7.18.2020

I have better lenses but they're not as much fun to use. I have faster cameras but they're not as interesting.

this is a combination that repudiates "easy." 
The Lumix S1R camera is not a "fast" shooter. You won't be
using it to shoot 20 frames per second. It's big and heavy. 
The battery life isn't "class leading." 

the lens is an old Leica 90mm R Elmarit lens that opens up to 
f2.8 and has to be focused manually. The aperture has to be manually
set on the lens. With a fully "dumb" lens on the Lumix you
only get "A" and "M" exposure modes. 

so, when I'm just hanging out shooting for fun, why is it that 
I prefer this rig to ones that are easier and more 
automatic to use?

Why indeed.

things have gotten so easy. You point a current S.O.T.A. camera at something, zoom the lens to match the composition that looks best, do a half press on the shutter button and the camera leaps into action, setting the focus and the exposure and you smile as you press the shutter button all the way down and the camera makes the shot. You don't have to think. You can just respond. If you are unsure you can just hold down the shutter button and the camera will continually readjust focus and fire away at 10 or 15 or 20 frames per second. Surely one of the frames from among hundreds will work for you...As simple to operate as it is to change channels with your TV's remote control.

Not sure how to get the best dynamic range? Just put the camera into the auto-HDR mode and let it do all the work. You can totally automate your videos as well. 

But, after a while, doesn't all that easy photo living get a bit.....boring? It does for me... Modern cameras are to immersion in photography as golf carts are to authentic golf.  If you didn't walk the course and carry your own clubs did you really play? 

And I guess that's why I'm drawn to cameras (and lenses) that have the potential to deliver great images but at the same time require more effort from the operator. I love cameras and lenses that make me work for the prize. I hate the ones that make it too easy. Too easy is how people must feel when everyone gets a trophy. Not a sensation you'll encounter when using something as eccentric as a Sigma fp. Or even your hyper automatic model, when switched over to manual control.

I like cameras that require the owner to invest in at least some of the operation; some of the creative and subjective selections. The need to make decisions tied to the actual operation of the camera keeps reminding me that this is still, when all is distilled down to its essence, a craft that depends on my choices more than on just buying the most convenient-to-operate tools. When the operational requirements are so facile and so automated I think the process, subconsciously, is devalued by the person practicing it. I know I invest progressively less in a photograph the more simple and automated the process becomes. 

I like the hands-on action of manually focusing a lens. All the better if I have to magnify the view and decide exactly where the point of sharpest focus is supposed to go. And then get it there. I like shooting in a manual exposure mode because there's less inertia to making exposure settings that "disagree" with the automatic settings. Because it's okay to prefer exposures that are lighter or darker than the automatically selected ones.  No matter how compartmentalized your thought processes are I can't believe that a camera providing an exposure set point doesn't in some small way reduce your incentive to take control and make adjustments. 

The weight of a camera isn't a detraction from the process if your intention was to go out and take photographs. It's a reminder of the seriousness with which you take your process. Carrying around the extra weight and taking over control of all the camera settings is akin to making a hopeful sacrifice to the photo gods. It's the friction that makes the process of taking a great photograph more unique, more difficult and by extension more fun and rewarding. 

If Panasonic made a camera body with no autofocus, no auto exposure and no extraneous modes or features, but one which required your complete attention to making images, I'd buy it in a heartbeat. It would be a constant reminder to me that I am integral to the process. That the success of an image depends more on my seeing it and capturing it correctly than letting a camera implement a cookie cutter approach to capture.

There's no real style without creative friction of some kind. For me it's the mastery of the camera and all the controls, for someone else it's the search for the perfect location or the perfect post processing recipe. But I can only see the process through my approach. And for me the friction with my tools is important. 

I find composing and focusing to be intertwined and I like it best when I control it all. But I'm guessing people's ways of working are all different. I can only think that cameras like a manual Leica M, though digital, are popular precisely because they require the integration of the human brain and fingers with the mechanisms of the camera.

When you learned on a Canonet QL17 you learned a way of shooting that doesn't leave you. Knowing how to make all the changes is the core advantage. Excessive automation is the enemy. 

The Leica Elmarit f2.8 is a classic. It's a simple optical formula that's enhanced by the build quality. Superior glass in metal barrels, precision machined parts that are made to be used for decades. A smooth focusing ring, the use of which is its own reward. The knowledge that if you get everything just right you'll get a photograph that you bargained for. I love the process of selectively focusing that lens. It keeps me involved right in the center of the whole enterprise.

