Hope I'm not turning into a hipster

rybolt

Itinerant picture taker
Location
Yellow Springs, Ohio USA
Name
Paul Rybolt
I've found myself slowly going retro. Over the last year or so I've found myself moving farther away from the automation in the cameras. When the Nikon F3 came out I started shooting aperture priority. With the Leicas and the medium format cameras I still used meters but if automation was available I would use it.
A year ago I switched to the Fuji X cameras. I carried forward with my old shooting plan and used aperture priority. When Fuji did the firmware update that included Preview Exposure in Manual I thought I'd try it. Pretty soon I was hooked. Going back to full manual exposure has given me one more tool that I didn't have. I find myself previsualizing a scene much more than I did. Last week I picked up all three of the Sigma Merrill cameras. The manual exposure works a little different than the Fujis but it is pretty intuitive.
At this point I don't see myself going back to automated exposure. I still use AF due to age and failing eyesight but the deliberation that I'm taking in setting exposure is carrying forward to paying more attention to the focus.
Pretty cool stuff. My enjoyment level is increasing every time I go shooting.
 
Maybe an aging hipster?:D

I think you've returned to your roots, as many of us do...(cue Lion King Music) in the circle of life.

My first camera was the Olympus OM-1...my first digital was the Olympus Pen, then the Leica X, now the Fuji X100. That said, I admit that I do use the histogram quite a bit and also must have autofocus due eyesight.

Most importantly is the "enjoyment level is increasing every time I go shooting".:drinks:
 
Paul... do whatever works for you. I, too, started in the 100 percent manual film age with a Minolta SRT-200. Today, how much automation I use depends in my mood and immediate needs/conditions. But it can range from total manual operation and (increasingly less-often) manual focus to total intelligent auto and autofocus - and everything in between. You may be a hipster (ask your doctor if hipsterism is right for you) but it isn't because of the way you shoot. Enjoy. ;)
 
Steve, I completely agree with the mood and needs comment. There were a few times this winter when i was knee deep in snow trying to shoot with a manual focus lens and was glad to have one less thing ( exposure) to worry about. At that point the goal was to get a raw image on the card, survive to get back to the house and then let LR fix whatever I forgot to do!

And I can never be a hipster 'cause I got too much hair to wear a hat.
mug-L.jpg
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I love the idea that manual exposure is "hip". If thats the case, I'm one cool dude,, Maaan. And cool is one thing I can safely say I've never been.

I was out with a film camera yesterday -- the lovely Olympus 35SP rangefinder -- and commented to the person I was walking with how liberating it can be to judge your exposure and composition, shoot, and then move on, with no possibility to check what you' ve just shot. I love my E-M5, which I shoot in manual mode most often, and I do use the LCD to view my shots, but when people start talking about some of the automated whizz-bangs of which it is capable, they lose me. The most useful techno wonder in that camera for me is the IBIS, allowing me to shoot at previously off limits shutter speeds -- even to a couple of seconds on occasion.

Essentially, I agree with Luke: shoot in the manner that gives you enjoyment. And now I'm going to make a contact sheet of a black and white 120 roll of HP5+ that I shot with the Fuji GS645S and developed last night inXtol. We have so many choices!
 
You're taking control of your photography by using manual... nothing hipster about that (unless you want to :) )

As long as you're using your cameras for more than just taking pictures of your food, I believe you're fairly "safe" ;-)
 
I hope you're not turning into a hipster either…

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"No it's a right now coat!" :laugh1:
 
LOL. So basically one characteristic can be added to the hipster list of robert Lanham:
Drinks: mint tea or coffee at Starbucks
Eats: as little as possible
Wears: converse all-stars, skinny jeans, nerd glasses, do-it-yourelf haircut, ironic band shirt
Listens to: a band that exists since yesterday and becomes popular in 3 months.
Practices: photography, writing, liberal thinking, gets out of bed late, self-expression
Reads: Vice magazine, Blend, auto-biography Che Guevarra
Gets annoyed by: top40 music, TV, superficiality, other hipsters
Shops at: America Apparel, H&M, Urban Outfitters, secondhand music and stuff
Carries: iPod, Moleskine.
Considers him/herself: the most important and coolest person on Earth.
Visits: Hipsterrunoff, Last.FM, own weblog, Flickr

To be added..
Photographic preference: shoots manual, avoids convenience, prefers retro

:dance2:


Seriously: I think there's nothing wrong with manual shooting!
 
Yeah, especially since it's almost exactly the same as shooting film - 36 exposures per roll (er, battery in this case..)

(I kid, I kid...)
 
Steve, I completely agree with the mood and needs comment. There were a few times this winter when i was knee deep in snow trying to shoot with a manual focus lens and was glad to have one less thing ( exposure) to worry about. At that point the goal was to get a raw image on the card, survive to get back to the house and then let LR fix whatever I forgot to do!

And I can never be a hipster 'cause I got too much hair to wear a hat.
mug-L.jpg
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Wait, aren't we going back a bit in time with this one, Paul? ;)
 
Those were the Lost Years. That picture has haunted me for almost 25 years. I've actually stopped fighting it and started appreciating that I once had non-grey hair. I was shooting a video in a small pub south of Glasgow back in 2000. That picture was attached to the door of my room when I arrived. There were several others associated with Sexual Offender Databases but I manged to get them removed. I worked with a quite a few police agencies back in my working days and they almost all got mugshots of me.
 
You'll only be a hipster if you accompany your retro-styled cameras with those ghastly thick rimmed glasses, skinny jeans, and that idiotic beard and mustache. No offense to those with ghastly thick rimmed glasses, skinny jeans and stupid beards. Much.
 
Wow, Paul - so these photos were kind of a retribution for your work with the police.

As for your appearance, I certainly would have gone for you - definitely was the style of the times back then sans skinny jeans and thick rimmed glasses.:D
 
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