New Cameras?

jsrockit said:
Yes, I’d still want my Fujis. They are actually better for me personally. I also indicated I don’t need 5 Fujis... I simply want them. The M is a nice camera. I’ve used them in the past, but I prefer Fuji now. The M is actually the worst option for me now. The Q or Q2 is more my style. I think your question assumes I really want an M and I don’t have one because I can’t afford it, so I settled for 5 lesser cameras. The only reason I mentioned the M was because I used to buy Leica.
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No, not really. I was just trying for some amusement. Really. :)

I don't find I need or want several of any given camera. Despite that I have four Polaroid SX-70 variants and two Hasselblad 500CMs. Enthusiasm sometimes overruns common sense: It just happens. :D

G
 
Pál_K said:
Going through an album, a shoebox, or looking at photos on the walls in my house is more enjoyable.
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Add museums & galleries and the photo viewing life is pretty complete.
 
Godfrey said:
No, not really. I was just trying for some amusement. Really. :)
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OK :)

I don't find I need or want several of any given camera. Despite that I have four Polaroid SX-70 variants and two Hasselblad 500CMs. Enthusiasm sometimes overruns common sense: It just happens. :D
G
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I don't have 5 of the same camera! I have two similar ones X-Pro2 and X-Pro3 just because I just got the 3 and decided to keep the 2 also because its been good to me for 4.5 years. ;) The rest are very different in form factor or use for me.
 
jsrockit said:
...
I don't have 5 of the same camera! I have two similar ones X-Pro2 and X-Pro3 just because I just got the 3 and decided to keep the 2 also because its been good to me for 4.5 years. ;) The rest are very different in form factor or use for me.
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Similarly, for the two Hassy 500CMs ... One is traditional chrome (matches my A12 backs), the other is black finish (matches the CFVII 50c digital back). I had the chrome one long before I ordered the 907x, and got the black one shortly after I put in the 907x order because I figured that if I were going to use them more, it would be good to have a backup in case the one needed to go in for service (both are 1978 vintage and I doubt they've been CLA'ed). As long as I was getting a second, I got it in black to match the digital back for style. :)

And the Polaroids ... One is the original, purchased in 1973-4 SX-70 that my uncle gave me in 2012. The other three are all MiNT overhauled and upgraded ones ... first the SLR670m (SX-70 film, manual exposure control unit capable), then the SLR670a (600 film, automatic only), and finally the SLR670x (both film speeds, manual exposure capable, and external flash synch capable too). Yea, a bit of excess in that. But I do often have two of them loaded, usually one with B&W and the other with Color (sometimes even the third with a different speed film).

It's how obsession goes ...

Hmm. My shoulder is feeling much better today. I wonder if I can handle lifting a Polaroid to my eye again. The left hand carries the weight.. Time for a lunch walk. :D

G
 
Personal skill is very important. My friend Wei has a Canon 5D and he can never get it to work. I've done a focus test and it is right on but his photos are out. He also forgets to change back features from his last outing (usually a month). I don't know what do with him. Now, he mostly uses his phone.
 
Cher Bill,
It all "depends", no?

I am not liking having to buy new cameras. For me, it is the new picture that I want. Only the picture brings me "play toy" joy.

My husband is infuriated at cost but we are learning that we shoot not as many frames with digital. Not so much bracketing sometimes as before with film. So maybe in the long run there is a compensation.

If someone puts their nose on a large screen there is probably pixel-dumping anyway and you could shoot with anything 6mp and bigger. Forget the web. All you need is 2mp - especially for mobile site! Pre-press and print? Depends, yes?

There are softwares that make files bigger. We have used them. Something-Fractals, I think. It is a plug in to PS.

We use cameras until they break. About five years ago we got "old" and started looking for not so heavy cameras. D3 became D7000 (very good but we have wide lenses for working) and then D750. M6 became X100x.

Anybody is upset with "low" resolution should look at quality of prints from 35mm slides, or even monochrome.. We are so close to that at 12 mp already.

What is in the photograph? That is my new toy. I want a new photograph. Everyday.

Ciao,
Mme. O.
 
I haven't purchased a new camera for quite some time (years) but do enjoy buying working vintage cameras.

I enjoy admiring/dry-shooting & occasional live shooting with them.

Beautiful little things and arguably works of art that give me much joy; designed and built from an era gone by.
 
Bill Pierce said:
... Your thoughts?
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I think CMOS still, digital-camera performance has plateaued.

Most recent improvements involve niche applications instead of sensor advances.

For instance, 40 MP (uncropped) allows a 24 x 35" print with almost 300 dpi. This means lower detailed subject matter could print at twice that size. A fine-art photographer could make money selling larger high-quality prints. Some commercial corporate photographers could benefit as well.
As Bill mentioned, higher performance in-camera stabilization is another example.

