Lessons of youth
Reminds me of when I was about that age and had a Lafayette Quadraphonic system with a turntable. A few of my friends had similar systems too, and we loved them. After a few years we started to upgrade and you know the rest. Of course, things were different back then, no computers, etc., so our stereos were an important part of our lives. We would get together and listen to music , which was the main goal, and enjoy each system. That was the start of this hobby. |
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My first system was an all in one zenith. Spent many a night listening to Santana, moody blues, and when I could my dads frank Sinatra lps. Loved that time. I recently asked my son (now 20 and knows everything) if he wanted me to put together an audio system with some of my extra equipment. He said , no thanks, I can listen to all the stuff I want on my phone and headphones/ ear buds. Needless to say, I was disappointed. I understand, it’s all about priorities to him. Hee is a great young man, works 2 full time jobs( line cook at a restaurant, coach with a high school football team) and goes to a local college full time . So, he has no time for a hobby like audio. It’s kind of a “cats in the cradle” thing. But I love him and that’s what matters. |
@tablejockey @twodogs112 I'm definitely not mentioning forums! He get's enough drama in his photography group. I haven't approached the subject again but he really enjoys shopping for vinyl. I'll help him the next time he asks for advice---in the meantime, I'm just letting him have fun. |
LOL, I visited one of those photography forums back in the film days when one could develop and print his own pictures. No one talked about what one did to take pictures only about things like the resolution of a 35mm lense on a 36 inch print or the supposed improvement in your work depending on whether it was a Leica, Canon, Nikon, etc. ( And I want you to know I used a Nikon F3 and a 1.2 50mm lens. I was, presumably, then a serious photographer! No? :-) The real fun was in just taking snap shots of interesting stuff and playing with the negs in a dark room for my own enjoyment. The real fun in audio is listening to the music! The rest is just filling empty time.
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@newbee - as a photographer since the 60's, I know what you mean! When I show people my photos and they ask what kind of camera (meaning brand) I used, it's a tad frustrating as that is totally besides the point; it could have been any of a dozen or more cameras and the picture would look just the same! Now if they ask me about what developer I used, that's different, as that could definitely affect how the image looks.... |
Me as well… since the 60’s. I slowly switched to digital in the 90’s and really started get good in the 2000’s. A hundred thousand photos from around the world as I traveled for work. A few years ago I finally decided to ask myself if a Leica was worth it. I preordered a M10. The output was different. It took me a year to fiigure out why. Virtually all the best photos I have taken were taken with my Leica. This is where I got exposed to the same stuff we get here about interconnects and power cords… makes a huge / no difference… expensive is better / rip off of the ignorant wealthy.
BTW, there is a “Leica Look”, it is a unique camera (M series) that lends itself to more inspiring or artistic photography through greater lens resolution, better focus when lenses are wide open, greater color detail and color contrast at lower light levels. While theoretically you could modify photos in Photoshop… there is a lack of detail in the categories I mentioned above that would make it very difficult. So, throw this into a photo forum and you get everyone throwing stuff at each other… except from long termed Leica owners that have also figured this out. |
@ghdprentice - interesting - my best photos were taken with my old Nikon F from the 60's, but they would have been the same pictures if I'd been using a Canon, Minolta, Pentax, Olympus, etc etc. with the same focal length lens at the same settings. The magic happens in the viewfinder, and every camera's got one... And the darkroom work and/or an image processor of your choice, of course. |
I have a Nikon F sitting behind me on a book shelf with a couple lenses. I remember dreaming as a kid of some day owning a Nikon F series. It was of great pride when I could… then the best of the digital series and a dozen of their best lenses. It has been a very enjoyable ride… like putting together my audio system over a period of fifty years. |
When all was said and done (after getting sucked into all of the equipment hyperbole) what I came to realize was that using a manual camera (without auto focus, spot light meter, auto film advance, etc) and a good hand held light meter made a better photographer of me. It forced me to think much more about what I was doing. Auto focus and built in light meters were/are IMHO the death of creative photography. It took the acquisition of an F4 to reveal this to me. :-) I see a correlation with this discovery and audio (and I learned this the hard way too). Modest equipment, properly used, can produce excellent results if one takes the time to learn how to use it, as opposed to trying to improve the experience by fantasy based 'upgrading'. |
There is no question what you say is true for me as well. As much as it is possible to turn off the auto focus and other auto stuff on a contemporary cameras… it just seems impossible to do it… at least for me. Forcing myself to think about depth of field made me control it. On the other hand the Leica does excel at some things that make it unique. I was lucky enough to travel internationally nearly half time for many years. No matter how tired I was I would go out and do photography most every evening. I shot a Fiji X-pro or Nikon D800 (or predecessor). Under those circumstances the automation (fast changing street photography / low light) automation helped. But with time, forced manual use was of great value. |
