I just got off another thread about camera bags, which got me thinking about how I treat my gear. My most treasured camera is the Nikon F3 with the matte black worn off and the brass beneath showing through, and a few dings here and there. Obviously I don't use a never-ready, ever-ready leather camera cover and I'm not a skylight-filter-lens-protector-guy either. I don't abuse my equipment, don't use my Mamiya to pound in nails, although you probably could, but I also don't send it away for a yearly "clean and lube."

I remember talking to an accomplished street photog (won a Guggenheim), he had a Hasselblad, no bag, just tethered to a leather neck strap. He said if he was confronted by a mugger he would flail his 'Blad like a mace, at which time he began to demonstrate, whipping his camera around in circles above his head.

I think this question is addressed to the 35mm and medium format folks, I'm assuming that the LF'rs treat their hand-made cherrywood beauties with nothing less than kid-gloves and the best velvet lined boxes, but you never know.

So how do you treat your cameras? Like tools or jewels?

Terry

... I'm assuming that the LF'rs treat their hand-made cherrywood beauties with nothing less than kid-gloves and the best velvet lined boxes, but you never know.

So how do you treat your cameras? Like tools or jewels?

Well - not really. A "user camera" should have some dings and scratches, and nearly all of mine have. Including the 8x10" Gandolfi Traditional which seems to have been one of the very last ones to be made by a member of the Gandolfi family.

I haven't got ant scratches in the Cosina/Voigtländer Bessa-T yet, but I'm sure that's only a sign that I haven't used it enough. ;)

An old saying: "You can judge a mechanic by the way he/she keeps his/her tools."

All goes carefully into the backpack for use. I don't try to fling the 4x5 press cam over my head but it does get used and came to me already slightly well used with dents and such evidence of wear and tear.

An old saying: "You can judge a mechanic by the way he/she keeps his/her tools."

So what does this mean? That a mechanic with immaculate tools must be a lousy mechanic because s/he never is hired to use them?;) Or never hire a woodsman with a dull axe?

I am afraid I have spun my beautiful Zone VI 8x10 on the tripod head (Ries A-250) many many times and continue to use my Ries A-100 pod as a walking stick/climbing tool. Let's just say they now have character...:p

Vaughn

I think what he means is the mechanic that takes care of their tools can be trusted to take care of whatever it is you are having them fix. I agree. My Father-in-Law was a boat mechanic. His tools were immaculately clean. They showed signs of wear, were scratched and dinged but clean.

I try to keep the cameras clean but if they get dinged I don't cry about it. Every ding is a story.

I never refinished my 8x10 or my 5x7 because, if they were too pretty I would worry about them. Since they look like beaters I don't worry about the finish. I want to use the cameras, not look at them.

The camera is a tool.. I have an Ebony that I paid a lot of money for (to me) and I look after it as much as I can without getting in the way of my photography. If I have to make a choice of the camera getting a bit scuffed or getting the shot, I'll got with getting the shot. If it comes to the end of the day and I could get back 5 minutes earlier if I didn't pack my rucksack properly but risk my camera, I'll get back 5 minutes later.. I don't polish my camera every time I use it but if I'm near salt water, it gets a wipe. I clean the rails occastionnally but clean the areas around the quickload more often (having been burnt with light leaks due to crap in the channels).

Tim

I keep everything clean and working, but I'm not overprotective. I keep my cameras in practical bags that protect them adequately without getting in the way.

A jeweled tool.
If I didn't care about my cameras, I wouldn't caress and show them off so often.
One of the reasons I don't like buying second hand: I like to be the one who takes their virginity.
But then I treat them like the queens they are.
If you love them and show them respect, they will love you back and together you will make good pictures.

My camera along with my lightmeter is on my shoulder, with a UV filter on the lens, sometimes hitting some things as I walk, but I keep it in a padded bag when I am not using it.

A jeweled tool.
If I didn't care about my cameras, I wouldn't caress and show them off so often.
One of the reasons I don't like buying second hand: I like to be the ones who takes their virginity.
But then I treat them like the queens they are.
If you love them and show the respect, they will love you back and together you will make good pictures.

Another Classic Ari-gram, I love it!!

Interesting, I was about to respond with regard to the gender of your cameras, but I just noticed that they could be female or male.

