RustyBug
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 p.1 #5 · Selling the Q2 Monochrom - a mistake? | |
johnvanr wrote:
I got the Q2 monochrom a few years ago, while still in the US. I find that I don't use it that much. So, I listed it for sale. When someone asked for the shutter count, I took it out of its box and got hit by doubts. On the one hand, I don't use it that much, but on the other hand, I do enjoy the camera as such and it does force me to 'see' in B&W.
The latter I can do with B&W film in an older film camera, but that also means older lenses, manual focus and all the other elements of shooting old film cameras. That's a whole other experience.
Some of you will say, sell it and when you miss it, buy it again. I'm in Europe, though. Until this morning, my Q2M was listed on the main selling sites in Holland and Austria and in both countries it was the only Q2M listed for sale. On MPB Europe, they don't have a single one for sale. So, it won't be an easy sell and rebuy if I sell it now.
I'm planning to keep it for now, but I'm wondering if those who had it and sold it, did regret it. Or how people fared who sold it and then just used a color camera to shoot their B&Ws.
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Hey John, PM me when you want to let it go. 
Actually, here's my take on it.
johnvanr wrote:
I do enjoy the camera
Done. 
johnvanr wrote:
I find that I don't use it that much.
Use it more, done.
I understand the "don't use it that much" aspect of things. My Q2 (regular) and my M246 (mono) both fall into that category, making them a "Gee, maybe I should get rid of them." territory. And, yet ... when I do pick them up I enjoy using them. And the thoughts about missing them, should I sell, them re-emerge. On one hand, there is a smidgen of FOMO involved there. On the other hand, they do provide me with an enjoyment that is different from just being a "tool" that I need, or best serves me for monochrome.
Imo, the monochrome difference (vs. color conversion) on a technical basis has a gap that has been narrowed with the software capabilities that are ever improving. That's not to say they are the same, but I'm saying it won't be a deal breaker for general use difference for most things if you were to be without a monochrome camera.
Imo, the thing that shooting with a monochrome camera does, is it changes your headspace about things. Even if I don't play with filters, and just shoot "straight" mono with my M246, it shifts my headspace whenever I pick it up. For me (ymmv), it puts my headspace into a "classic" mindset. Not so much a technical mindset, and the discussion about "reduction" in terms of what the photographic output of mono vs. color is.
Rather, a reduction in my headspace that I'm observing things more simplistically. My headspace goes back to those folks before us ... those who were pioneers that ONLY worked in the monochrome medium. Kinda of a return to our "forefathers", if that makes any sense. Hard to articulate well, but ... hopefully you get the gist ... that it isn't what the camera does to the image. Rather, it is what the camera does to YOU.
I split my mono work about 50/50 between M246 files and color conversions. I've gotten to a place where I'm pretty confident that I can get the technical aspects closer than most things will matter on a technical basis (90% of the time). Most recently, I've even begun to dabble with colorizing my mono files into color, with reasonable success (from an artistic perspective vs. recording device perspective).
For me, I'm dabbling with the prospect of letting my Q2 and M246 go ... converting them into a Q2M. Thinking that my "not that much" will increase if I combine them. But, that's a consolidation, which is a bit different matter than your dilemma.
That said, similar to how folks are holding on to the M10R vs. the M11, the Q2M an M10M are "keepers", if one is so inclined to their attributes.
That said, back to the top ... if you enjoy it ... enjoy it.
Some folks keep a bottle of nice beverage (i.e. whiskey, Scotch, wine, etc.) on the shelf. It's not their daily beverage. It's their ... when I want something "special", that I enjoy as something "special", it's nice to have around, to take down from the shelf.
Is the Q2M your daily rig ... maybe not. But, if it is something special, that brings you joy, then let it sit on your "special" shelf. It'll be there waiting for you, when you want what it does "to you", in as much as what it does "for you".
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