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What does your photography setup look like?
I've been trying to get back into photography and love seeing what other photographers are using.
My daily driver is a Nikon D5600 with the kit 18-55mm lens, as well as a 70-300mm lens. Nothing to spectacular, but it gets the job done. I'm just a hobbyist, so I don't have any real professional-grade equipment, but hopefully with time I'll get some more stuff as I get better with what I already have.
What are you using?
I only just took the Canon AE-1 that was my mother's out of storage. It's got a 35mm, 50mm, and an 80mm objective. The ~3y old Lithium cell (auto-exposure, yeth!) is still okay, surprisingly. Have a film processing canister/drum too, but no projector/enlarger; and the local photography club won't let me in, so now it's saving up for the next 34 months.
There are services where you can mail in your canisters to get them developed in the meantime.
Thanks for the tip, but I'm far from the US. It's nice to see them offer the option to have prints, though; the ones nearer to me will process, but only transfer to digital. So I'll keep that one marked just in case.
I love the design of that camera! I've got an old Nikon N70 that I rarely use, but it's always a fun time taking that guy out for some shots. I'd love to shoot in film more, but I too don't have enough (well, any) equipment to develop my own film, so it's a bit of a hassle going to the local photo shop and having them send out rolls for processing. Racks up quite a bit of money too with all the film you have to buy, not to mention the cost of getting it processed and what not.
Apparently the Gen-Z kids are having a bit of a hipster renaissance in shooting film these days too, so it's possible the prices are a bit low due to unexpectedly healthy demand.
I briefly considered that, maybe now that film is dead, I can actually pick up the old Leica that I coveted as a kid for a decent price. No, it turns out. I guess lots of people have the same idea.
Although that's a way more decent price than it was back when I was in high school.
I'm not certain, but I think I saw a Leica-inspired Yashica for the equivalent of ca. $230 in an old shop not far. They also had a Yashica Super-8 camera for $26 (twenty-six). I can ask if they're willing to ship COD overseas if you want.
Thanks for the offer, I really appreciate it! No need to worry though, the vintage Leicas aren't prohibitively expensive if I really wanted one, the high price-tag is just an excuse to not clutter up my house with more stuff I won't use.
Yes, the film is getting expensive isn't it? I think I saw a big box of various types sitting there in storage too; what's the lifespan of film in your experience?
I have a Sony α6000 with a 16-50mm primary lens and a 55-210mm zoom lens.
It's the first proper (non-point and shoot) camera I've had since the old Vivitar v4000 I first learned to shoot on in the '90s.
I've actually been having trouble trying to re-learn photography with it. Part of the reason I got it was to get reacquainted with manual controls again, but on the old film cameras it was all mechanical so there was a certain easily understood logic to fiddling with the settings. With modern computerized UI on the cameras it's very annoying and doesn't feel at all intuitive.
I also fundamentally don't understand what the ISO setting does in a digital camera. It's supposed to be the sensitivity of your actual film to light, but that's a chemical thing. What does it do in digital that you wouldn't accomplish with the aperture?
TL;DR I feel very much like Rip Van Winkle having taken a 20 year nap from photography and now not knowing how the hell anything works anymore.
The accessory gear game has advanced significantly though. These peak-design camera clip holsters are amazing. Camera bags are super lightweight and ergonomic for pretty cheap now. And I keep my lenses in one of these neat lens wraps where you can just roll it up like a burrito. and put it away. Saves a ton of space in your camera bag when you don't need to have all those padded dividers.
I also have an Olympus Stylus XZ-2, which I got as a sort of transition into manual photography several years ago, but it was sorely disappointing. In full auto-mode it's actually quite good. But the control ring was the big selling point for me and it is extremely finnicky and doesn't actually work properly. And since I got it as a Japan import, I'd have had to pay shipping to get it warranty serviced and it would wind up being 50% the cost of the camera. It's a shame too, because it's actually a really nice looking little camera that would have been great for hiking and as a "beater" if it actually worked.
As you said, it's equivalent to the film sensitivity. If you need more brightness in a situation where you don't want to change your shutter speed (because you don't want motion blur) or aperture (because you want to keep a shallow depth if field, or lack thereof), the only parameter you can play with is ISO.
Physically of course it's a different thing from changing the chemical composition of your film. What you do is to increase the amplification of the signal coming from the sensor before the analogue to digital circuitry. That way in the final file there still all the information of the image instead of having everything squished in the very low value (for underexposed pictures) or very high values (overexposed photo).
