I've just realised it's 20 years since I bought my first digital camera,in the next 10 years I had 3 point and shoot and 2 bridge cameras all Fuji.In 2014 I was gifted a DSLR which was step up over the next couple years I was gifted (the same person) a selection of lens to go with the camera.This I used until I retired and my retirem3nt gift was another DSLR,with intention of selling the first on,that never happened and I use both.I never spent more than £500 on a camera and I'm quite happy with what I have.The first camera was a 3mp pocket camera no sound but it had video,reading over the weekend about "black Friday deals on cameras"the reporter raved about a particular model that had £1000 knocked of the price it was still £5000,it is a 48mp camera all whistles and bells
My question is do people still use a camera and what do they shoot with it me it's heritage railways,cycle racing road and track,re enactors fireworks or has the mobile phone taken over
The iPhone camera is now better than the IXUS pocket digital cameras we used, and I print off photos for the diary.
I also still use a fixed lens LUMIX DSLR, for flower macros & landscapes, especially when I’m visiting my sister in NZ. Oh, and wildlife if it’s special - that one polar bear we saw in Svalbard, for example, or the family of Sea Eagles soaring above a Norwegian fjord.
I haven’t had a dedicated stand alone camera for years, I just use my phone which seems to do a pretty good job for my needs, however, all I want from a camera is something to record a few memories in my home life and take a few pics in work that can be used on our work social media accounts.
My husband enjoys the process of photography and sees it as a hobby. He takes more ‘artistic’ photos than I do and therefore needs something more than a phone. He has some sort of Nikon DSLR (excuse my ignorance) and I have to admit that it takes great photos (when he uses it) but there is a skill to getting great photos that I haven’t got the inclination to develop so the phone gets me all the reasonable quality photos I need.
I was `into` photography from my teens (and still have one of the first Canon AE1`s from about 1975 which is immaculate) but now have a Nikon DSLR which I`ve had for several years and it hasn`t been used for about four of them. Not interested and a waste of money.
My wife, however, takes literally hundred of shots a week when walking. Mostly landscapes, whilst not technically as good as I am she has a much better `eye` and has hundreds of followers (many from around the globe - including some professionals) that appreciate her artistry. She does use an i-phone for a few shots (said she wasn`t technical) but mostly a Panasonic bridge camera. She started off with compact cameras which were very impressive for their size but as they were so small she WOULD NOT use the wrist strap and was forever dropping or losing them and it got to the point where I wouldn`t get another as I could`t justify spending over £500 a year.
About 6 years ago I downgraded to a Panasonic system compact camera with a 30x optical zoom lens. It has proved to be far more practical than a DSLR, being relatively light and easy to carry inconspicuously either on my belt or in a pocket. Decent compact system cameras have most of the features of DSLR's without the weight, bulk and disadvantage of having to change lenses.
12-15mp resolution is more than adequate for general photography, this was stated by Nikon when they reduced the resolution of some of their cameras. There is a wide belief amongst inexperienced people that the higher the resolution the better the results will be, but in reality it can be the opposite.
There's probably more photos taken now than at any point in the history of photography thanks to the cameras in our phones, and in past few years they've reached such a high standard that they rival and even surpass many a standalone camera. Where they fall short is zooming into distant subjects (it's a digital zoom where available, not an optical zoom, so really only cropping an image and with resultant degradation of quality) and to a large degree being able to control shutter speed and aperture to get very specific photo effects.
I've got a high end DSLR hovering on the boundary between enthusiastic amateur and professional spec, and a bunch of lenses that are more pro than amateur, all because I take mostly long distant images of fast moving objects, racing cars, classic aircraft, power boats etc., and some wildlife which can move surprisingly quickly in some respects, even if only the speed at which wings beat! Even my dog needs a high shutter speed if not to be a blur in some part, as she is rarely still! I also from time to time do some industrial product photos for clients, that requires a whole different set of specs, revolving around very specific depth of field and getting lighting perfect, a bunch of flash guns and light boxes for that, also only the very best contrast control to cope with near black or white subjects gets the job done to a satisfactory level!
My other love is landscape photos, and to be fair, the camera in my phone is probably more than capable for most of that, but I still lug a few kilos of DSLR and lens around with me when out and about! - old habits, and not exploring and utilising new tech as much as I should!
Budget gets to be a constraint, more about the guilt of spending so much on an 'indulgence', rather than absolute affording it, but I've found a way around that with a couple of really good suppliers of near new second hand gear, I've saved thousands on lenses that are pristine and show every sign of never having been used beyond maybe a 'tryout' use, and with a decent warranty/return policy that takes most of the risk out of s/h purchase.
My first digital camera was a high end compact Olympus, some 30 years ago I guess, that to all intense and purposes was a DSLR without an interchangeable lens, but with a very wide optical zoom range, superb camera that took stunning images of anything that didn't move, but with a near 1 second shutter lag, anything moving was very hit and miss whether you caught it in frame!
With my current DSLR, I find I probably use it more with specific manual settings than with it's automated settings, as generally competent as they are, as I'm often challenging the art of photography in some aspect. Think I'll be sticking with a camera I can control rather than a point and shoot type for a while yet. Not really the type to chase the latest gadget/spec/model, if it does what I want, I'm more than happy with it no matter how old, my current DSLR is a few years old now and has been surpassed a few times by upgraded models, but not really tempted by them. Didn't really get into photography until around 30 years old when I bought first SLR, but it became a bit of a passion that has stuck.
I still use my Nikon DSLR, had this one about 15years now, I really only use it if I am out walking for wildlife etc otherwise I use my phone, although as others have said they do have limitations, it’s horses for courses in my opinion
My last stand-alone digital camera was a Fujifilm Finepix with 8MP maximum which I seldom used as the resulting photo size would clog up the memory card in no time!
I stopped using it about 10 years ago when I had a mobile phone with decent front and back cameras, a HTC One (M8); and having using my mobile phone to take photos ever since which suits me well.
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I have a £2000 Nikon dSLR, which I paid £300 for when it was 3 years old. It has done me well for about 15 years, but last time I turned it on the screen failed. I could now get the same model for £50!
Iphone is good for decent snapa, but I also have a Fuji x10 compact, again bought used, the original bill is in the box and it was about £700, I paid £200. That is an excellent camera, limited zoom, but full controls for speed, iso and aperture.
I sold my Nikon1 v1 this year. Great camera but a dead end as it was discontinued and used its own lens mount.
I found that even a small camera as that was cumbersome and I had a phone anyway. My Huawei had a great camera but I upgraded to a supposedly better Samsung. Good but not as good as the Huawei.
Both are just as good as the Nikon and I can use them on manual mode as well. So, after over 40 years of using SLR and mirrorless camera, I don't own any and just use the phone.
I also meant to mention that about 30 years ago a colleague was loaned a very early dSLR. A quick Google suggests it was a Nikon with a Kodak DCS attachment and lenses.
We had to have it insured as a specific item as replacement cost was £30k, that was enough to buy a house!
It sounds like phones are more popular than a camera,I have a phone with camera but I have told to carry it all the while (I'm prone to wandering off).One off the annoying events that has happened to me is I've perfectly framed a shot and someone with phone or even worse an ipad stands in front.
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Topic: Digital cameras
via mobile 27/11/2023 at 10:08pm
