by Wouter Willemse
As mentioned in previous posts, I think choice of camera gear is a personal affair, and for lenses this is even more true. We’re not all looking for the same thing, so choice is a good thing.
There is plenty places discussing such choices, but the advices aren’t always equally sound. Or it is sound, but just doesn’t apply to you. Choice is great, but it also means staying focussed on understanding your own needs.
In the parts of the Netherlands where I live, this weekend is all about celebrating carnival. I used to celebrate this as well (not this year though). While I could write a lot on this feast, I’m not going to do that.
What I am going to bring up, is the small and sweet companion I brought with me the last times I went to celebrate it: the Werra.
It’s time of the winter olympics, and I’m enjoying a lot of that massively. Apart from the action, the Olympics always have their fair share of interesting stories. Getting to the top makes for fascinating stories often enough. Staying there: a display of immense focus and drive. And as many Olympic sports aren’t very commercial, or even paid at all, that relentless drive to excel is plain awesome.
In some way, most have this drive to be the best. But unlike sports, who or what is the best isn’t always clear-cut.
Possibly one of the most polarising food items on this planet: Marmite. It seems you have to be English to be able to like it, but it used to be widely available in mainland Europe as well. Nowadays, not as much, as far as I can see. Perhaps a Brexit side effect. In any case, some will lament its poorer availability, and others will think “good riddance”. Marmite doesn’t do mid-field, only extremes.
A declaration of love for you, my baby. In between all the serious bits and pieces, you’re a fun favourite. Many will say you’re just a toy, but you and I know better. You’re original, different, funny and unashamedly yourself. You’re my Lensbaby, and yes, I do like you an awful lot.
In an earlier post, I shortly touched on the importance of ergonomics in a camera. With the increasing complexity of cameras, the topic has only grown more important. A well designed menu helps the user find that setting, no matter how esoteric it may be. A poor designed menu blocks the user from finding even the most important settings.
A good hand-grip avoid the muscles in your hand to go tired or stressed. A poor one will have your hands trembling after a while. Seriously, there is no underestimating the importance.
Hybrid workflow – it sure sounds a lot fancier than it is. What I mean with it is the roundtrip from film to digital to print. And that again sounds a lot less complicated than it is.
There is quite a lot of choices in the process, and multiple ways to skin the cat. In fact, it’s a recurring question on many photography forums. On the better forums you will get multiple answers, all valid. So what is what?
When the first Fuji X100 came out, it sparked quite a lot of reaction and discussion. Probably I am biased, but from what I recall, most people liked it. ‘It looks like a proper camera’ – retro design, modern inside. I’m biased, because I liked it a lot. And I still like the X100 series. That said, I never owned one, and actually never used one.
The mere act of processing images seems to easily cause debate. There are those that feels it’s an “anything goes”-game. Others that feel it’s an unmissable part of photography. And finally those that will call all of it ‘photoshopping’, with a clear negative meaning that any change to a photo after the fact is faking it. Finally, a lot of people somewhere in between these 3 points.
The underlying and more interesting question is when a photo is really done. At what point in the chain of events is it complete?
As with so much hobbies these days, a lot of forums and sites see their fair share of fanboys. Their only effort seems to be discrediting any other product than the one they use, whether they have any actual knowledge on that product or not. And vice-versa, everything their product does is at the top of any game, the most innovative, original, advanced… the best. The one and only best.