Graywolf wrote:
Yet, Doug, I find exactly the same thing Shel does. The compromises I
have to put up with to have those features is annoying as hell.If their
non-use was transparent it would not be a problem, but it is not
transparent, you have to fight the camera. It is not as simple as just
turning off AF, for instance, every AF camera I have ever tried to us
has had its manual focus use compromised by the changes made to the
design for the AF to work at all.
How is it compromised? You still just turn the focus ring.
But then I can understand where you guys think that manual mode is
something that is only used sometimes. What Shel and I are saying is
that if folks will take the time and effort to learn basic camera skills
they will find that they have more control without even having to think
about it once those skills are automatic. Yes it takes more effort up
front, but after awhile it is automatic and that big fucking computer
between our ears is far more capable than any microchip yet made.
Why do you and Shel assume I don't know camera basics just because I
choose to use a modern camera? I can calculate equivalent exposure, I
know how to use DOF, I can develop and print, I can read available
light. In short, I know how to use a fully manual camera. I simply
choose to use a more modern camera.
As you say everyone gets to make their own choice about these things,
but without guys like Shel and I telling the youngsters our way, they do
not get to make a choice, they only know what their camera manual says
and that has become something that is written by feature copywriters not
by photographers.
Again, why do you assume that someone who buys a newer camera is too
stupid to learn camera and photographic basics? Buying a newer camera
does not preclude someone from also buying Saint Ansel's tomes, does it?
So, yes, eveyone gets to make their own choice, but they do need to
understand what their choices are, and what they cost.
Cost? What cost?
It's the picture that counts. There are no tests other than that.
You don't get more points for a photo taken with a Leica than for one
taken with the latest DSLR. Nobody says, "Well, it's a great photo, but
it would have been even greater if you knew how to operate a Speed Graphic."
People make dull, uninteresting, badly-exposed photos every day with
fully manual cameras, just as people do with newer cameras. It's not the
camera. Packing a view camera a hundred miles into the wilderness, while
impressive from an endurance standpoint, is pointless if you come back
with crappy photos, just as dropping multi-thousands of dollars on a new
NiCanoltax is pointless if you come back with crappy photos. I know
this, because I've made crappy photos with a lot of different cameras.
Doug
graywolf
