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Blocked up

Why do we photograph? For the vast majority of the population, it’s because we want to record or document something. However, if you’re reading this site, I suspect it’s either because you really, really enjoy it, or it’s your job, or perhaps both. And I suspect that even if you do do this for a living, you’d have to have fallen into the former category at some point in time in order to think that it might even have been a slightly worthwhile exercise to undertake the current masochism that is professional photography, over say, banking. I know I did. In fact, I enjoyed photography in the early days (looking back, probably around 2001-2002) to the point it was probably slightly unhealthy and obsessive. But it did provide a creative outlet and set the foundations for today. Bottom line: we shoot because we enjoy it.

This article will be a sort of evolution of the Compact Fast Normal Conundrum…



I once promised somebody a toilet photograph…

I can’t help but think that it’s very easy for us to get obsessed with the technical details or chasing a bit ‘more’; whether that ‘more’ is actually accessible to the photographer under most situations (the shooting envelope) is another thing. And whether that make any pictorial difference whatsoever is quite something else entirely. We may well enjoy using a view camera for the first few times, or the hassle of stop down metering and manual focus with adapted lenses, but let’s face it: this gets tiring after a while; it simply isn’t fun anymore. Even if the results may be a couple of percentage points better than the kit lens alternative.



Everybody needs a fan

Perhaps this makes more sense if I explain my point of origin. I went through the first few years of my photographic journey wanting more everything, and able to use it – simply because the cameras at the time really weren’t that mature. I’d pinpoint the threshold of sufficiency happening in late 2007/early 2008, right around the time of the D3 and D700. You could now shoot anything under pretty much any light. There were no more excuses; it was up to the photographer. I doubled down and shot even more to try and up my game. That was pretty much the way it was – other than a one year affair with Leica and the rangefinder style of photography for documentary work – until 2012, at which point I turned pro. Suddenly I had clients asking for very specific things – high resolution, images under certain conditions, video, work where I was weight limited (i.e. flying coach) – and it became clear to me that those four or five years of sufficiency were over. Right tool for the job, and all that.

The high resolution D800 was used only for work, because I didn’t have any serious interest in printing (let alone large) back then. I shot my personal work with M4/3 because of size, weight, and that ‘lightness’ factor: the feeling that you were out exploring rather than loaded for bear and hunting, but at the same time had the right hardware should an opportunity present itself. I got quite serious with film and medium format for reasons of education: to see the difference, and to figure out how to translate that fantastic monochrome tonality to digital. And because it was fun, in a liberating way: no more being slave to the electronics.



Marching towards the same distant horizon

Then printing, and specifically Ultraprints, happened. Everything now had to be shot with the maximum resolution possible; moreover, I was carrying for that eventuality just in case – especially in instances where the chances of finding a subject that suited the Ultraprint output were high, and you couldn’t return (think Cuba). It’s now gotten to the point that I need medium format or tilt shifts and a tripod for this kind of work, because unfortunately I can tell the difference. Once you’ve seen it, you can’t un-see it – as one of my students said. This reminds me very much of the ‘early DSLR days’ – those times when we carried every lens we owned, every flash, a tripod, and basically the entire camera kit – in an enormous bag every time we went out for the primary purpose of taking photographs. It really wasn’t that fun because of the weight and awkwardness of all of the stuff hanging off us. I love to shoot with as little as possible – that liberating feeling means you’re fresher for longer, more alert to photographic opportunities, and more likely to be willing to see what’s over the next hill. It’s fun, as opposed to boot camp exercise.

