Originally posted by neokind It is indeed far easier to read reviews, view sample photos, lust after, and buy the lens that will change it all. But improving technique takes effort and time (time, otherwise spent doing the aforementioned), and it's hard. My tendency is toward the former, but I aspire to learn to ignore the gear and simply take more pictures.
All this should be taken for granted, if one aims to be a photographer, and not a collector (which is perfectly fine, I think I'm both).
I have been a professional photographer, nothing artsy, mainly advertising/catalogs in medium/large format, but even then it was also a hobby. When I could I enjoyed travel photography. Because of that, I hope to deserve to be called a photographer, not just a lens enthusiast, or a collector. The practice comes first, then the equipment. I guess this is true for most creative activities.
Though when one has the basis, and has learned how to use the tools of his/her trade, in most cases it comes natural to develop strong preferences, a kind of affinity with the tools of choice.
Some people realize that the kind of equipment they use affects the final outcome, for technical reasons and for more subtle motivations that have more to do with the way we physically and psychologicaly interact with the instruments we use.
Sometimes these motivations are irrational, or even apparently illogical... but I know of true masters who still use film and a Leica body
Personally I have gone one step further, getting more and more interested in the history of photography (especially photographic lenses), reading plenty of books, and searching the Web for information, to the (very rewarding) point when I realized I could find something new, a tiny bit of new info nobody has written about.
All that didn't come from some academic interest, but was sparked by the simple evidence that some old lenses have a character of their own, and that - just an example - an old triplet like a Trioplan gives you pictures that are completely different from those you get from any modern lens, zoom or prime, no matter how expensive.
When I write "different" I really mean that, not just a subtly different rendition, I actually mean a whole lot different. Of course this is true only in certain conditions and with certain subjects, and I am far from saying it is by any means better. Huge bubble bokeh balloons can be disturbing... but at times the result is simply beautiful, according to my personal taste.
To each his/her own. Fortunately there are different tastes and different points of view. Personally I love to see new ideas and unconventional equipments put to good use. I like lens enthusiasts who experiment with projection objectives and the like, and I don't resonate very much with those who are too anal about their equipment or are always looking for the magic bullet (which of course is an Arabian Phoenix). But in the end I really don't care so much to find it disturbing. Who am I to judge?
Cheers
Paolo