I appreciate your use of the appropriate alpha character in your post!
Of course the one who notices this is named "emdash" haha
My most often used cameras are:
Fujifilm X100: This is very fun and easy to keep around all the time. I've been thinking about upgrading to one of the newer models for faster AF, but it's still very good at quick snaps. It's been my only digital camera for the last 5 years.
Mamiya 645AF: I kind of wish I had a non-AF version of this, but it's my go-to vacation camera. It is pretty small for a medium format camera, and the AF is just a plus for fun pics. I only own an 80mm f/2.8 kit lens. The kit lens is starting to have some blurriness in the center sometimes that makes me think it is misaligned. There's also a small lightleak that I suspect is due to misalignment of the film back on the body. At least I can work around the leak by not keeping the dark slide open too long.
Canon Rebel XS w/ 40mm f/2.8 STM: My favorite 35mm combo, it's extremely light and the camera was free. I can carry this around and not worry about losing it or smacking it. Only downside is there's so many shots with 35mm that it takes me forever to get through a roll.
Picture of all three together
Used to have the same Mamiya (and lens), it was an excellent camera. Unfortunately not in a position to develop and wet print any more so personally shooting film doesn't provide any value to me. One day in the future when I get a dark room set up again though!
Video is my main jam, but I really like my little Olympus EM-10 Mk. 2 for photography. It's micro-four thirds, so all the lenses are really small. Great for travel or bringing into a concert or a football game or something, and it honestly takes great photos. I think people scoff at cropped sensors- mainly for low-light capability, but I scoff at their scoffs.
Nikon D800e, Nikon 24-70 f2.8, Sigma 105mm f2.8 macro lens. That's my lot.
I may get a Nikon 70-200 at some point and possibly a wider angle lens but I'm trying to not get suckered into buying gear for the sake of it. Been caught by that trap in the past!
I am not a photographer, but there is a cool site that has a bunch of interviews asking content creators of all types what tools they use to get their work done. There's a bunch of photographers on there.
Fuji X-t1 with a couple of prime :
It's a compact setup, and combined with a capture clip it's ideal for travel.
Rarely used: Nikon D200, 18-200, 50/1.4, 10.5, 60 macro
Sometimes used: Fuji X100 I bought 2ndhand for cheap.
Currently most used: Samsung S10e
In use a Nikon D3100 and a Sigma 150-600mm telescopic lens which I use for bird watching. I also have (IIRC) a 15-55mm lens and a 55-150 lens. I sort of understand how ISO, aperature and F Stops work but I let the camera decide what settings are best.
Fuji X-E2 with a little selection of lenses.
Fujinon XF18-55mm f3.6: "kit" lens but so much better than any other bundled lens I've used. I don't use it much. It's capable enough but I generally prefer my primes.
Fujinon XF60mm f2.4 macro: I LOVE this little guy. The AF isn't great, although it's good enough most of the time but the focal length is nice, it's pin-sharp and the bokeh is just delicious. I use it for photographing my jewellery, but it needs an extension tube to get really close. I also use it for photographing my son because I can get nice candids from a little further away than a shorter lens would require.
Samyang 12mm f2.6: Samyang lenses are absolutely brilliant for their price tag. The 12mm is manual focus but at f5.6 it'll focus from 1m to infinity without touching the dial. It's sharp edge to edge, it's colour rendition is lovely, it compares favourably to the Fujinons at a fraction of the price. My go-to street/walkaround lens. I think they're branded Rokinon in the US.
Samyang 8mm f2.8: This is a bit silly, but it's fun. I enjoy the challenge of not being able to fix stuff in post. You have to frame stuff right with a fisheye otherwise your lines are everywhere. Used right it's great for landscapes and architecture, and it's the best astrophotography lens I've owned.
I have a flash gun but almost never use it. I have a Benbo Trekker tripod which I recommend to just about anyone who wants a tripod but doesn't mind carrying something a bit hefty. I have a macro rail which is useful sometimes but to be honest, set up right the Benbo does the job just fine.
I'm a massive Fuji fanboy. imo the x-series are the best cameras on the market right now, although Sony's Alphas are superb too. Nobody, and I mean nobody including Leica, touches Fuji for lenses.
Gear though. Gear doesn't really matter all that much if you're not a professional. It's fun but what really matters is taking photos. Some of my favourite pictures I've taken on my phone, or on cameras I've made or bought from junk shops or whatever.