If, on a  walk for instance, the camera/photography is secondary and you've only brought your camera alongs in case something catches your eye, then I understand the desire not to be burdened by weight or size or complexity. Bring a compact camera. Bring a good phone/camera. But if it's your intention to make photographs I think the added complexity and required work of a more controlled approach between human and manual camera operation adds a welcome  friction that generates the needed heat of creativity.




10 comments:

Anonymous said...

Kirk

I’m a long time reader and occasional responder of your blog. I agree with your assessment. There is a sense of accomplishment when you create an image for yourself. Which is a reason why I have been drawn to M and large format cameras over the years.

There is an old saying that I think fits with your post; “If its easy, it isn’t worth doing.”

Looking forward to your next blog update.
Paul Barclay

JohnW said...

Mr.T - I think the important point in the process is that there is "creative friction". Where it is will depend on how you "think photographically". My cameras all have a zillion features I've never used and couldn't care less about. Like you I cut my photographic teeth on film - focus, aperture, shutter speed and exposure compensation are all I need/want. But the camera for me is just a means of capturing the image data. The real friction for me is in post. Saint Ansel said it perfectly "The negative is the score. The print is the performance". I can happily spend hours in front of the monitor working out the relationships of structure and tonality to tell the story I want to tell. Sometimes it's a slam dunk. Other times it like giving birth - labour intensive and painful, but the end results are worth every moment of it; and the learning ... well, that's priceless.

James Weekes said...

Well, between you and Mike Johnston, I have done a similar thing. I took a chance and bought an S1-R on eBay for a bit over half price. It was in it’s box and had not even been registered. So, I have full warranty and the camera is pristine. That was three months ago, and, thanks to you, I have the Sigma 40mm and the LUMIX 24-70, both lovely lenses. Where Mike comes in is that a few years ago he waxed poetic about the Takumar 50mm f/1.4 lenses. For a mere $80.00 I got a lovely example. I used it on my G9, where it was a 100mm lens, and liked the results, but I am not a 100mm lover. So.....I got a converter for the big camera. It is fantastic! Very smooth, built beautifully, and it renders colors in the way I remember from the 70s and 80s color films. It is, of course, manual focus and you set the aperture the way it was meant to be set, on the lens. I rarely take it off the camera and love the results.

D Lobato said...

I have two 105mm lenses, one an f1.8 and the other an f4 Macro, with an adapter. Either results in memorable experiences with my Full Frame mirrorless cameras.

Eric Rose said...

When I was in Austin visiting my best photos (most enjoyable to me) where taken with the GH5 and a Leica 50mm Summicron. Love that combination. Maybe I'm lazy, a Luddite or quite possibly both but I probably only use 5% of the features on the GH5. When shooting stills I use it very much like a manual film camera.

I hope we see some the shots you took with pictured combination!

All the best.

Eric

Raymond Charette said...

Neuroscience has proven again and again that when your brain isn't engaged (challenged) in something, you don't remember your actions and therefore you don't learn about what you just did. Technical competence comes with applied repetition of a task (action with a goal).

Chappy Achen said...

I agree with you and others who have posted here, keep it simple let me figure it out and instead of an auto intelligent mode. Same with the software on post processing, with all the presets and one brush techniques you might as well say you really didn't do anything, just like Kodak use to say, "You push the button, will do the rest"

Tom said...

Agreed totally. I use only film nowadays and I still pop a roll of HP5 into my Canonet QL17 and go for a quiet stroll. I have way too many cameras with my current favourite being a Box Tengor it has the ability to render superb results.
Thanks for your writings and keep safe.

Tom Vadnais said...

This was one of my favorite of your excellent and insightful blog posts, Kirk. Even though I shoot with a Nikon D850, I always shoot in manual exposure mode. Since I almost exclusively use ZEISS Otus and Milvus lenses, I also must manually focus. I have always really enjoyed the process of manually determining exposure and manually focusing, but I had never put it into words as well as you just did. As you said, the deliberate decision making, coupled with the wonderful tactile experience of focusing a long-throw manual focus lens, make even mundane photographic chores (like some for work) quite enjoyable, albeit difficult to explain to those who haven't experienced them.

Tom

Len said...

Agreed. Manual focus is just wonderful isn’t it. A nice fast lens and turn up my sharpness to full and it’s almost focus peaking. I love working this way. I’d buy a manual focus lens for this beauty in a heart beat. Just which one?

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