Is it OK to admit that I now have tool envy?
There are very few more satisfying things than working with really nice tools.
Edited to add, my 1941 Singer 99k sewing machine is much the same. Even today, it's a joy to use, even though all it does is sew a straight seam. Mind you, a straight seam covers a *lot* of sewing.
Its OK to 'fess up to tool envy, I really appreciate the decent stuff even though I often use cheaper tools if they're getting left in vehicles etc. I'm of the opinion the best British stuff was made from the early years of the 20th century up until the end of the 60's or maybe just a bit later.
Good tools were never cheap, but they were made properly to last a lifetime. Pride of place in my tool shed, when I finally get it properly organised & set up, will be a 1954-ish Myford Super 7 centre lathe. It cost me almost as much used as new a cheap & nasty modern Chinese machine, but you can't compare the two. Pretty much the Gold standard for hobbyist engineers or small scale machine shop use for decades. Made in Nottingham, just like Raleigh bikes, and also outlasted their makers factory too.
Are you doing your photography purely as a hobby though, or is it part of earning a living? I'm afraid my snapping is just mobile phone quality, and instamatic back in the days of analogue & film. I'm no David Bailey!
I do appreciate others good 35mm photos though, especially pin sharp black & white. For some reason they always seem far more atmospheric to me than colour.
A bike is a complicated machine. If you want simplicity, you should walk...
mm - i fear you are after an argument mr dogtrousers or dissing me as an old git shouting at clouds. I assure you that I have tried a fair few more "advanced" options since I got into cycling. Suspension hub anyone?A bike is a complicated machine. If you want simplicity, you should walk. But for cycling pleasure you really do need a bike.
So you need to draw an arbitrary line in the sand that is your benchmark for simplicity, and say "This is complicated enough, it's the sweet spot, beyond that is too complicated". Where do you draw it? Pneumatic tyres? Fixed wheel? Gears? Cotter pins? Indexed gears? GPS? and so on. It's just a matter of personal taste.
Probably most people set their benchmark for a "simple bike" at the level of the first bike that really got them in to cycling. They can then spend the rest of their lives bellyaching about new-fangled rubbish, with the spurious cover that they are not luddites blindly dismissing things that they have never tried or can't afford, old men yelling at clouds, but are in fact searchers for zen like simplicity.
For me the sweet spot for simplicity happens to be - purely by chance - the same as my first serious bike: a 70s 10 speed steel bike with friction shifters. A fixed gear or single speed is too hair-shirt. Hub gear too limiting. Indexing is an unnecessary frippery. Cotter pins may be simple but a cotterless setup is much better. The gooseneck stem is infinitely adjustable, no fiddling with spacers. All bearings can be easily serviced. No one needs more than 5 speeds on a freewheel block. Navigation can be done by writing down a planned route on a bit of paper and carrying a map. Low gears are for wimps. Toe straps are sexy. No one really needs brakes that work particularly well. I rode one for thousands of miles and it never did me any harm. If it was good enough for Eddy Merckx ...
Of course, I don't ride a bike like that. I've got one and it's a bit crap. I ride a nice modern bike with 105 R7000 because it's much better. Even if it falls a bit short in the zen-like stakes.
I stil have my late dad's prismatic compass that he was issued with when he volunteered in WW2. And this particular compass had, according to the date stamp on the base, been originally issued in 1914 - !I'm pretty sure its pre-WW2
+1.I have spent a lifetime repairing mechanical things and a well maintained normal gear system just works, with no battery, remembering to charge etc involved, Di2 you press a button it changes gear, I move a lever it changes gear.