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Comment by 2bitencryption | Hacker News Reader

As an amateur/hobbyist street photographer, there's another angle to using old/unusual cameras like digicams, Kodak instant cameras, etc:

It's adds to your credibility and reduces how threatening you appear when you snap a photo of someone in public. If you're using your phone, the subject's assumption will be that they are about to be plastered all over your social media. If you use a huge DSLR, you come across as creepy.

If you're using something odd, unusual, uncommon, like a film rangefinder camera or digicam, it's much more clear that your intentions are not evil, and that you simply really like photography. I've had curious people ask me about my camera after they notice me take a shot of them, which would never happen if I had used my phone.

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Your mileage may vary, I have an anecdote to tell.

About a decade ago, I went to North Wales for vacation and obtained a 70's Soviet camera in pristine condition (Zorki-4K) at a car boot sale, along with the original case and strap.

A couple days later, it came to my attention there was a carnival nearby. And, frankly, I'm not sure if "carnival" is what it's called, but they had a Ferris wheel, merry-go-round, stuffy prizes, that kind of thing.

All I had with me was my Zorki and a couple rolls of b&w 35mm film. By the time I got there, it was dark, I had to push the exposure quite a bit, and I was so focused in trying to understand the gear I had, a couple of local policemen came to me and start asking why I was taking pictures.

Even after hearing my thick accent, seeing my vintage camera, examining my Russian passport, they weren't satisfied and wasted almost half an hour of my time checking some sex offender database for my name.

I didn't even bother to process the roll, none of those pictures had enough light.

In a time before I had any awareness of international security concerns, I was taking photographs of an airport and the planes taking off from an adjacent abandoned industrial lot. To my surprise, the federal police showed up and ask what I was up to. Turns out explaining that you're taking pictures of something because it looks cool is not going to cut it, I guess it's shallow enough of a reason for it to be suspicious. They asked to see my photographs, because it was all sunset silhouettes I think they were satisfied I wasn't trying to gather intel on the airport and they went on their merry way.

You should check out Auditing Britain on youtube.

This is why I love micro 4/3 so much. You can get some truly tiny, forgettable/retro-looking interchangeable lens systems that will take amazing photos.

The Panasonic gm5 is that camera. I own it and love it. It’s great for travel and takes wonderful photos.

For me, it's the Olympus PEN-F. Not the most ergonomic camera, but there is something special about it.

Looks so... classic and not much larger. Well, maybe 20% larger. I may have to get one!

Bah, I miss it. It should've been so much more. I bought my first 4/3 in 2012... but my interest faded. Flash forward a decade and I bought my first full frame last year. The new Canon RF lineup has some great potential, but damn I would've loved it all in a smaller package.

>If you use a huge DSLR, you come across as creepy.

I think that's mostly true for those who rely on telephoto lenses --which have a use, but for street photography suck because they flatten things out.

If you want good street photography photos most [d/SLR shooters] will use 35 to 50mm lenses. There are outliers but for most of the "candids" that is the usual range. With these people don't come across as any creepier than a photographer using any other equipment.

Personally I quite like 100-135mm for street photography. You still need to get close to your subject, though, and I don't use random people as the dominant subject of my photos.

I have many photos with the blurry camera strap hanging over the lens. Never noticed till the film came back from the developer.

My eyephone pics often have the corner of a finger over the lens.

I suppose some might celebrate that as art :-)

P.S. The strap over the lens comes from using a rangefinder camera.

The thing with cameras, is that there is a spectrum. If your camera is small, it's fine. If your camera is very large, it's mostly fine. It's when it's between the two that there's a bigger issue.

this is true - I was at a street fair a couple years ago with an old Graflex 4x5 camera, just walking around. People came up to me asking to have their pictures taken. This in a town where most except the crazies keep to themselves. It was surreal.

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