Upon reading the Dune exposures book I had a brief revelation that I had to share. A point I’d like to elaborate more on but for now this is what you get
All absolutely true if you view the camera as just a tool, and there's nothing wrong with that. Personally, it isn't just about the end result for me. I love the process of taking photos. If I like how a camera looks, how it feels in my hand, and if I feel good about the feature set, then I enjoy the experience more. I may never use the mirror lock up or self timer, I may never change focusing screens, prisms, film backs or fit a motor drive, but I feel good about the camera having these features, and I enjoy using it more. All very superficial and shallow, but I don't care.
i agree that ergonomics is maybe the most important thing. if it feels good in your hand you will take more photos. cameras that feel like they will slip out of your hand or are tiring to hold or use will likely mean you will not take it with you as much, or use it as much.
@RompingBronco To clarify, when I said "you", I meant anyone reading, not you specifically. From your previous videos, it seems clear that cameras are more than just tools to you 🙂.
Your argument falls into the trap of the "the pencil doesn't matter". Because it misses "... for a good artist" A good drummer could make beautiful music on a bucket. But good tools makes it so much easier and better to become a good artist, where your tools start to not really matter anymore.
I always tell people starting film photography the camera is just a box for light. Your lens matters more, so you should always prioritize that over your camera. If you have a canon F1 with a 35mm f2 and an ae1 with a 35mm f2 the image is gonna look exactly the same as long as the focusing system is calibrated. But it really just comes down to you as a photographer as long as your lens is half decent. I mean i personally like my F-1 because i’m not afraid to bang it up as it doesn’t have any story behind it unlike my other film cameras which were owned by relatives or old friends.
Hi Mr Bronco! Your videos have inspired me to learn camera repair and I bought an old scrappy ae1 and fixed it up using your videos for reference. It's working great now but the only problem is that the meter is reading several stops too low. The meter does seem to respond accordingly to light changes so I don't think the photocell is completely screwed. I was wondering if you know of a way to calibrate or adjust the ae1's meter? I can't find anything online that isn't just telling me to check my batteries... and at this point I no longer fear the tungsten wire (fishing line in my case) and am prepared to do an exploratory.
It does matter and that is okay. A lot of photographers seem to deslike the idea of the gear influencing and/or dictating what and how you shoot photos and how they come out. At the end of the day I find it very hard to believe that it does not matter and I'll explain in a bit. You can make great things with any camera, that we can agree on. A great example of how the camera does matter is more easipy noticeble with film. Watching the gleaners and I by Agnes Varda, you realise that the film IS the way it is beacause of not only Anges (pimarily that) but also the way it was shot and with what it was shot. A camera that is easy to use and has auto exposure, small files and can be operated by one person. The film would be completly different if it was shot with a big cinema camera that requires assistants and etc. It would't even exist as the premise of it heavily falls under the possibility that this new digital technology provides: the ability to capture anything you want in a very easy and convinent way and then have the ability to edit all the footage by yourself. There are many examples of this but to put it simple, if I wake up and decide to go out to shoot photos with my dslr, that decision heavily impacts what photos I shoot beacuse the whole process becomes different when you pick up a different camera. Yes, once you compare using one film camera vs the other, the difference may seem almost insignificant and you might asume that it won't affect things, but it will, no matter how little the difference between one camera is to another. For me, this is something very nice. Noticing how each camera influences what I am doing and the results I get is awesome and helps me understand how to get better with each technology and understand what suits my needs better. Honestly, I have a lot more to talk about this sunject but I will leave it at that. Sorry for any grammar issues in my comment as english is not my native language
I'd argue that even the lens doesn't matter that much, depending on what you're doing. The 35-135mm focal length prime lenses have been good for a very long time. Yes, modern lenses will have better resolution wide open especially in the corners, but how often do you really need that? For landscape you can use F/8-11 where most decent lenses are at or close to diffraction limit, and for portraits the corners usually aren't in focus anyway.
Counterpoint: i have this book and it's wonderful and I agree that it shows you _can_ make great photos with all sorts of cameras. However we see a photographer who goes and buys random inexpensive cameras and then immediately finds their strengths. While the book is amazing, the eagle eyed reader will notice that there is some consistency in which fornats most of the color is in. So I would contend that while the camera doesnt make the photograph it did in fact matter even in this specific case because each camera pushed the photographer to do specific things with it. With respect, of course.