One niche where vendors could make a significant improvement in raw file technical quality is true monochrome raw files. Monochrome versions of the Nikon D5, Panasonic K-1 and several SONY 24 X 36mm sensor cameras could gain about a stop of low-light performance.


Since I am no longer doing gigs, what I care about most in a digital camera is having an OVF, raw file technical quality. and lenses.

Very few digital cameras have OVFs.

Raw file technical quality has two aspects. [1]

One is the signal-to-noise ratio at a camera's native ISO setting. This is confounded by dual conversion-gain sensor technology where a sensor has two native ISO settings - a lower setting when dynamic range is a priority and a higher setting low-light performance is a priority. The former maximizes signal while the later minimizes electronic noise.

The second aspect involves the sensor cover glass, IR filter characteristics, the color array filter properties and the micro-lens array optics.

For my needs practically all digital cameras marketed in the past 3 years or so have excellent raw file technical quality.

Lens performance has plateaued as well. On-board lens correction parameters provide great cost-performance benefit. Repurposing older lenses adapted lenses is an inexhaustible source of exploration.


My motivation to purchase a new digital camera is non-existent. Spending money in Bill's hypothetical camera store that camera store sells new, improved working skills would be much more productive.

More practically, spending money on prints is much more attractive than new cameras or lenses. Outsourcing professional scans of carefully selected negatives and transparencies is another option for spending money on personal photography.

1/ In digital imaging the information we use to render images is incorporated in the signal. The noise determines the signals' uncertainty. More SNR means more information which in turn enables higher perceived image rendering quality. Increasing SNR is the only way to increase perceived image quality. Noise filtering (a.k.a. noise reduction) can not increase an image's total information content. Noise filtering cleverly averages information in higher SNRs regions with lower SNR regions. The result is not an increase in total image information. The result is an improvement in our perception of low SNR region rendering at the expense of high SNR region information content. Fortunately, this compromise is compatible with how we perceive IQ.
 
New Cameras

New Cameras

I have accumulated so many cameras in almost 50 years - film and digital - that I can't use them all regularly. So when I pick one up it may have been last used months or even years ago. They're in essence "new cameras." Ergo, I have an unlimited supply of "new" cameras.
 
Yokosuka_Mike said:
I’ve been thinking about the Fujifilm GFX 50R camera and Fujinon GF 63mm f2.8 lens lately.

It would be a significantly high priced purchase for me if I bought this rig.

I’d probably have to sell some of my stuff to help finance this.

Buying this GFX set easily fits in the category of I don’t need it, I just want it.

It’s a bad idea. Life is short. Too much time on my hands? Think of the pictures I could make with this beast! Just think. Just do it! Discuss this idea with my wife. Now I’m back to “it’s a bad idea”.

Time will tell.

All the best,
Mike
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I recently sold a ton of Pentax 67 and 645 equipment to purchase the GFX 50R and the GF 63mm lens. If you can swing it, do it!
 
Re: the price of gear - A Leica M10R and a 50mm Apo Summicron would only set you back $19,000. A back up body and an additional but less expensive lens would only bring the total to about .$31,000. Of course, you could spend more on a special edition model. Somehow seems a little different from the days when Leica would sell a sales sample M2, a camera that had been exhibited at trade shows, e.t.c., but essentially unused, to photographers that they wanted to help for $200.
 
Bill Pierce said:
Re: the price of gear - A Leica M10R and a 50mm Apo Summicron would only set you back $19,000. A back up body and an additional but less expensive lens would only bring the total to about .$31,000. Of course, you could spend more on a special edition model. Somehow seems a little different from the days when Leica would sell a sales sample M2, a camera that had been exhibited at trade shows, e.t.c., but essentially unused, to photographers that they wanted to help for $200.
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Everything camera-wise I own didn't cost me $31,000. So my choice would be two cameras and two lenses OR Everything I Own.

I like Everything I Own just fine.
 
Bill Pierce said:
Re: the price of gear - A Leica M10R and a 50mm Apo Summicron would only set you back $19,000. A back up body and an additional but less expensive lens would only bring the total to about .$31,000. Of course, you could spend more on a special edition model. Somehow seems a little different from the days when Leica would sell a sales sample M2, a camera that had been exhibited at trade shows, e.t.c., but essentially unused, to photographers that they wanted to help for $200.
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You can`t help but feel that the picture has been forgotten in the technology somewhere along the line .
 
JeffS7444 said:
Yup, that's pretty much what it's all about: 10% genuine benefit from advances in technology, 90% rationalizing why it not only makes sense, but would be foolish to miss :D He said, while pondering a newer Sony or three.
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Ok, we can close the thread now... our secret is out.
 
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