Or Will Your Photos Be Captured With A Hybrid?
In the Summer of 2021, I decided to buy what I felt would be
the last camera for a while... Now it really seems that it could be the last ever traditional style camera I will buy.
But wait... not so fast to decide yet... I prefer the old traditional camera that was big and interchangeable lens and it was just cool. I even still use the viewfinder when shooting unless the camera needs to be at an angle that just requires me to use the LCD screen
At the time I mostly wanted to downsize my camera bag and overall size of camera. So I sold my Nikon 810 DSLR and all the glass to go with it, in order to go with the new Z7 mirror-less camera. I bought it with the 24-70mm zoom and have since acquired the 50mm macro and the 24-200mm. I also grabbed up a new smaller bag to carry it all.
But... will I buy another Traditional Style Camera, Digital or Film in the days or years to come?
My first quick response is... NO!
Being realistic about it for a few moments and I am not sure If by the time I would want another camera that they will still even be produced. If I look at the lifespan so far in the digital SLRS I have owned previously, then the math would say I plan to buy several more cameras in my lifetime.
Having worked in a camera store back in the early 80's,
it makes me wonder how camera manufacturers stayed in business since you didn't need a new camera every few years because it's features were outdated and new bells and whistles on the new models made you want that new camera. I carried around a Nikon FE or the F3 for many more years than I ever did with the same model digital SLR which seems to be about 3 years and then its time for one that has far superior specs than the old ones.
But cameras are not five or six hundred dollars any more, in fact most "pro-sumer" models start out at almost two thousand dollars. Thats lot of money to put into a throw away gadget unlike my old 30 year old film cameras that can still make photos today. The technology of digital cameras is still advancing at a high speed that makes a 5 year old camera a dinosaur.
At the same time I also see how quickly the phone camera is evolving and the quality and capabilities of both still photography and video is quite remarkable. Even now the average person and even some experts would not be able to tell if it was taken with a phone camera or traditional camera when looking at prints of the photos or even images on a mobile device.
Back when I made the switch to a mirror-less camera, I did such a comparison test between my iPhone and the Z7, and only I knew the difference because I had processed the image files made the prints. And for the test images I captured, the phone camera will suffice quite well. On the other side... I found that the phone images don't look so fine at 16x24 size or bigger. Although the hybrid/phone cameras will cover a large majority of photographers needs, there are still many sectors of the industry that they simply will not suffice.
I can't really say for sure if I will buy a camera again, or at least a couple thousand dollar camera that has more bells and whistle than I ever need. In my current frame of mind, if I bought another camera it would be a "lesser" one than my current old Z7. I like the retro look of the Df but it makes an image much smaller than my 46MP beast.
I also am smart enough to know I don't need a second camera body again. Since I'm retired from shooting commercial work and if I did I would be just fine taking one body to a shoot. Sometimes I even wonder how long the typical consumer will even buy a separate camera to take photos with. Phone manufacturers are working on their camera technology I would guess even harder than traditional camera makers are.
So whats it gonna be for you next... A new phone with a killer camera or a killer camera?
Not A Need - But A Desire
As it was Black Friday today, I found myself again looking at the Nikon Zf to see what sale price it had. The crazy part is that I don't shoot with my Z7 enough as it is.
While NO... I don't need another camera, but the desire to just have that certain one is what drives us to want that new one... and call it an upgrade at the same time to help justify it. And in my case it's not about an upgrade at all, in fact the image size is almost half that of the Z7. But its the retro look with vintage shutter speed dial, shutter button and retro looking features that has me wanting one. And if I cave in and buy one... I better call it an upgrade to justify it to my bank account.
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