Thread: Does your camera's flaws, shortcomings and quirks...

.. actually inspire you? Or, at least, can you simply acknowledge them and move on, and not be frustrated?

Prior to my Panny LX5, I had a DSLR with lenses which covered the 35mm FOV equivalent of 22-750mm, and some pretty nice glass, including the Pentax DA 15mm Limited. And yet, somehow I've managed not only to gain satisfaction from the less-refined tonality and rendering of the LX5, I actually get a chuckle out of such flaws as the "Panasonic Pixie", which is the name I've given to the blue dot and accompanying rainbow artifact as demonstrated in the following pic:



How 'bout y'all?

I like some of the flaws in cameras myself, it makes each photo unique and different, I'm a bit sick of the photo has to be perfect thing these days. Give me different!

That's a beautiful scene, Yeats - and thanks for bringing up this topic of conversation, as well.

I'd be upset having lens flairs, etc., if they happened often or ruined it for me. I love both my X100 and X10. I also have gotten photos that I love with my iPhone. I think for me it's about the art and what the image says to me...of course I like to hope that someone else might see what I saw, or feel what I felt...but there are no guarantees about that. I had to laugh the other day - there are always going to be nitpickers who will tell you your sky is the wrong color or you've got washed out highlights... The heck with them - if I feel good about my pix with whatever camera I've used then I'm a happy camper.

Cameras are like people - none of 'em are perfect but "love" (do we really love our cameras???) is what makes the world a good place to be.

How's that for stream of consciousness, Yeats?

I understand that some "flaws" or quirks can make some upset or cause you to miss a shot or not capture it the way one wants to, but I never let imperfect tools be an excuse. It is the camera operators job to understand their cameras as best they can and work with it to the best of their skill level.

Technically perfect shots are lovely, but seeing the character of the lens or camera or film is also something I enjoy. I stand by the notion that a great shot is a great shot. The shot above is great....Panasonic Pixie or not. I don't think it makes it better or worse (obviously personal taste may differ), but the composition and the scene and the light are what make it great. It would be a fine photo on a cell phone or a Hasselblad, too.

My camera is perfect, but I have plenty of all you mentioned. So in the end I get similar results:-)

Originally Posted by thekeddi

I like some of the flaws in cameras myself, it makes each photo unique and different, I'm a bit sick of the photo has to be perfect thing these days. Give me different!

Sometimes I wonder if we are all "doomed" to eventually own perfectly sterile photographic equipment.

Originally Posted by BBW

That's a beautiful scene, Yeats - and thanks for bringing up this topic of conversation, as well.

I'd be upset having lens flairs, etc., if they happened often or ruined it for me. I love both my X100 and X10. I also have gotten photos that I love with my iPhone. I think for me it's about the art and what the image says to me...of course I like to hope that someone else might see what I saw, or feel what I felt...but there are no guarantees about that. I had to laugh the other day - there are always going to be nitpickers who will tell you your sky is the wrong color or you've got washed out highlights... The heck with them - if I feel good about my pix with whatever camera I've used then I'm a happy camper.

Cameras are like people - none of 'em are perfect but "love" (do we really love our cameras???) is what makes the world a good place to be.

How's that for stream of consciousness, Yeats?

That's a fair bit to digest, BB!

Any photos I've sold or used for vaguely commercial purposes have never begun life with that intent, it's always been an accident of circumstance when someone likes my pics enough to slip me a few dead presidents for 'em. I agree soooo much with what you've typed, not only is it important to me that I enjoy my own photography, but I also need to be able to enjoy and laugh at my own - and my camera's - quirks. Somehow, that enriches my life.

Originally Posted by Luke

I understand that some "flaws" or quirks can make some upset or cause you to miss a shot or not capture it the way one wants to, but I never let imperfect tools be an excuse. It is the camera operators job to understand their cameras as best they can and work with it to the best of their skill level.

Technically perfect shots are lovely, but seeing the character of the lens or camera or film is also something I enjoy. I stand by the notion that a great shot is a great shot. The shot above is great....Panasonic Pixie or not. I don't think it makes it better or worse (obviously personal taste may differ), but the composition and the scene and the light are what make it great. It would be a fine photo on a cell phone or a Hasselblad, too.

"It is the camera operators job to understand their cameras as best they can and work with it to the best of their skill level." - I couldn't agree more, Luke. In my previous life as Pentax user, on their forum my sig line was, "A bad photographer blames his equipment; a good photographer credits his."

Originally Posted by pictogramax

My camera is perfect, but I have plenty of all you mentioned. So in the end I get similar results:-)

That's the spirit! For me, it's the striving, the journey, which matters even more than the destination (although that's important, too!)

Just you wait until all Sigma DP owners start complaining/praising about theirs cams. This thread will never end

There isn't likely one photography master from the past or even today that would say that any given camera is THE perfect camera. They might say that a camera suits them for what they do or even admit they have bonded to it however technology is technology and while the perceived handicaps of yesteryear have been improved on [if you can say Ansel Adams or Henri Cartier-Bresson were handicapped] nothing seems to be as good as the human eye for telling a story. The genius is in making what you have work, utilizing what you feel are it's flaws and recreating the story you see allowing others to see and feel it as well. Even in the case of a marred lens that flares or expired film that shows more cyan when developed there is a story being told both from within the camera and beyond it. For me, the older cameras are like taking a step back in time.. and the newer cameras that have their quirks, a way of melding the past and the present with sweet savory imperfection.

Yeats, I hope we meet up in real life at some point...and in the meantime, I'm awfully glad you're a member here at SC. I love your outlook on things.

As a matter of fact, I'll just add in a for everyone here. Although I haven't been very involved in the past 6 months...there's no place like home, and I always feel better after checking in.

I don't know that I'd go so far as to say that they inspire me, but I do think that I look at flaws or characteristics as things to catalogue for future reference so as to avoid them (in situations where they might be destructive) or utilise them (in situations where they might add a nice effect).

The way that my G1X draws "sunstars" comes to mind