I’m writing today’s article because in the last few months I’ve found myself at that point where I know I’m not going to Ultraprint everything, and if I go out with making Ultraprints in mind as my end goal, then I will of course go with the right equipment; if not, there’s no point in being a pack mule. ACR has been updated and the Fujis are now giving interesting results, adding one more option to the list. And there’s also no point in carrying a D810 or 645Z and then having to deal with the files of subjects that potentially don’t even have that much detail to begin with. I can’t imagine ever needing or wanting an Ultraprint of my family members, for instance. And in these circumstances: usually where photography is not the primary objectives the consideration of having a ‘fun’ camera comes about. Let’s be honest: there is no way any serious photographer is going to go anywhere not having a camera, at least not without possibly serious regret afterwards – hence the desire to have something good enough, but not obtrusive.



Cutout

More importantly though, the ‘fun’ camera mentally liberates us from the onus of feeling as though we have to always go out and make weighty images of significant photographic merit: we are now free to experiment and shoot intuitively, to see what comes out and perhaps loosen up a little on the technical perfection. It might sound odd, but it’s the feeling of you driving the camera, not the camera driving you. This experimentation is of course important for creative development – and if you’ve got to set up a tripod and mess around with tilt shift movements every time you want to try a shot, then perhaps that cycle of creative development is going to be much slower and more frustrating than you might like. I’ll be honest and say some of my more satisfying and serendipitous images have been made under these conditions. And recognising that, I’m now thinking a lot more about how to maximise these occurrences by creating both conducive circumstances as well as being prepared – but not so prepared that it compromises other things.



Fans also have off days

Put it this way: it’s the kind of camera you’d like to have with you when perhaps you’re out to lunch with your family or running some errands and just happen to either see something visually interesting and worth photographing or experimenting with, or there’s a five or ten minute break where you’re waiting for somebody or something and have a little time to kill and you’d like to work a patch of light for a bit. The images in this article are a reflection of that; they’re experiments or grab shots from one of the cameras in the list below from times when I haven’t been out to shoot. I’m honestly not going to lug around a 645Z or D810 and Otus for this, but I might well pack something a little smaller and lighter. Remember: the technical demands of the sensor have a knock-on effect on everything else up and downstream in the imaging chain – lenses, support, storage etc.: consider the entire workflow.



That sleepy feeling after a Sunday afternoon drink

I’m going to leave you with a few recommendations and rationales for cameras I’ve recently used and enjoyed – more importantly, found fun for various reasons. You may wonder why the larger M4/3 cameras aren’t in here; I’d put them in the ‘serious’ category rather than the fun one. The fact that they were fun, and not frustrating, means that they passed the sufficiency bar – in some cases, well past. This of course means that for most uses, providing you don’t have specific needs like telephoto reach or large and high resolution prints, they’re actually probably good enough to be your primary camera. If you find yourself reluctant to go shoot because of the overhead or the anxiety of deciding what to bring – often ‘just in case’ – perhaps you need a little creative space and one of these in your pocket or bag. MT

Nikon D750 and f1.8G prime lenses (or the manual focus 45/2.8P or Voigtlander 40/2 pancakes ) or 24-85/3.5-4.5 VR (review | B&H | Amazon)

Ergonomically excellent; quite possibly the best of the Nikons at the moment. It’s responsive and small, has a tilt screen for waist level work and video and able to focus and see in the dark. Few compromises (well, relative to a D810) in image quality with the excellent 1.8G primes. And it’ll do double duty as a system backup or low light camera if you happen to be shooting with a D800E/D810 as your primary already.

Sony A7II (review | B&H | Amazon) and Zeiss FE 35/1.8 (B&H | Amazon) or 55/1.8 (B&H | Amazon), to taste

The smallest full frame option, stabilisation, with fast Zeiss primes. Some compromises in battery life and image quality because of raw compression, but still very enjoyable to shoot. Need I say more?

