, the shutter sounds pretty accurate and it's got an L39 screw thread so I might as well use that.
 
Strappy said:
Yes but why bother? The glass is the important bit, the camera is essentially a light-tight box and as long as the shutter speeds give you what's indicated, it's job done. My Zorki-4 is worth about £40, the shutter sounds pretty accurate and it's got an L39 screw thread so I might as well use that.
Click to expand...
Yes, there are some very good L39 lenses that would mount on it. Except the Zorki doesn't have framelines for various lenses, doesn't meter is not exactly simple or "transparent" to use and doesn't offer an obvious upgrade path. It also doesn't sound like it gives you any joy to use.

A camera is not just a light tight box, it is something that you hold in your hands for long periods of time and interact with very closely. Choose the one that makes you feel good and you will shoot more. Shooting more will improve your photos more than any item of gear ever will.
 
Mr Will said:
Yes, there are some very good L39 lenses that would mount on it. Except the Zorki doesn't have framelines for various lenses, doesn't meter is not exactly simple or "transparent" to use and doesn't offer an obvious upgrade path. It also doesn't sound like it gives you any joy to use.
Click to expand...

I like the weight of it and firing the shutter is a heavy mechanical affair which I do enjoy, though I haven't put any film in it for a couple of years and only dug it out to check it before putting it in the 'to be sold' pile so you make a valid case!

Mr Will said:
A camera is not just a light tight box, it is something that you hold in your hands for long periods of time and interact with very closely. Choose the one that makes you feel good and you will shoot more. Shooting more will improve your photos more than any item of gear ever will.
Click to expand...

I agree, particularly with the part of your post which I've highlighted. I probably shouldn't say it here but I get that feeling from the XP1 more than I do from much of my film kit, which is why I've decided to stick with that.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top