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Author Topic: Which equipment would you choose?  (Read 3655 times)

ChrisS

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Which equipment would you choose?
« on: March 21, 2011, 12:37:28 pm »

I'm fed-up with thinking about what kit I need and might, as an experiment, reduce my kit to just one of each item - one lens, one body, one flash etc. I do landscape and portrait work, so it's not so easy to do this, but the more I think about it, the more the idea attracts me.

What one body, lens etc. do you reckon is best for 'everything'?
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Ken Bennett

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Re: Which equipment would you choose?
« Reply #1 on: March 21, 2011, 12:48:55 pm »

I guess I can't choose my 12-400mm f/2 zoom, right?  ;D

When I want to pare down, I take a GF1 and either the 14 or the 20, depending on my mood. Or a 1D series body with the 35/1.4 Those choices seem to fit how I see the world through a camera.
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Christoph C. Feldhaim

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Re: Which equipment would you choose?
« Reply #2 on: March 21, 2011, 12:57:37 pm »

Mamiya Universal Rangefinder with 100 mm f 2.8 lens.
 :P

ChrisS

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Re: Which equipment would you choose?
« Reply #3 on: March 21, 2011, 01:12:11 pm »

I thought a zoom would be fine - but I guess we could be more picky and insist on prime. But I'd go for a zoom if I could!

I have an RZ 67 with 110 2.8 and film back, and wondered about that, too. Something about the pace of it that I like. It fits well with the limited kit idea, to my mind. Have less kit AND take less shots than I do in digital.
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ChrisS

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Re: Which equipment would you choose?
« Reply #4 on: March 21, 2011, 02:08:20 pm »

What lens would you put with it, Fred?
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fredjeang

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Re: Which equipment would you choose?
« Reply #5 on: March 21, 2011, 02:14:33 pm »

What lens would you put with it, Fred?
That's a question for Rob! I'm not any more a Nikon owner and my last Nikon gear was the veteran F4. My favorite portrait lens was the 105mm f2.5 but it's a manual prime. On the new and AF I have no bloody idea on the Nikon line what are the goodies.
I told you the D3x because it's known that you can't go wrong with it.
Hope you got imputs from Nikon users. 
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RSL

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Re: Which equipment would you choose?
« Reply #6 on: March 21, 2011, 02:52:40 pm »

Fred, Whether or not you can go wrong with the D3x depends on what you're trying to do. I don't own one, though it looks like a marvelous machine for its intended use. But I'm not sure what that use is. It's not nearly as fast as the D3s. If you're trying to do landscape with anything less than a 4 x 5 you're probably making a mistake. If you're doing the kind of studio work Rob used to do you probably want to do it with a Hasselblad. If you're doing street photography you probably would be best off with a Leica of some sort. Probably the best application for the D3x would be weddings.

Seems to me each application has its own appropriate tools. I struggle along with a D3 for most things and often wish I had a D3s, though the difference in speed doesn't seem to warrant five grand and change. But when I'm on the street I often wish I had a Leica as dependable and unobtrusive as my old M4. On the other hand, the M9 seems so unreliable that I'd probably leave it home if it locked up on me even once or started throwing strange streaks down the images, etc.

So, my answer to the OP's question is: "It depends."
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Rob C

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Re: Which equipment would you choose?
« Reply #7 on: March 21, 2011, 04:50:41 pm »

I'm afraid I'm with Fred in that I couldn't suggest a single camera: two is best, each with one prime.

For the portraits I'd have to go back to my favourite: 135mm; for landscape (including towns) I'd settle on either a 24mm or 28mm shifter. I drove through France a few times with a lot of film and all my lenses; in the end, the 35mm Nikkor shifter that I used to own got most use, but I remember wishing it were wider.

If I may extend this beyond the OP a sec, I'd love a 2/200 (Santa baby, listening?) and a willing wench on the beach. Maybe that's not off-topic after all; a form of portraiture...

Cameras? For my own use, which stops at A3+, I wouldn't go beyond the D700.

