Hi,
Well, I don't know if this beats that....
I have a Pentax 645D. 40 MP Kodak CCD. Slow to shoot, both the camera itself and the sensor. Keep it at the base ISO of 200. Use tripod. Shoot Mirror Up to get rid of mirror slap vibrations. Slow it down even more! ;)
Takes wonderful shots as long as you have lots of light and the subject doesn't move. Which is exactly the use cases I bought it for back in 2020. Much better in the large print dept than my Nikon Df.
Stan
There's a clue in my username 😁
The most despised cameras on the interwebz, the Panasonic G100.
I enjoy shooting wide. Very much so. I was very annoyed when Nikon cancelled their 1" ultrawide compact camera that never made it to market.
So I made my own. Kind of. G100 with either my Laowa 10mm f2, or Panasonic Leica 9mm f1.7
If I understand the question . . for me, I always find it humorous when digital photographers talk about how a camera is outdated because "the technology is outdated" especially when the camera is only a couple of years old. To me the only outdated camera is a broken one. That said I shoot with low tech, old and outdated (to some) Hasselblad, Nikon, Rollei film cameras because I prefer them and the look they give. Funny thing is when I use my digital cameras I spend more time editing the images to get what I want than with film photos. The less dependency on technology the better 'for me'. Yeah I edit some film shots to get what I'm looking for at times. To me digital has created a lot of 'technicians' who love spending time trying to edit the life out of images rather than taking the photo. Of course not all. Just go to 500PX to see what I mean. I mean, how many so called perfectly edited water drop photos did we need to see after the first 200,000 were made once digital cameras came out? Thankfully we are all different. As a guitarist I wanted to be Hendrix as a kid so I was pissed when the guy I was going to take lessons from as a kid told me to learn the basics on an acoustic guitar first and not depend on tech with pedals / amps first. He was right. It seems a lot of newcomers to photography could learn a lot learning the basics with less dependence on tech. Just my two cents.
I think some of my film cameras definitely feel outdated, but that doesn't make them unusable. Sometimes there is extra pleasure from using outdated gear.
My vest pocket kodak , from 1919, is outdated as you can no longer get authographic film. Its special feature of being able to annotate the negative at the time of shooting is no longer available & even finding regular 127 film for it is a little awkward, but there are a least sources. My Ruby reflex would need custom made plates...
My newest proper camera was introduced nearly 8 years ago (very outdated to some) though older models are used quite regularly. I don't think I've ever brought one that was still in production - the few 'new models' I've brought were end of line with their replacements already on sale.
Great inspiration and talking points.
Recently, I realized that this negative feeling and feedback and moods themselves serve the purpose of motivation very well. It might be uncomfortable, but it springs me into action. I think it´s not about best and latest gear, but best compromise is to be found as a "solution". And that´s the problem. I always go for the solution. But the hobby doesn´t have a solution. And it is hard to cope with that.
And so more getting out and more exposure to the photography would help me "socialize photographically".
I have tried that, but maan quite many togs and techs are much more arrogant than on the forums. Ridiculous. So i will be looking elsewhere. Different disciplines, different places, different people, different content and use.
To be sure, I did my round around the shops to see if there is some better gear I could get, and I concluded that there is nothing in camera bodies I would want to get anymore. Either too great compromise of size and weight or absurd price compared to the joy it would give me. So the path is set. More supportive gear, more time outside, more effort and fun. That also means I will not be online for offtopic wars four times a day as before. :-)
Thank you and best luck to everyone.
So I read through this thread... interesting points of view... things I have all felt (sometimes discussed with friends)
I started with sports photography in 2005 (coaching and photographing hockey) ... after couple years added nature/landscapes (travel and photography... after a couple more added cityscapes/rural (convenient photography)... always said I would never do BIFs .... In my circle of friends, somehow would up with the best BIF gear... so started BIFs(sports photography + nature).... so on and so forth... Each time enjoying the euphoria of the added gear... but more importantly the added skills for each genre.
Somewhere started adding (excessive?) post processing tools.... including coding my own algorithms because a) I can b) couldn't find what I wanted.
But, for the past couple years, been in a bit of a slump... Then it hit me, I am wired to somehow combine skills.
So recently, updated the woodshop to make frames**.... silly investment, I can buy frames cheaper than I can make them... and this doesn't include the cost of the equipment upgrades and the time to do the work... BUT... the new gear euphoria hit.... as did the thrill of the value that comes from combining skill sets.
** the woodshop was original for speaker cabinets, there are also both wind and string instruments in the house
The combining the skills from assorted hobbies or experiences is the addiction that haunts my persona... GAS seems to be a spin-off.
In the end... way too much money in camera gear.... I could have saved a lot browsing the internet and buying other's images.... Too much money in the woodshop... cheaper to buy what I am learning to make... frankly, too much money in gear for every hobby.... The value for me is the excitement from "the sum of the parts"...
To answer the OP my answer is a resounding NO. Having said that, I have changed my kit over the years to best meet my professional needs. So it’s the right tools for the job, not GAS.
