Photoethnography Equipment

Street Dancer, Shinjuku, Tokyo. Karen Nakamura

Everyone seems to think that you need the latest $2000 Nikon or Canon digital SLR to take great ethnographic photos. What a load of baloney! The wonderful thing about 35mm cameras is that Japanese, Germans, and Americans have been building fantastic cameras for over 70 years so there's a large supply of used classic cameras out there that are both excellent and inexpensive.

For beginning photoethnographers on a budget, my recommendations are to get a good quality leaf-shutter rangefinder such as:

• Canon Canonet series ($5-60)
• Yashica Electro 35 GSN series ($40-80)
• Olympus XA / XA2 ($5-50)

All of these cameras are readily available in yard sales and flea markets for next to nothing and have absolutely wonderful lenses. The auto-exposure systems on them have been well designed and they should be usable for another couple of decades. The point is, you don't need expensive gear to do good photoethnographic work. The main requirements are:

• Portable and lightweight - you should be able to carry all of your equipment on you
• High quality - no use taking bad pictures because of inadequate equipment
• Reliable - you may be areas where repair is difficult, impossible, or utterly too expensive
• Easy to use - you can't be fumbling with settings at inopportune moments

I am a big fan of buying classic camera equipment from the 1950s-1970s. They are usually well-built, rugged, and very cheap. I have more information on buying inexpensive classic cameras as well as detailed information on the various classic cameras I own. If you can afford a high-end 8mp+ digital SLR (e.g. Canon 20D) then go for it, otherwise I'd recommend sticking with film for the next year or so until prices drop further. The sub-$1000 Digital Rebel, Pentax *ist D, and Nikon D70 are very good options but they are not built very ruggedly and are still not as full-featured as the mid-line film SLRs. However, if you shoot often, you will save enough in film costs in a year to make them reaonable options.

If you have a bit more money, I would recommend getting an inexpensive SLR or rangefinder. More important than the body is the lens availability. You want to be able to afford several high-quality prime (non-zoom) lenses. My recommendations are to buy into either the Leica screw mount (m39) for rangefinders or for SLRs, the Pentax screw mount (M42) or Nikon bayonet mount. All of these series have very high quality lenses that are very commonly available, usually less than $100.

Leica Screw Mount Bodies:

• Former Soviet Union: FED or Zorki series (very tough, less than $50 w/ lens)
  • FSU lenses are less than $100 each
• Older Canon rangefinders (Canon P, Canon IV, etc.)
• Upwardly compatible with: Leica M series, Voigtlander Bessa R series

Pentax Spotmatic Screw Mount (M42)

• Pentax Spotmatics (~$100)
• Minolta SRTs (< $100)
• Yashica J7 (< $100)
• Lenses are about $30-100
• Upwardly compatible with: using a lens adaptor, Canon EOS series including digital EOS; practically any other contemporary camera body

Nikon Bayonet Mount Bodies

• Nikon FE / FE2 / FM
• Nikon used lenses range from $20-100
• Upwardly compatible with: Nikon digital SLRs, however there are many caveats in the Nikon lens compatibility, see a lens guide for more info

Equipment Recommendations

1. Camera : either a single-lens reflex (SLR) or rangefinder. Whatever camera you get, the principle thing that will control the quality of your images is how comfortable you are with it. The best photographer will take better photos from the worst camera than the worst amateur can take with the best camera. Your camera is the conduit for your artistic vision. Know all of its nooks, crannies, idiosyncrasies, and talents. I have a page on choosing between SLRs, TLRs, rangefinders, and so forth. The following chart is a distillation:
   
   
   

   SLR or Rangefinder?
   	SLR	Rangefinder
   Pros	+ What you see is what you get, including filter effects. + Auto-focus and auto-exposure are usually seamless. + Focusing telephoto lenses is a cinch.	+ Lighter + Smaller + Very quiet + Reliable + No mirror slap vibration + Wide angle lenses are usually highly corrected without resorting to exotic materials. + Focusing wide-angle and "dark" lenses is a cinch.
   Cons	- Heavier - Bigger - Louder - Mirror slap vibration - Wide-angle lenses subject to distortion unless exotic materials (aspheric surfaces, ED glass) are used because of need for retrofocus designs. - Wide-angle lenses and "dark" lenses (> f/4) can be hard to focus.	- Usually manual focus. - Viewfinder image does not always match film image, including filter effects and parallax error. - Long telephoto lenses (> 100mm) can be hard to frame and focus.
   Executive Summary	Great for portraiture, sports, nature, and general photography.	Great for street, straight, and available light photography.

