I am not sure I completely agree with that, but I probably
misunderstand. A camera is a tool and they vary a lot. Maybe less
now. If you replace your ball peen hammer with a carpenter's hammer
you are likely to go in a new direction. If a camera gets in your
way less in getting what you want it may allow you to be more
creative in creating images rather than spending it in wading through
menus. If it has an exposure system and focus you can master and
trust you don't have to spend time chimping and you will shoot more
spontaneously. You are probably going to concentrate on a different
kind of picture taking with a digital medium format that requires it
to be tethered to a laptop. Certainly Holga owners would argue with
you as well as people who like playing with their super wides and
Lens Babies. All you have to do is go on the Coolpix forum on
dpreview to see all the macro shots because that function is
especially good in that series of cameras. And your Fujifilm cameras
and their low light capability have certainly opened a whole new
area of creativity for you.
It is true you cannot buy someone else's creativity by using their
camera, but perhaps there is something about the camera that makes
that kind of photography easier, not just for the famous person.
Certainly we had several generations of street and candid natural
light interior photography with Leicas using their characteristics of
speed, quietness, and unobtrusiveness. Kind of hard with an Agfa Si
lette or Voightlaender Bessamatic.
Of course the biggest barrier, I think, is time to learn how to use
your camera, especially now when it has been replaced every few
years. I was pretty comfortable with my OM4T and it did not get in
the way of creativity, but it never got to be the natural extension
that my old Leica of 20 years had become. They were simple cameras. I
wonder whether I will ever use a digital long enough not to have to
think too much about the camera. That is really why I hoped for a
digital back for my OM4T, not for the cost, but for the familiarity.
Probably the best advise now, I think, is to buy the best camera
that engages your interest because, hopefully, it will not become
obsolete as quickly. There is something about a nice refined shutter/
mirror sound. By that I mean not just replaced in the lineup, but
that its images will no longer be acceptable. I don't really think
that the present predictions of DSLRs topping out at 22 or 24 MP will
affect the current 10-12 MP crop. Most people do not print over the
standard large format printer size of 13x19 and even that is rare, I
think. Probably not much difference will be seen at that size between
the current crop and what may appear in a couple of years.
Winsor
Long Beach, California, USA
On Sep 5, 2006, at 1:16 PM, Moose wrote:
>
> Picking a camera because someone else uses it is seldom going to have
> new creative results.
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