Glass, Gas, or…

Sep 3

I’ve been asked several times why I don’t show the EXIF data on the photos I post to Glass (I’m not the only one. Really!). People love to see that info, and a part of the community aspect of Glass is looking at how the photographer got the shot. Honestly, it used to be one of my favorite parts of the Glass experience.

My quick answers have ranged from “I want the focus on the photo” to the more practical, less pretentious “So that film scans and digital photos are all presented the same way.” I’ve shied away from the pat “gear doesn’t matter”—since I firmly believe that gear does, in many cases, matter. But there’s also an aspect of gear not often mattering that’s been hard for me to put into words.

I view this decision, like many, as a balance of pros and cons. And in a photography community, where everyone is theoretically an aspiring or accomplished photographer as interested in the process as the outcome, I accept that the scale of pros vs. cons may tip differently for different people.

Metadata Pros

See what gear was used, and what exposure settings, to capture a favorite image. This helps aspiring photographers learn the craft and is just fun to track. (“Oh, you got that new camera!”)
Metadata enables app features like filtering to a specific camera or lens.

Metadata Cons

Seeing what gear was used subtly hints that I need that gear to get that shot. The gear I already own may be (is) perfectly fine. There has been a direct line between favorite photographers’ gear data on Glass (or YouTube) and charges on my B&H account.
For some kinds of photographic production, like film photos or those taken using manual or vintage lenses, the metadata is simply wrong—at least not without some effort on the part of the photographer. From the Mitakon 65mm f1.4 lens on Fujifilm GFX to the Voigtländer Color-Skopar 28mm f2.8 on Leica M, this accounts for a large amount of my work. My film strips from cameras like the Leica M6 are digitized with a Fujifilm X camera. Even if I use a Lightroom plugin (not native functionality? for what Lightroom costs? come on) to update the camera and lens information in Lightroom, that data is not standardized across every place a photo might end up. (A possible fix would be for Glass, et al, to maintain an extensive camera and lens database and allow in-app EXIF editing. Not an easy lift.) Even if I perfected a gear data workflow, the aperture, shutter speed, and ISO would still be incorrect for film photos (the part that might help others learn), since I do not track that at all.
The gear used is a distraction from the photo. It’s visual clutter. My eyes can’t help but drift to it. My brain can’t help but judge the iphoniness of it. When I should be considering what makes the photo work or not work, I’m thinking about peripheral nonsense.
The gear captured in EXIF isn’t even the whole story. Were there filters? A tripod? What time of day and geographic location? How do you even get that close to the lion? I assume it’s easy to work with models, right?

Grinding gear

I hinted at how gear both matters and doesn’t matter. Here’s what I think I mean by that. Again, I’m trying to put words to a gut feeling, so my penchant for typical human inconsistency may be on display.

I’m going to present this as questions that have apparent answers.

Gear matters

How do you get that bird in flight photo with the eyes perfectly sharp?
Depth of color and wide dynamic range really matters to me for the kind of photos I make. How do I maximize those aspects?
I don’t care about telephoto range or dynamic range or resolution, I really just want to be able to capture moments quickly as I go through my day.
I want to shoot film and I love high contrast black and white with low grain. I also don’t want to spend much per roll. What stock?
Bokeh whore here…

Gear doesn’t matter

Hmm, would that 24-70mm f2.8 be better than last year’s 24-70mm f2.8 that I already own? Would I get the shot then?
Wait, that was taken with the older model of the X100? Maybe I should sell my latest model X100 to get that. #VintageLook
I love my film SLR and the lens is perfection. I’ve taken most of my favorite photos on it. But this person’s photo is outstanding. Do I need the silver version?
That new Nikon WGAF sure does seem like a decent blend of form, function, and value. Should I sell my extensive Fujifilm WGAF system and make the switch? Then I could go full frame some day!
This person’s photo doesn’t have EXIF attached. I’m upset! But I bet I could get a similar look with the Lumix I have right here…

I hope this was helpful. Obviously, like and subscribe… oops, that’s the YouTube script. Let me know in the comments which of these cameras was used to take the following photo. They are all cameras I no longer own.

Hint: it’s an out-of-camera JPG, straightened.