camerapapi wrote:
No matter the gear we use, we make the photographs, not the camera or lenses.
Agreed. The most important part of the camera is the nut that holds it.
I think in 1970, Nikon was king. I had a friend that raved about his Nikon. When I actually got to see it, it was a Nikkormat, not a Nikon F. I couldn't swing the price of a Nikon F on a student's part-time pay (a whopping $1.75/hr). My future brother-in-law had an F (he went through the Navy Photography School, and that was the camera they used AFTER a 4x5 Graflex!). The thing that turned me off was the stupid metering indexing pin that you had to line up and be careful not to fck up, doing expensive damage in the process. The Nikons also "focused backward" at least in my way of thinking.
So I bought a Canon Ft. I wish I had waited 6 months because the Ftb was released and it did away with stop down metering and had a more sensitive meter in low light. But I made a LOT of photographs with that camera. Next was a Canon F-1 followed by a Canon A-1. In my opinion, those were two of the best cameras ever made.
I never used an Olympus. Not because I didn't like it, but the weird shutter speed dial on the body behind the lens just didn't work well with my fat fingers. I used Minolta for awhile. For a hot minute, they were one of the most technologically advanced cameras. The lenses were amazingly good. I had an 80-200mm APO zoom that was fantastic. But I always longed for my Canon.
The whole thing is, you use the camera that feels like it is part of you. I felt like I was always fighting the Nikon when I had them. Went back to Canon, never left. Arguing about what camera is best is a lot like arguing what pencil is best. However, I came to love my RZ67s for studio work and Hasselblads for events.
I could make that Hasselblad do anything, and I knew what results to expect. I had a darkroom tech that asked if he could tag along on an Industrial job, photographing HUGE foundry machinery for an auction catalog. He said that he KNEW FOR A FACT his Pentax 6x7 would produce a superior image. He shot with his 90mm Pentax lens, I used the Zeiss 80mm (the 50mm for a few shots.) He processed the film and made the prints.
I asked him what his verdict was. He mumbled something, and I said, "No, come on, I want to know."
"Your Hasselblad images kicked the shit out of mine." We never talked about it after that.