I think what he means is the mechanic that takes care of their tools can be trusted to take care of whatever it is you are having them fix. I agree. My Father-in-Law was a boat mechanic. His tools were immaculately clean. They showed signs of wear, were scratched and dinged but clean.

Mark and many master craftsman understand exactly what I said. I have seen a great many surgery sets and even though they were used and had the wear to show it they were carefully taken care of. I have wood working tools that I keep in a cabinet and use only for specific work and I have a chisel that I use for roughing work, even that gets a wipe down and sharpening. It's a spirit of ownership that was instilled in me by my father many years ago.

Mark and many master craftsman understand exactly what I said. I have seen a great many surgery sets and even though they were used and had the wear to show it they were carefully taken care of. I have wood working tools that I keep in a cabinet and use only for specific work and I have a chisel that I use for roughing work, even that gets a wipe down and sharpening. It's a spirit of ownership that was instilled in me by my father many years ago.

True enough. My friend, a sushi chef from the old school, gives his knives a thorough work out daily, but at the end of the day he meticulously cleans and retires his revered tools of the trade. In the morning he spends two hours sharpening and honing in preparation for the evenings events. The proof of his efforts are quite evident in the superb meals he has prepared.

Anyway, I have that vision in one side of my brain but in the other side I have the irreverent Dennis Hopper in Apocalypse Now, three cameras draped around his neck, stomping around the steaming jungle of Cambodia.

Tools.

I made the mistake of worshipping a Rolleiflex T I bought in used condition. It was beautiful. It was German. It was mythical, and it had a pedigree. Then the bayonet ring on the taking lens fell off. There was no magnifier in the WLF. The speed/aperture lever was stiffer than a witch's teat. And the Tessar lens was slightly unscrewed.

Then I was reminded why I wanted a good MF camera: to take pictures, damnit, not fondle it! So I exposed a make-up roll with my Yashica D, who had stopped talking to me after the Rollei arrived.

An hour or two later, panting and sweaty, I called KEH and arranged for exchanging the sub-BGN Rollei for a Mamiya C330 kit in EX.

Who knows what will happen to the Yashica, but she has forgiven me for betraying her, and we might even stay friends.

Tools.
An hour or two later, panting and sweaty, I called KEH and arranged for exchanging the sub-BGN Rollei for a Mamiya C330 kit in EX.


mhv,
It might have been you or someone else on this forum or another that confessed to cleaning mud out their Mamiya TLR, which worked perfectly fine afterwards.

No comment on the blatant case of Yashica-neglect, but I bet she's still pissed.

mhv,
It might have been you or someone else on this forum or another that confessed to cleaning mud out their Mamiya TLR, which worked perfectly fine afterwards.

No comment on the blatant case of Yashica-neglect, but I bet she's still pissed.

I was surprised to find that the Rolleiflex wasn't that sturdy, albeit sturdier than my Yashica. I'm sure the F models are different, but the T was after all a budget model.

At any rate, the Mamiya is 20 years younger, and you can't beat the biological clock...

Respected tools.
I use a Nikon FM2n for most everything, and while it easily lives up to it's solid reputation I don't go around beating it up. It's never let me down, and I can confidently take it anywhere with me. I bought a Bessa R2A just recently, and it's already got some scratches and paint scuffs from general use. I buy cameras to use, not to trasure, but not to abuse either.
That said, I'm generally a sucker for a solidly built piece of machinery.

What Alex said. Don't abuse your tools, but don't be afraid to break it and not use it in that situation because of that.

Just tools, but I was taught by my father to treat tools with respect.

The previous owner of my FM body appears to have mistaken the type of tool that it is: He got it confused with a hammer, or possibly a car ramp ;)

But I must admit I do not treat my digicam very well, it's only a P&S but deserves better than being stuffed into the glovebox, or thrown into the checked luggage with the tooth paste and shaver. And when I want to use it I can't, the batteries are dead.

i treat cameras and other tools the way i would like them to treat me ..
i use them and take care of them, so i can use them again ..

I want to thank you all for the responses. Although I'm kind of disappointed that no new-noobs replied, because I remember my first camera--not a gift, but the one I coveted and saved for--was a jewel, a Nikon F2AS. I bought a Zero Halliburton for it, accordingly the F2 rarely saw the light of day, even the Halliburton had nary a scratch. I continued to use the Minolta SRT101, a graduation gift, for everyday shooting and only brought out the F2 on those special occasions.