Muscle Memory
Over the past few posts, I’ve talked a fair amount about the memories associated with the Petri 2.8. It’s probably time to start talking about using it and making new pictures! And I will, but I am also going to talk about another sort of memory first, a subconscious one, a bond.
When I knew the camera had been shipped, I went to the camera shop and bought a couple rolls of film. Then as I began shooting, as those first couple rolls went well, I bought more film, some variety, trying something other than the Ilford version of the Plus X I shot so much of when I was young. As that went well, I bought a strap, Peak Design, like those on my digital cameras, but a grey Leash … retro feel for a retro camera. Then I went over the top. I got a bag. I convinced myself I needed a place to put the auxiliary wide angle and telephoto extensions, the sun hood and of course a place to hold the rolls of film. I got an Ona bag. An Ona bag. What am I doing?? IDK, I bought a camera a gift, an expensive gift, but I don’t have any shame about it either!!
Since the Petri is completely manual, I decided to shoot in some simple, predictable situations where pondering exposure would not be a challenge. Sunny 16 - if you know what I mean*. I decided I would shoot eastward on the American Legion Mall downtown, in Indy, 4 pm on a sunny day. Classical architecture for a retro camera. Got the film loaded, advanced the film to ready the first shot, sized it up, and took it. Then instinctually I started winding the film advance arm. Once, twice, thr…. Wait. It went all the way to a third full crank. Something was wrong!!! Not again!!! My last several experiences shooting film were soul crushing tragedies related to the betrayal of malfunctioning equipment!!!
I gathered my senses, looked at the camera and wound it a fourth time, the frame counter ticked from four to five. Then it hit me. I was remembering the mechanics of my Ricoh KR30, not the Petri. The Ricoh had been a high school graduation present and I shot with it as my primary for several years before its mechanical breakdown retried me from the art for several years. It had still been almost 20 years since I used the Ricoh, but my right thumb and subconscious memory was still expecting to do the two and a half cranks it took to advance the film one frame for that camera.
A bond often develops between a photographer and their camera. The nuances are learned and the photographer internalizes the details and quirks, both optically and mechanically of the device. They become one in the creative process. Back when film was king, I suspect photographers were far less likely to swap cameras on a frequent basis than the tech chasing some photographers do now. But I still tend to let the bond develop and I hate making changes.
As I got back into photography with my PEN EPL – 1, it was a smooth beginning, everything was fresh, I had nothing to unlearn. Three years later, I upgraded to the original OMD – M5, it was a frustrating process. The menus were different, the dials different and in funny places. I had this vastly superior camera, but there was a frustrating hill to climb to find the payoff. Four years later, I upgraded again to the M1 Mark II. More frustration. Not as severe as the first digital upgrade, but frustrating still.
After a trip where I used both the M1 Mark II and the M5 to mount complimentary lenses, I got home and really felt left down by the difference in the performance of the two camera bodies. It was something I should have expected, but it was time to move on from the M5. I traded in the M5 and some underutilized lenses in to get the PEN F as my second body. What an epiphany!!! I love this camera (there are several reasons) but chief among them is the nearly seamless swapping between the M1 and the PEN F for most adjustment settings. I know where everything is, there was no learning curve with the new camera body.
I hear some of the Fuji X100 users talk about the bond they have with their cameras and it strikes me that the bond for that camera never suffers from a model change. Yes we live in an age where product evolution in digital cameras is far faster than it ever was for film. But I hope digital camera companies come to realize through their design practices upgrade to upgrade, that there is a reason film photographers will stick with the same film cameras year after year. It is because the camera is an extension of the photographer, the muscle memory that accrues from habitual use becomes a creative bond. Upgrades that lessen the learning curve for adoption are much more likely to become purchases made for a user like me.
But with the Petri, for as long as her body and mechanics are willing I will never have to worry about that.
*Sunny 16 - Before the days of light meters, photographers began their exposure estimation at the “Sunny 16” point. On a bright sunny day, set the aperture at F16 and the shutter speed equal to the ISO rating of the film you were using. Skill and experience guided adjustments from there for shutter speed, depth of field or lighting conditions.