   
   
   
   
2. Interchangeable lenses
   • Avoid consumer zoom lenses (those costing <$800 retail) and zoom lenses in general unless you have enough money to afford a 28-70mm f/2.8 constant aperture pro lens (usually ~$1000-$1500 retail). Consumer zoom lenses are too dark (usually f/4 and above) for available light photography and selective focus and do not have enough optical quality to warrant using them.
   • If you can only buy one lens, get a 35mm or 50mm f/1.8 or faster lens. If you can get a second lens get the 100mm and then for the third lens round out the triplet. For a total of $600 for all three lenses, you'll have a higher quality, wider aperture, if slightly more cumbersome setup than the professional zoom. The following are typical combinations of fixed lenses used in street photography:
     
     

     Typical Fixed Lens Combinations
     Wide-angle	Standard	Telephoto
     24	35	80
     24	50	100
     28	50	100
     35	50	100
     The highlighted combinations are perhaps the most popular although it's up to each photographer to choose what works for her/him. I personally use 24/50/100 and 35/50/100.

     
     
   • Avoid super telephotos (200mm upwards).These cause the very bad habit of grab shots or photos taken without subject consent. These type of grab shots are not very interesting, typically. Get close and personal. Super telephotos are for the birds (nature photography).
     
     
     
     
3. Flash : a simple detachable high-power flash to supplement the camera's onboard flash (if available)
   • built-in flashes do not have enough distance for bounce flash or long distances
   • Vivitar 285HV is a typical high-powered generic flash for any make of camera.
   • Canon, Nikon, Minolta, etc. have their own flash systems with TTL automatic exposure control.
   • Bring a 1 meter (3 foot) PC cable or use wireless system for remote flash.
     
   • Learn how to use daylight fill-in flash. This is essential. In bright sunlight, it'll help with shadows under people's eyes and brighten up colors.
     
     
     
     
     
4. Camera bag
   • Whether to use a waist pouch, backpack, or shoulder bag is entirely up to you.
   • Inconspicuous bags are best. Avoid anything with a big bright logo or that shouts "camera bag." The worst would be one with a huge NIKON or CANON logo.
   • Unpadded bags such as Domkes are surprisingly capacious. Padding is pretty superfluous and just makes things bulky.
   • The only thing I don't like about shoulder bags is that they tend to throw my back out. I'm using backpacks much more often these days.
   • I'm a big fan of using diaper bags for my day bags. They're cheap, capacious, have tons of pockets, have fold out changing sheets, and thieves seem to avoid them like the plague.
   • I have a detailed report on the bags/packs that I use on my Camera Bag page.
     
     
     
5. Pocket tape-recorder, memo-pad, or Palm Pilot
   • To take notes, write down the names and addresses of informants, directions, etc.
   • Neat Palm software for photographers:
     • Go Pix (keeps records of all photos / rolls of film taken) $10 <-- essential software
     • DoFCalc (calculates DoF for various lens/distance/film combinations) $12
     • f/Calc (DoF, hyperfocal distance, field of view, angle of view, magnification, and more) $8
     • Focus+ (DoF, hyperfocal, etc.) $14.95
     • VadeMecum (more designed for view camera users, but some useful DoF calculations) $free
     • FotoTimer - essential for darkroom and any other work that requires an accurate, programmable timer
       
       
       
6. Essentials to carry with you:
   • Spare batteries (always carry with you, even if you put a fresh set in the morning!)
   • Spare film or digital memory card (interesting things always happen when you have only one roll and have shot 34 pictures)
   • Business card with URL and e-mail address (to give to people who want to contact you)
   • Sharpie pens for writing notes and marking film canisters.
   • Zip-lock bags of various sizes (use for everything and everything)
   • Shower cap (steal it from the hotel) : used as a makeshift rain hood for your camera.
     
     
     
7. Essentials to bring on trip but leave at hotel:
   • Lens cleaning cloth, blower, cleaning fluid (leave all this at the hotel, clean after each day)
   • Small "leatherman" type toolkit for repairs (don't take it in your carry-on luggage because security will confiscate it!)
   • Dessicants for drying out the camera
   • Another set of spares for your camera. In China, I ran out of batteries for my M7 in the first week of a four week trip. I had one set of spares, but no second set. I'm now always carrying two set of spares for longer trips.
     
     
     
8. Optional Equipment
   • Tripod
     • A small light travel tripod or beanbag is good for available light photography
     • I carry an Ultrapod II in my bag at most times
     • I leave my heavier Gitzo tripod in the hotel room and only bring it when needed. I almost never bring it on trips abroad.
     
     
     
     

Links to other resources:

Dante Stella's excellent travel tips with a camera eBags: Camera bags

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