Very true! It is almost a sad reality when you eventually discover this though. I sometimes see tourists with a 6k body and lens combination using point and shoot style photography on Auto settings. Which is fine. More power to them. To me, it's like buying a Ferrari and driving around in cruise control.
Outstanding video! I do photo walks with a photographer that is mastering the Holga. She kills it with a toy camera. She gets light and she gets the composition. Maybe I should get her an OM-10.
I want to defend the OM-10, but mine doesn't focus correctly and therefore I bought an OM-1 lol. Gonna still try to get the OM-10 sorted out though cuz the aperture priority metering works well on it.
Great video and great topic. I gave up the GAS, years ago and reverted back to using my film cameras, just for that reason. It's not the gear, it's the photographer behind the camera, the image . Thanks (subscribed) KB
True to a certain degree. It’s not that a better camera makes you a better photographer, but it’s good to like the equipment you use, because you’ll use it more often, know its characteristics and it will not be in the way between you and your image. So it does matter in this regard.
Thank you for sharing this! I couldn’t agree more. As a person who loves collecting cameras and is heavily invested in gear, I wish more people understood that gear ultimately does not matter as much as your artistic vision. I collect cameras the same way a watch collector does watches, they’ll all tell the same time but I appreciate the small mechanical touches in certain bodies. I appreciate the sublime shutter slap of Minolta SRT bodies, the buttery Nikon F3 advance lever, and the quirkiness of using a Rollei 35, but at the end of the day I know that none of those things will matter when it comes to reading the light in front of me and composing the subject matter. The only thing they do is make the process of taking photos more interesting/engaging.
All absolutely true if you view the camera as just a tool, and there's nothing wrong with that. Personally, it isn't just about the end result for me. I love the process of taking photos. If I like how a camera looks, how it feels in my hand, and if I feel good about the feature set, then I enjoy the experience more. I may never use the mirror lock up or self timer, I may never change focusing screens, prisms, film backs or fit a motor drive, but I feel good about the camera having these features, and I enjoy using it more. All very superficial and shallow, but I don't care.
i agree that ergonomics is maybe the most important thing. if it feels good in your hand you will take more photos. cameras that feel like they will slip out of your hand or are tiring to hold or use will likely mean you will not take it with you as much, or use it as much.
That was kind of the point I tried to make, not very effectively but like I said it’s something I want to discuss further
I appreciate that insight!
@RompingBronco To clarify, when I said "you", I meant anyone reading, not you specifically. From your previous videos, it seems clear that cameras are more than just tools to you 🙂.
Your argument falls into the trap of the "the pencil doesn't matter".
Because it misses "... for a good artist"
A good drummer could make beautiful music on a bucket.
But good tools makes it so much easier and better to become a good artist, where your tools start to not really matter anymore.
I always tell people starting film photography the camera is just a box for light. Your lens matters more, so you should always prioritize that over your camera. If you have a canon F1 with a 35mm f2 and an ae1 with a 35mm f2 the image is gonna look exactly the same as long as the focusing system is calibrated. But it really just comes down to you as a photographer as long as your lens is half decent. I mean i personally like my F-1 because i’m not afraid to bang it up as it doesn’t have any story behind it unlike my other film cameras which were owned by relatives or old friends.
Hi Mr Bronco! Your videos have inspired me to learn camera repair and I bought an old scrappy ae1 and fixed it up using your videos for reference. It's working great now but the only problem is that the meter is reading several stops too low. The meter does seem to respond accordingly to light changes so I don't think the photocell is completely screwed. I was wondering if you know of a way to calibrate or adjust the ae1's meter? I can't find anything online that isn't just telling me to check my batteries... and at this point I no longer fear the tungsten wire (fishing line in my case) and am prepared to do an exploratory.
"Any camera is fine." -Daido Moriyama
Truth! What matters is your understanding of how to see the scene and how to capture it.
It does matter and that is okay. A lot of photographers seem to deslike the idea of the gear influencing and/or dictating what and how you shoot photos and how they come out. At the end of the day I find it very hard to believe that it does not matter and I'll explain in a bit. You can make great things with any camera, that we can agree on.
