Nikon FM10, Voigtlander Nokton 58mm f1.4 SLII, Ilford HP5+
A year ago I tried Mike Johnston’s idea of using a single lens, camera, and film for a year as I discussed here. I failed. In fact I made it about a month with the FM2n and CV Nokton, although I did shoot for about 6 months with the combo of that camera and lens without splitting the two. Simply put, what I found is that I shoot a mix of subjects. Street and Candid work which is well suited to the one camera and one lens restriction, and a mix of city and landscapes which are not so well suited to that restriction. I can do probably 2/3rds of my shooting within the restrictions but I’d have to take a year-long break with the rest and that’s not currently in the cards.
That said, I think that it was this exercise in part which pushed me back to being primarily a film shooter and away from my interest in Digital. It would also lead to my collection of gear getting increasingly large, a state which I’ve moved away from in the last 3 months and will continue to do. My next step in simplification is to temporarily shelve at least one of my 35mm SLR kits. I’m starting with the Pentax gear for that, we’ll see how well that works for now.
