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Before you rush out and buy......


fotolebrocq

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With all the hype surrounding the latest must have cameras (Nikon D800(E), Fuji X-Pro1 etc) I found it refreshing to read Thorsten's new article leica.overgaard.dk - Thorsten Overgaard's Leica Pages - The Story Behind That Picture 66 - "Things that become images"

 

Having found myself of late beginning to lust after yet another camera he may just have rescued me from this ongoing nonsense. A thought provoking article containing many possible quotes, this may be the best

 

"If you don't watch out, your role shifts from the one taking the pictures, to a consumer trying to understand a camera attempting to take the pictures for you."

 

Tony

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I agree....

 

Thorsten is a refreshing antidote.... I have quoted his pragmatism and common sense on this forum several times..... to somewhat varied responses....

 

I'd consider going back to Nikon if the camera and lenses were no bigger than an M9 and the software/menu bloat excised to useable proportions capable of being managed by anyone other than a computer games freak.... some hope.....

 

Fun as this forum is..... the fact that it's the image that counts seems to get lost sometimes....

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How true. I wish for Nikon F2 or Leica R6 style camera with digital capture. I need no auto focus, A,S, P, modes. Add a nice split image screen so I can focus it,

 

So I just set the Nikons to manual everything and waste all the features, or use my new to me M8 with all the old Lenses.

 

An S2 would be kool if a half decent kit would not cost like a small house. I refuse to walk down the street with more than $20,000 in camera equipment. It is also a little to large

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IMHO, Thorsten Overgaard's succinct essay is a great piece of writing which gives voice to a great perspective on photography. The accompanying images do not disappoint, either.

 

My favorite passage is as follows:

 

A camera essentially is a box that controls light. If you have a simple camera it is very easy to see that this is what a camera should do, and very easy to control. A simple camera allows you to put your attention in front of the camera.

 

Despite the simplicity of what a camera essentially is, camera producers come up with new and even more advanced cameras with all sorts of features that are aimed at 'helping' you by making decisions for you.

 

Moral of the story: Technology is no substitute for vision.

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How true. I wish for Nikon F2 or Leica R6 style camera with digital capture. I need no auto focus, A,S, P, modes. Add a nice split image screen so I can focus it,

 

So I just set the Nikons to manual everything and waste all the features, or use my new to me M8 with all the old Lenses.

 

An S2 would be kool if a half decent kit would not cost like a small house. I refuse to walk down the street with more than $20,000 in camera equipment. It is also a little to large

 

FM for me, but then my M9 is the closest thing to that.

 

Cheers

John

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"If you don't watch out, your role shifts from the one taking the pictures, to a consumer trying to understand a camera attempting to take the pictures for you."

 

Tony

 

That sentence sums up how I feel about so many of today's offerings. They are not a camera, they are a workstation.

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Thorsten Overgaard:

"If you don't watch out, your role shifts from the one taking the pictures, to a consumer trying to understand a camera attempting to take the pictures for you."

 

That should be engraved somewhere in gold.

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So true. As many others I suspect, I was giving a thought to the Fuji X-Pro1 and downloaded the manual. After two pages I had to stop. It reminded me when two years ago I sold my digital Olympus and went back to film, buying one after the other an M6TTL, an OM1n and a Minolta SRT 101. So much more fun.

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I'm not rushing out to buy anything

 

Not quite sure why I would want anything more then a M9, except maybe a noctilux ;)

 

I find D800 fever quite funny. I am sure it will be a wonderful camera. But if I bought it, like the D700, it wouldn't make it out of my front door ...

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I find D800 fever quite funny.

To me it illustrates a certain lack of objectivity that many people seem to show. I'm just getting an M9 - simply because some of the files from my M8s were being pushed a little hard for specific (but important) requirements. If I didn't have to have the increased MPixels I'd have stuck with the M8s for longer, but there you go.

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He makes some good points, but the problems he discusses can occur with any camera. Indeed, they could be used as arguments in favor of buying a new camera, perhaps a simpler camera. But the arguments in favor of a simpler camera fail when your task actually requires a more complex camera. And getting a more complex camera doesn't mean that one can't master it, or use it in the same way as a simple camera.

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I agree. I prefer simple cameras. I'm just waiting for the camera manufacturers to produce a "simple" digital camera that doesn't cost as much as a small car.

 

Your signature implies that you already own the world's best ever 35mm camera. Why wish for more?

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He makes some good points, but the problems he discusses can occur with any camera. Indeed, they could be used as arguments in favor of buying a new camera, perhaps a simpler camera. But the arguments in favor of a simpler camera fail when your task actually requires a more complex camera. And getting a more complex camera doesn't mean that one can't master it, or use it in the same way as a simple camera.
Good point. Three years ago I bought a Fuji S5 dSLR with a thick manual. For the first couple of weeks of ownership I read the manual, set it up and fiddled with the settings until I was happy. I haven't touched the settings since and I haven't upgraded it either because I don't need to. I find this camera is a great complement to my film Leicas and I use it in exactly the same way: I turn it on, select an aperture and shoot.

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