Fuji X-T1 (B&H | Amazon) and Zeiss 1.8/32 Touit (B&H | Amazon)

Shock horror: Ming recommends a Fuji. Ming sells a Fuji. It and I didn’t get along, but that’s not something against the camera – I just found myself continually slowed down and not working in a fluid way because of the reversed dial direction vis a vis Nikon. ACR 8.7 is now good enough, and brings usable workflow to X-Trans-land. This combination is probably about as small as you can get and still have ‘serious’ controls. There’s some very nice Zeiss microcontrast magic (and value for money, at current prices) in that 32 Touit, too – especially for B&W work. The X-T1 makes really ‘rich’ B&Ws and is much easier to focus with MF glass than a DSLR, but not everything looks good – the edges on adapted lenses are so-so, and video is still better on Bayer cameras.

Panasonic LX100 (review | B&H | Amazon) / Leica D-Lux 109 (review | B&H)

Great external control set and haptics; a very solid camera that actually feels like a camera as opposed to a piece of electronics. Highly customisable. Whether you choose the LX100 or Leica variants (about $300 difference at the time of writing) depends on your aesthetic preferences, wallet, and whether you want the extended warranty and Lightroom or not. It has a very good EVF and the neat ability to provide full flash sync up to 1/16,000s thanks to a fully electronic shutter. There’s 4K video, too. The lens is pretty good, but unfortunately to keep the whole thing small it never fully covers the 4/3 donor sensor, so 12.7MP is about the most you’ll get. The one ‘gotcha’ in the whole package.

Panasonic GM5 and 12-32 pancake zoom (B&H | Amazon)

Think of this camera as an LX100 with interchangeable lenses, a bit more resolution, but poorer ergonomics/controls and less customisation – the price for the 12-32 kit is exactly the same as the LX100, making this a tricky choice. You basically give up the excellent haptics of the LX100 for a bit more resolution and the ability to change lenses; that said, the 24-75/1.7-2.8 equivalent in the LX100 is probably all the lens you’d need for a camera like this. Any more lens and you’d be talking serious. 🙂 There is one compromise, again: power on is a three step process (lens cap off, extend lens, power switch); the LX100 can be a single step if you have the flower petal cap. Maybe it matters, maybe it doesn’t.

Ricoh GR (review | B&H | Amazon)

I actually had second thoughts about putting this camera in simply because the results and image quality are definitely in serious camera territory, and I use it just as much for serious, focused photography as I do as a carry-anywhere sidepiece. Perhaps that’s what makes it so damn good: it’s a scalpel in a group of Swiss Army knives and multitools. It has a phenomenal lens-sensor pairing and amongst the highest pixel level image quality I’ve ever seen, from any camera. Monochrome conversions are tonally beautiful and very, very easy. My north-of-15k shutter count is a testament to that.

Apple iPhone 6 Plus (Amazon)

You know what they say about the camera you have with you – camera phones have been getting better and better, and the latest generation of iPhone shows you what a difference some intelligent processing algorithms and a lot of computing hardware can make. I think it’s nearly impossible to get a blurry image out of this camera – there’s hardware stabilisation and intelligent multi-shot algorithms for noise reduction and blur reduction, and you know what, they really work. The phone works magic with grab shots and requires very little effort to use, and just a little more to produce results that honestly surpass even the Ricoh GRD IV from a few years ago. Plus composing on that enormous screen is quite a surreal experience – almost view-camera-esque. It has the smallest shooting envelope of the bunch, but you can still make satisfying images with it so long as you know how to use a wide-angle lens well.

Canon SL1/100D plus 40/2.8 STM pancake (B&H | Amazon)

This may come as an odd choice amongst this group, but I arrived at it when looking for something for my wife – with a bit more horsepower than the previous compacts (or the iPhone 6 that’s supplanted them), but not quite so much intimidation as the LX100’s external knobs and dials and markings provide. It actually does a pretty decent job in full auto, and there’s a raw file with reasonable latitude for me to work with later if need be. Plus it’s small, quite robust, and I admit rather attractive in white.

Canon IXUS 520HS (Amazon)

350mm optical in something the size of a pack of playing cards, for under $200. Need I say more?

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Prints (and some as Ultraprints) from this series are available on request here

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