And we complain....

I'm reading a little about the history of photography and how things have changed. Some of the quotes are funny and others still hit home.. almost as if nothing but the nature of the disaster has changed.

http://www.rleggat.com …tory/history/tr​avel_p.htm

Some did the journey, returning without any pictures at all...

"The silver bath had got out of order, and the horse bearing the camera fell off a cliff and landed on top of the camera..."

Yeah that helps, we worry about CF card failures.

http://www.rleggat.com …istory/history/​fenton.htm

"It was at this time that the plague of flies commenced. Before preparing a plate the first thing to be done was to battle with them for possession of the place. The necessary buffeting with handkerchiefs and towels having taken place, and the intruders having being expelled, the moment the last one was out, the door has to be rapidly closed for fear of a fresh invasion, and then some time allowed for the dust thus raised to settle before coating a plate...."

We still complain about dust on the sensor (flies: actually yes, the damned things buzz me when I am on location because it is fly season here! Hard to hold a long tele steady when the fly is screeching in your right ear.)


http://en.wikipedia.or​g/wiki/Daguerreotype

Their wealthy counterparts continued to commission painted portraits by fine artists, considering the new photographic portraits inferior in much the same way their ancestors had viewed printed books as inferior to hand-scribed books centuries earlier.

Sounds like part of the film vs digital debate too.


http://www.rleggat.com …tory/history/da​guerro.htm

"It frequently happens, moreover - and this is one of the charms of photography - that the operator himself discovers on examination, perhaps long afterwards, that he has depicted many things that he had no notion of at the time. Sometimes inscriptions and dates are found upon the buildings, or printed placards most irrelevant, are discovered upon their walls: sometimes a distant dial-plate is seen, and upon it - unconsciously recorded - the hour of the day at which the view was taken."

You need smooth creamy bokeh


http://www.rleggat.com …tory/history/co​llodio.htm

One might also mention the safety factor. The collodion mixture was not only inflammable but highly explosive. It is reported that several photographers demolished their darkrooms and homes, some even losing their lives, as a result of careless handling of the photographic chemicals.

Postprocessing can be dangerous to your health.

Remember cyanide toner and uranium intensifier?

Cyanide was mostly used for lightening areas of a print, but we used to rub (warm) the print area with our fingers. Maybe you're thinking of selenium toner? Good point, though. I think I still have some of that stuff laying around.

I remember using chromium intensifier and a friend used cyanide to get the wierd colours on his prints.

Probably they once came out with a much lighter camera in the 1800's that was only half the weight of the probably 20 lb camera and this was seen as a unrealistic marvel!

And we call dSLR bulky and heavy camera

cjm wrote in post #2352645
Probably they once came out with a much lighter camera in the 1800's that was only half the weight of the probably 20 lb camera and this was seen as a unrealistic marvel!

And we call dSLR bulky and heavy camera

We used to call 1Lb mobile phones lightweight as well.

Actually, I think I prefer a lightweight plastic camera to the heavyweights I used to use. Try a Nikon FM with MD12 and a 50mm lens. Now compare that to an XT with BGE3 and 50 f1.4. I think you'll find the Nikon gives you great big biceps.

My only complaint about hefting the XT is that my muscles are now beginning to look a bit girly

cjm wrote in post #2352645
Probably they once came out with a much lighter camera in the 1800's that was only half the weight of the probably 20 lb camera and this was seen as a unrealistic marvel!

And we call dSLR bulky and heavy camera

Oh, now we insist on bringing every zoom and prime known to man, so the bag is 20 pounds anyway

I hear one mod clocked his Domke at 33 pounds.. it's un-carryable..

At least I don't have to tell my editor or fellow POTNers "No pics sorry, horse fell on the camera"

Lightstream wrote in post #2353937
Oh, now we insist on bringing every zoom and prime known to man, so the bag is 20 pounds anyway

I hear one mod clocked his Domke at 33 pounds.. it's un-carryable..

At least I don't have to tell my editor or fellow POTNers "No pics sorry, horse fell on the camera"

Oh yeah aint that the truth! Never mind having a bag full of lenses we then strap two cameras around our necks, have big monster sized telephoto lenses and then wonder why we get so tired going for a hike down a man made path. Well I guess if you are in the Army and are used to the giant backpacks it is ok but ofter I find carrying 4 or 5 lenses is too much for me to handle and I am a big strong guy (with a bad back)

cjm wrote in post #2353963
Oh yeah aint that the truth! Never mind having a bag full of lenses we then strap two cameras around our necks, have big monster sized telephoto lenses and then wonder why we get so tired going for a hike down a man made path. Well I guess if you are in the Army and are used to the giant backpacks it is ok but ofter I find carrying 4 or 5 lenses is too much for me to handle and I am a big strong guy (with a bad back)

That's why I am switching to a f/4L zoom system. Try running up and down a rugged coastline you're trying to photograph, with 12 pounds in the Domke on one shoulder, and 6 pounds of tripod on the other. It can actually get fairly heavy as the days draw to a close

The other thing is, often, I have heard folks say "you people have it good nowadays" however I would also like to note that even as we stand on the shoulders of giants and are grateful for what we have, we have our own unique set of challenges and our own mountains to climb - we're expected to go farther and faster, and do what has not been done before. So it balances out..

But I do agree things are pretty good especially when you have small light zooms

Ah the good old days sounds good when people thought Ansal Addams and others were nuts for taking pictures of landscapes, leaves, and other things taken for granted. Back when portraits were the only reason to use a camera and some guys have the guts to go out and waste film on "nothing". Strange thing is that all the portraits taken when people said stuff like that have either been destroyed or long forgotton.

I have my great great great grandfathers pictures he took with a camera that weighs as much as a car. And although lots are of people he took pictures of trains, landscapes and other things also and this was in the 1880's! And he wasn't the only photographer either, his brother owned a portrait shop in New York. They had it "bad" and they at the time thought the very same about their cameras as say us with our 20D's and 5Ds and 1Ds!

it goes to show that more things change, the more the stay the same.

Great observations... Mark, that's exactly what I was trying to say!

I was reading some other material and closed the browser tabs before I could copy the links, and some of the ancient photographers were also complaining about sharpness, guilty of pixel peeping, and lusting after huge apertures.. this was around the mid 1800's.

so that means we have been complaining about the same thing for over 100 years. so what does this mean?

As photographers we are never happy.

We don't know what we got and how to live with it.

we are trying to get camera to do the same thing our eyes do. <- more than likey the case.

Also a point to note. I am sure back in the day before colour came about, photographers were complaining about only shooting in B&W

Some mix of all of the above (to varying degrees). I would be.. 20%, 10%, 70%. I am actually quite happy with what I have, except for a couple of little things here and there. Quite grateful to have what I have.. the setup is nearly perfect, I am just chasing the little percentage points here and there. I would love to get my setup to do what my eye does.. so that's largely the driving reason, but I try to live with what it can't do.

Not being happy is precisely what has pushed the craft forward over the last 200 years though