The value of gear

This week I had one of my Nikon F2's serviced and re-stored by Sover Wong, who is like the Patron Saint of Nikon F2's. He only works on F2's and does complete restorations to them. He has in the past rebuilt one other camera and two meter heads and this is my third body he has restored for me. Its not cheap, his typical repair is $250. and you can buy a pretty clean used F2 for less than that but there is something especially nice about a fully accurate meter system and shutter. Which brings me to the point of all of this, I am sure a used $100 body would work well enough but there is a special satisfaction with using gear that just works well and without complaint. I guess that's what separates the really practical shooter from the person who's art making experience extends to the art making object. My friend Carol talks about her water color brushes with a level of enthusiasm that I do not fully comprehend but I do appreciate. Walker Evans spoke about how the tool takes on some of the personality or spirit of its long time user, perhaps thats part of it for me.

Photos by Sover Wong of my F2 shot as he repaired the camera.

I did not shoot a lot of 35mm this past year, mostly it was large format and digital but I am hoping to get more work done with my new restored F2 in 2020. In 1974 I worked in an all you can eat seafood restaurant in R.I. to earn enough money to buy my first real professional camera and it was a Nikon F2 and ever since then I have had a soft spot for that camera. I like to think that the F2 and my first photo teacher taught me about being an artists.