A great example of how the camera does matter is more easipy noticeble with film. Watching the gleaners and I by Agnes Varda, you realise that the film IS the way it is beacause of not only Anges (pimarily that) but also the way it was shot and with what it was shot. A camera that is easy to use and has auto exposure, small files and can be operated by one person. The film would be completly different if it was shot with a big cinema camera that requires assistants and etc. It would't even exist as the premise of it heavily falls under the possibility that this new digital technology provides: the ability to capture anything you want in a very easy and convinent way and then have the ability to edit all the footage by yourself.
There are many examples of this but to put it simple, if I wake up and decide to go out to shoot photos with my dslr, that decision heavily impacts what photos I shoot beacuse the whole process becomes different when you pick up a different camera.
Yes, once you compare using one film camera vs the other, the difference may seem almost insignificant and you might asume that it won't affect things, but it will, no matter how little the difference between one camera is to another.
For me, this is something very nice. Noticing how each camera influences what I am doing and the results I get is awesome and helps me understand how to get better with each technology and understand what suits my needs better. Honestly, I have a lot more to talk about this sunject but I will leave it at that.
Sorry for any grammar issues in my comment as english is not my native language
Pretty general statement. I’ll send you a camera and a brief and see how you go.
I'd argue that even the lens doesn't matter that much, depending on what you're doing.
The 35-135mm focal length prime lenses have been good for a very long time. Yes, modern lenses will have better resolution wide open especially in the corners, but how often do you really need that? For landscape you can use F/8-11 where most decent lenses are at or close to diffraction limit, and for portraits the corners usually aren't in focus anyway.
Counterpoint: i have this book and it's wonderful and I agree that it shows you _can_ make great photos with all sorts of cameras. However we see a photographer who goes and buys random inexpensive cameras and then immediately finds their strengths. While the book is amazing, the eagle eyed reader will notice that there is some consistency in which fornats most of the color is in. So I would contend that while the camera doesnt make the photograph it did in fact matter even in this specific case because each camera pushed the photographer to do specific things with it. With respect, of course.
Very true! It is almost a sad reality when you eventually discover this though.
I sometimes see tourists with a 6k body and lens combination using point and shoot style photography on Auto settings. Which is fine. More power to them.
To me, it's like buying a Ferrari and driving around in cruise control.
I feel bronco is speaking not to his audience in this one...
You’re right, I’m just talking to myself but I appreciate you listening!
I’ve been wanting to get a copy of that book!
Also I really appreciate the topic of the video ❤
How do i tag Grieg Frasier or the ASC in this?
Outstanding video!
I do photo walks with a photographer that is mastering the Holga. She kills it with a toy camera. She gets light and she gets the composition. Maybe I should get her an OM-10.
toy cameras are great. i even like tiny keychain cams to take purely abstract sky/cloud photos.
So much truth. Thanks for sharing
I want to defend the OM-10, but mine doesn't focus correctly and therefore I bought an OM-1 lol. Gonna still try to get the OM-10 sorted out though cuz the aperture priority metering works well on it.
Great video and great topic. I gave up the GAS, years ago and reverted back to using my film cameras, just for that reason. It's not the gear, it's the photographer behind the camera, the image . Thanks (subscribed) KB
Romping Bronco in his soothing voice basically told us to just “git gud”.
True to a certain degree. It’s not that a better camera makes you a better photographer, but it’s good to like the equipment you use, because you’ll use it more often, know its characteristics and it will not be in the way between you and your image. So it does matter in this regard.
Thank you for sharing this! I couldn’t agree more. As a person who loves collecting cameras and is heavily invested in gear, I wish more people understood that gear ultimately does not matter as much as your artistic vision. I collect cameras the same way a watch collector does watches, they’ll all tell the same time but I appreciate the small mechanical touches in certain bodies. I appreciate the sublime shutter slap of Minolta SRT bodies, the buttery Nikon F3 advance lever, and the quirkiness of using a Rollei 35, but at the end of the day I know that none of those things will matter when it comes to reading the light in front of me and composing the subject matter. The only thing they do is make the process of taking photos more interesting/engaging.
Your photographic eye is what makes a good photo unique. All modern cameras are good and are on par with each other.
Incredible video, man!
Whoever took that pic for the thumbnail is quite the photographer 😏
The most talented photographer out there 😎