Some Random Rambling and Photos by Wouter Willemse
Everything is getting more expensive these days; there seems no escaping that every day you run into something that costs more than you cared to remember.
Shortage on electronic components sure drove prices for digital cameras and lenses up. Increasing popularity of film photography drove prices for old gear up in many cases. As I already mentioned some time ago, prices for film consumables (film and chemistry) have also gone up.
No, this is not about the Canon mirrorless camera. Sure there will be more people knowing the EOS R6 than the actual subject of this post, but let that be a lesson for Canon to not re-use names from others. The R6 already existed (as did the R5 and whatever else they have in mind, only R1 and R2 are unused).
I’ve shortly mentioned this R6 in the past; this time I’d like to dive a bit deeper about its virtues and shortcomings for my uses.
I guess one of the most spot-on descriptions there could be.
What I particularly like is how it emphasizes that light is the key ingredient. It’s easy to get caught up on discussions on composition, intent, colours, technique or the gear used. I am guilty of all of those. But in the end, it’s about light.
It’s in human nature to be competitive. It’s normal to want to be very good or ideally the best at things we love doing. What is sports without it? That shot of mental endorphin we apply to ourselves. It is what keeps us growing and learning for a lifetime.
Previous posts may not have make it seem that way, but my main cameras are Nikons, not Leicas. When I moved to a DSLR, I went for a Nikon. In time, I got a couple of older manual focus lenses for it, including the fantastic 105mm f/2.5. When I added film cameras to the mix later, it made sense to go for Nikon, as I already had lenses for it.
Today, still my DSLR is a Nikon, and for film I have a set of cameras with enough lenses to keep me entertained.
Earlier this week, I received an email from a mailing list of a website for music production. It was about a blog posting on their site with the simple but inviting title: ‘Why do you make music?‘.
The article comes up with some very good points, but truth be told: I don’t make music at all yet. Trying to learn, but that’s another story. Obviously though, it made me wonder: why do I make photos?
As it is not the first post of this kind, a short recap only on the idea behind this post. Again, this post is just one man’s opinion on a single image. Nothing I’m about to write is anything but an opinion; it’s not true, false, correct or wrong.
The image today hasn’t been without controverse, so it’s not unlikely you won’t agree or simply dislike the image to follow. If you take offense to it, then please do remember what was written above: this is just some opinion of some random guy on the internet. It’s not personal at all.
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.
The recent attention for non-fungible tokens (NFTs) got me thinking about the last post I made (a master craftsman in printing making physical objects). In turn, that made me wonder about a lot more complexities around ownership, rights and what the actual product is in photography. The hype surrounding NFTs might make one believe it’s a solution to all kind of issues. But does it?
Like the previous one, this post is just one man’s opinion on a single image. Nothing I’m about to write is anything but an opinion; it’s not true, false, correct or wrong.
Just want to make that clear in case anyone severely disagrees, which isn’t unlikely.