Oh dear. I must be a very poor craftsman then. Or, perhaps taking a photograph that you're happy with, does not require the absolute best in gear, or the very best result possible every single time. Sometimes, the situation may even require a little bit of improvisation. Or, in my case at times, deliberately setting out with less than optimum tools, and seeing what you can manage. I personally don't see the attraction in always attempting to get the very best shot possible, in what to me is supposed to be a relaxing and enjoyable hobby, rather than a competition.
Some of the best Tradesmen I've seen & worked with, are the ones that CAN get great/fantastic results, without having the ultimate in tools or equipment available to them when they really might be required
I've found that there are different attitudes about photography. Some people just want pretty pictures, and don't much care for what the subjects happen to be. Some other people want specific shots, and I'm in that category. In 47 years of photography, I've never gone out looking for something to shoot. I've always gone out to shoot something specific (air show, astronomical event, family event, concert, whatever). Look at the lunar eclipse picture I posted above. Lunar eclipses are VERY dim. It's just not possible to get that shot without something at least similar to the 2000mm f/7 I took that shot with, using a 15 second exposure using a tracking mount. Now, if you go out, see the eclipse and say, well, I don't have the right gear so I'll just shoot a picture of this lake, then fine for you. But I want the shots I want and I don't want the gear to prevent me from getting them.
I went back for the right lens to get this shot, and it wouldn't be easy to get it without a full-frame fisheye.
I'm definitely not saying you're going to get every shot, with minimalist gear. Or the wrong gear. But, in the example posted above, there's no subject movement, I can't see multi coloured lighting changes, I'd have just shot a series of frames & stitched them later. But that's just me.
I went to a Tractor pull. Took a couple of fast primes, & a 100-400 equivalent telephoto. Just for the daylight part of the event. During the dinner break, this turned up, quite unexpectedly. I only had my little G100 with me, which is about the last body I'd choose for the subject, & shot these. If I had my 1.4 teleconverter or a longer lens with me, would I have gotten tighter framing? Absolutely. Would I have gotten less noise with a larger sensored camera? Most likely. But I still thoroughly enjoyed myself, & was quite surprised at the % of keepers & how they turned out given the savageness of some of the crops, & unsuitability of the gear.
Well, there often is a daily driver, and there is dedicated stuff. I have a lot in my EDC pack.
I.E. photo, audio, light, fire, first aid, knife, and more. These absolutely cannot cover all my needs, while these can do something, and certainly these are better than nothing.
More dedicated gear is wanted for most fun when going out with a purpose.
Audio changes to full PA setup, photo gear gets heavy lens and tools upgrade, well, I am not going out saving people, but great idea, and I do have some climbing gear and rope, and so on.
There is always some reasoning behind an action or just "being", like passive tactics.
I do envy those who are happy no matter what comes at them and what is the result though. 😉
And a tripod with pano head to avoid paralax?
It was at a conference of over 3000 people. I stood there for 15 minutes waiting for the one second when no people were in view.
You were quite happy to de-fish. I'm not telling you how to get your shot. Just saying what I would do, should I be caught short.
Who would shoot wildlife at 9mm? Me :) And not sure if you would get a "better" shot with different gear
I rarely defish and certainly that shot was not defished.
Early days processing was quite a chore, sometimes half way programming on top of programmers thinking and procedural approach. Nowadays it is not as extreme, and so I can see myself do some more processing, Photoshopping, defishing, stacking, retouching and such. The fruits of current technology are worth it.
In camera jpeg processing is also getting better and better all the time. I can see differences even between my GX8, G9 and G100's. Is it perfect? Absolutely not. I still shoot raw and jpeg in case I'm not happy with what the camera did. The majority of the time now I just let the camera do most of the heavy lifting, and do the final tweaks when adjusting for display output. Maybe a slight shadow lift, pull down the highlights or exposure, resize, a tiny bit of sharpening and done. Of course, this requires a bit of an understanding of your camera, and quite a bit of experimenting, and also a bit of work setting it all up. I think it's worth the effort myself
Thank you for all the replies. Very helpful and inspirational.
I am realizing like with everything, that the path of my journey is always kind of cheap, slow and safe from bottom to top, and I do it to myself, putting this path of slow advancement in front of the goal.
I am also realizing some pattern of price-obsession correlation. The cheaper it is, the less obsession is justifiable, but the more obsession is given
Being sincere with myself, It might happen that I did not invest into the gear enough for it to be hassle free and less obsession likely tools. Not that I don't have my own shortcomings and problems with photography techniques, but better gear would solve much of it too.
So without much hurry, I will try to get something in the "upper range" again. I remember the joy of the Nikon D610 sensor capabilities, how it "draws" nicely, how low noise it generated, How I liked pictures from the camera. This happiness that pushed me to shoot more, was ruined by unusable manual focusing and for me unusable liveview performance. I also got Sony A7R, and for the love of god I do not remember why I got rid of that one too. There must have been something.
But some time passed, and newer gear is more capable and has more features nailed "at once" in one body. And so without much hurry, I will buy something less limiting again.
nt....
