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 p.3 #9 · Pre-order now: Ricoh GR III | |
Spyro P. wrote:
Someone broke into my house a couple of weeks ago and stole my M typ240 and a couple of zeiss lenses. I bought it used years ago and the insurance company asked me if I had photos with the camera and/or the camera itself, so I had to go through my LR archive. It was mostly street photos. For fun I counted my street photos, turns out I have 41k of them over 11 years with all sorts of cameras from MF film to all brands of RFs to DSLRs to mirorless to cheap digital P&Ss. I stopped street photography completely 3 years ago (kids/work/life), but just looking at my photos I got a bit of an itch again 
So, the camera. Looking at my photos I've learned two things: In hindsight nobody, including myself, gave a crap about the image quality. The only ones who noticed were fellow photographers, but honestly they were never my target viewers. Everybody else was thirsty for interesting content, that's all they cared about. They wanted faces, expressions, colours, shapes, light, drama and comedy. Get a bunch of that in a frame and nobody cares if there's some noise in the shadows or if the colours are not accurate. Then came an exhibition, big prints, and I found that a file out of a $200 point and shoot will print huge, just with massive grain and various IQ horrors. Again, nobody cared, the particular photo was super popular.
2nd thing I learned is that street photography has a very low yield. It takes time and volume, you need to invest hours, move your feet, take tonnes of photos, and if you're lucky and persistent (and good) you'll get 10 photos really worth showing over a long period of time. Could be weeks, months, years. That was as true for Cartier Bresson as it is today. And what really helps in that direction? Having a camera you can slide in your pocket and keep with you everywhere. There is really no more important thing. Looking back my most productive cameras were always the smallest ones. My Leicas as much as I loved them were terrible, too big, too precious, they demanded a bag. Small means one thing and one thing only: flat, ie the dimension front of the lens to the back of the camera, this is the only dimension that matters because it determines how many pant or jacket pockets or glove boxes or computer bags it will fit in.
Do I need a viewfinder? No. Again, looking back at my photos, many if not most of them were taken by zone focusing and simply stretching my arm out to shove the camera in a crowd or in a weird angle. Was I shooting blindly? No, after a while I just knew. I could point the camera behind my head and I had a pretty good idea what would be in my frame, that's what happens if you do it long enough.
So, perfect camera in terms of results? Flat and has the ability to quickly zone focus, that's it. Honestly a modern phone could do it, if it had an ergonomic grip and shutter button, but they don't. Ricoh GR: yes this camera is perfect. I had a GR1 for a short while and it gave me an impressive yield of usable photos. Aaaaaand I hated it. Like I said before I don't need a viewfinder, I know where my frame is, and those times that I need accuracy I can look at the LCD. But I want one, even if I don't always use it. I even tried putting an external glass VF on that Ricoh's flash mount, it was a disaster, it was allover the place. There's just something about bringing a camera to my face and looking through optical glass that makes the whole experience more pleasant and more sustainable to me. It makes no difference to my photos, sometimes it even holds me back, but I just enjoy it more. And yeah some times I take a photo through a glass window and then I look at the photo and there's the reflection of me with a camera on my face, and I'm like "hey look at that, I look like a photographer" 
I know it's dumb, but it is a thing. Ιt puts me in some kind of a photo taking mood, which I need.
Second best camera that satisifies both the flat/prefocus criteria as much as possible but also has a glass VF: Fuji x100. I'll probably go with that.
I know most people will have no idea what I'm talking about but I know there will be at least one guy who does. This wall of text is for you ...Show more →
This is so true! Hated the previous Ricoh too.. as someone who were used to Nikon FF ans Sony FF, its a bit letdown in usability and ergonomics.
This or the sony rx100 which I could use for scuba..
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