TwoWheeler
Well Known Member
- Joined
- Nov 27, 2024
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Been lurking here for a bit and it seemed like a decent place - no flame wars. A bit quiet, but decent.
Started with film, late ‘70’s (Yashica FX-3). Got sick of paying good money for crappy photos and lost interest.
The need for a camera - even just to take snapshots - eventually reared its ugly head. By this time, digital was a thing. I started playing with an Olympus Camedia 720 and had a lot of fun. It was refreshing to be able to take photos and get instant disappointment -er- gratification and I felt free to take shots that I wasn’t sure if they were going to work or not. If they didn’t, well there was always the trashcan icon.
Since I was taking photos again, I pretty quickly ran up against the limitations of a P&S - it took forever for the shutter to fire, and then an eternity while it chewed on your image, before you could take another one. “Point and shoot”? More like “point and wait”. Still, it was a gateway drug.
I started exploring my options and ended up with a Sony (“Sony makes cameras now?”) A200. I had a lot of fun with that, and started to get the rudiments of editing when I bought Aperture. I shot with that for a couple of years, but again, ran into the limitations of the camera - slow autofocus, for one. The Sony kind of went by the wayside.
In the meantime, I started taking pictures with my phone. This revived my interest in “real” photography.
I trialed a Nikon …Z-50…I think… under their “Yellow” promo. (You bought and paid for a camera and a one or two lens kit and you had 30 days to try it. If you weren’t happy with it, they’d take it back). I didn’t understand the menus or the controls, so it went back. (The problem was pretty much exclusively on the operator end….)
Still, I wanted a “real” camera. I started shopping around and found the Fujifilm XT-30. It was small and light (“Since I’m probably going to spend more time carrying this thing than I am shooting it…that’s a big plus!”) It also had actual, physical controls that I understood, like my old Yashica. I bought that and a couple of lenses.
I had a lot of fun with it and took quite a few decent images, but the things that I thought were pluses quickly became minuses. The small form factor got awkward, fast, when you hung a big lens off the front. I almost felt like I should have my pinky in the air while I was shooting with it. Also, the physical controls were - to me - a nuisance. I was forever knocking something out of whack when I pulled the camera out of the bag and if you shoot like I do - lots of different type of subjects - you can’t set everything to a Custom setting because some of the changes require a physical switch to be moved, as well.
I started shopping for a replacement. This time I got smart: I rented a bunch of cameras to try before slapping my credit card down. I trialed a Sony A7IV, the A7RV, a Fuji XH2, and a Nikon Z7. The Sony a7IV was the leading contender, but it wasn’t quite “it”. They all took good photos, but none of them seemed the perfect fit.
For whatever reason - even though I hadn’t tried one, my gut said “Canon R6 or R5…” I took the plunge and bought an R5. This time my impulse was correct…and here I am.
Started with film, late ‘70’s (Yashica FX-3). Got sick of paying good money for crappy photos and lost interest.
The need for a camera - even just to take snapshots - eventually reared its ugly head. By this time, digital was a thing. I started playing with an Olympus Camedia 720 and had a lot of fun. It was refreshing to be able to take photos and get instant disappointment -er- gratification and I felt free to take shots that I wasn’t sure if they were going to work or not. If they didn’t, well there was always the trashcan icon.
Since I was taking photos again, I pretty quickly ran up against the limitations of a P&S - it took forever for the shutter to fire, and then an eternity while it chewed on your image, before you could take another one. “Point and shoot”? More like “point and wait”. Still, it was a gateway drug.
I started exploring my options and ended up with a Sony (“Sony makes cameras now?”) A200. I had a lot of fun with that, and started to get the rudiments of editing when I bought Aperture. I shot with that for a couple of years, but again, ran into the limitations of the camera - slow autofocus, for one. The Sony kind of went by the wayside.
In the meantime, I started taking pictures with my phone. This revived my interest in “real” photography.
I trialed a Nikon …Z-50…I think… under their “Yellow” promo. (You bought and paid for a camera and a one or two lens kit and you had 30 days to try it. If you weren’t happy with it, they’d take it back). I didn’t understand the menus or the controls, so it went back. (The problem was pretty much exclusively on the operator end….)
Still, I wanted a “real” camera. I started shopping around and found the Fujifilm XT-30. It was small and light (“Since I’m probably going to spend more time carrying this thing than I am shooting it…that’s a big plus!”) It also had actual, physical controls that I understood, like my old Yashica. I bought that and a couple of lenses.
I had a lot of fun with it and took quite a few decent images, but the things that I thought were pluses quickly became minuses. The small form factor got awkward, fast, when you hung a big lens off the front. I almost felt like I should have my pinky in the air while I was shooting with it. Also, the physical controls were - to me - a nuisance. I was forever knocking something out of whack when I pulled the camera out of the bag and if you shoot like I do - lots of different type of subjects - you can’t set everything to a Custom setting because some of the changes require a physical switch to be moved, as well.
I started shopping for a replacement. This time I got smart: I rented a bunch of cameras to try before slapping my credit card down. I trialed a Sony A7IV, the A7RV, a Fuji XH2, and a Nikon Z7. The Sony a7IV was the leading contender, but it wasn’t quite “it”. They all took good photos, but none of them seemed the perfect fit.
For whatever reason - even though I hadn’t tried one, my gut said “Canon R6 or R5…” I took the plunge and bought an R5. This time my impulse was correct…and here I am.
)