Rob C

stamper

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Re: Which equipment would you choose?
« Reply #8 on: March 22, 2011, 04:59:36 am »

A good craftsman always has a choice of tools. So keep the lot. ;)

ChrisS

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Re: Which equipment would you choose?
« Reply #9 on: March 23, 2011, 03:39:21 pm »

I've got the idea that different tasks are generally best met with dedicated equipment. (Though I do think that sometimes the 'need' for dedicated equipment is more an outcome of clever marketing than real needs.)

My question was intended more as an idle thought experiment - sort of along the lines of Desert Island Disks here in the UK. If you could have just one of each item, what would you choose?

Another way to ask the question might be: which single camera body, lens etc. do you think is most versatile? But that seems more sensible/ less playful than my original question was intended to be.

Stamper - funnily enough, my question was prompted by a master craftsman who I recently met, and who maintains that people have far too much equipment these days. As a cabinet maker, he uses 10 tools to do all his work.
« Last Edit: March 23, 2011, 03:55:56 pm by ChrisS »
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stamper

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Re: Which equipment would you choose?
« Reply #10 on: March 24, 2011, 04:32:40 am »

I think that most photographers have less than 10 lenses, so the comparison to 10 tools isn't really apt?  :)

Rob C

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Re: Which equipment would you choose?
« Reply #11 on: March 24, 2011, 04:50:13 am »

I've got the idea that different tasks are generally best met with dedicated equipment. (Though I do think that sometimes the 'need' for dedicated equipment is more an outcome of clever marketing than real needs.)

My question was intended more as an idle thought experiment - sort of along the lines of Desert Island Disks here in the UK. If you could have just one of each item, what would you choose?

Another way to ask the question might be: which single camera body, lens etc. do you think is most versatile? But that seems more sensible/ less playful than my original question was intended to be.
Stamper - funnily enough, my question was prompted by a master craftsman who I recently met, and who maintains that people have far too much equipment these days. As a cabinet maker, he uses 10 tools to do all his work.


That would become almost intolerable - drive one crazy. But, faced with it, I'd go with the D700 and a manual 1.8/50mm. It would be as close to the Rollei TLR concept as one can go with a different format shape. In other words, one body plus standard lens. A few years ago, that would have been a vote for my old 2.8/35mm Nikkor instead, as sharp an objective as I ever found, and also suited to the fashion ideas of the age. During those years the standard 2/50mm Nikkor was hardly ever used... ah, fashion... what a capricious bitch.

Rob C

PS As it stands now, I've got thousands of pounds worth of equipment and it's become useless to me because my Photoshop system has gone off and when I mask parts of images whilst wanting to alter other parts, the masking no longer works and everything gets the change applied to it. I've uninstalled and then reinstalled, but the fault continues. Consdering that's via a CD, I suspect the problem may lie with the computer... ye gods, when will the spending end? Now?

stamper

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Re: Which equipment would you choose?
« Reply #12 on: March 24, 2011, 11:46:03 am »

Rob with respect to your masking there won't be a problem with Photoshop or your computer. You are doing something different from normal. After you have created a selection with the marching ants go to top of the Photoshop screen and got to> Select and you will see the option for select and deselect. Toggle them back and forward and see what happens. ;)
« Last Edit: March 24, 2011, 11:53:07 am by stamper »
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Rob C

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Re: Which equipment would you choose?
« Reply #13 on: March 24, 2011, 06:15:27 pm »

Rob with respect to your masking there won't be a problem with Photoshop or your computer. You are doing something different from normal. After you have created a selection with the marching ants go to top of the Photoshop screen and got to> Select and you will see the option for select and deselect. Toggle them back and forward and see what happens. ;)

Hi stamper -

Wish I'd found this post earlier - have spent most of the afternoon resetting the computer to an earlier date and then trying a variety of things I can no longer remember, but I've got the normal useage back, thank God! You might have saved me half a day!

Thanks, anyhow.

Rob C
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