Lumière d’Argent

Not wanting to get religious, here. During my first Canon phase, with the excellent EOS 650, 50 and 3, I used to use zooms. I even had the wonderful 28-70 f/2.8 L. This lens was excellent, I only have good memories of it, save the weight. The bulk attracted too much attention too, but I felt the compromise was good.

Since then, I have moved to a Leica M6, then to a Rollei SL66 and then to a view camera. Of course, none of these cameras take zooms. It did wonders.

I have learned to look, seek and see with defined angles of view. More importantly, I have separated the angle selection from the triggering moment. With the Canon, my shots had most often nothing in it because I consistently missed what was interesting, or relevant or whatever. I was zooming. It really distracted me too much and with the Leica I was concentrating on what was in front of me instead of fiddling with the camera and the zoom.

This has been reinforced by the medium format experience.

I am sure zooms are a great asset for many photographers. I understand they save time to people able to use them well. I was not one of them. I cant see what changed since. But I am not getting any zoom for my new Canon. It might be worth it to try again, but I just don’t want to hold such a heavy thing again. Getting back hand-hold-ability with my main camera, I prefer to keep concentrating on what is in front of me than getting distracted by the weight, the bulk and that extra control that I don’t really need.

Stephane :: Nov.02.2006 :: Gear :: No Comments »

So, OK, years after everyone I start a blog. The zillionth blog from an unknown photographer. Who will read it? Well, me, for a start. In a few months or years, I’ll probably like to read what I wrote. It will bring memories, much like when you browse through your contact sheets.

Contact sheets… the thing I’m not going to make anymore, because I just switched to a fully digital process. Until now I was using film, scanned it and from then on the process was digital. I’ve been doing that for more than three years now. Three years ago it was very clear to me that I could not get good black&white from a digital camera. I only do B&W, by the way. And digital cameras that might have been good enough were horribly expensive.

So I come from film. The path has been, Canon, Leica, Rollei and lastly Arca-Swiss 6×9. Now back to Canon with an EOS 5D. At first sight it looks like a big waste of time and resources on a gear full-circle trip. Well, not really. I did learn quite a few things and while film stagnated at its gorgeous quality level, digital went forward by leaps and now a 35mm digital is a very serious picture taking machine. The 5D is the turning point for me, because, as a landscaper coming from medium format, I expect to use prime lenses, have a choice of them, especially in wide.

This blog will document this new phase in my photography. When I’ll think of something, I’ll just add it here.

Stephane :: Nov.02.2006 :: Random Thoughts :: No Comments »