Canon EOS 6D (50mm, f/8, 1/160 sec, ISO100)

When I shot film I bought 3 cameras within more than 10 years: a Nikon F801, a Contax T2 and a Nikon F100. In 2002 I switched to digital and till today I bought 23 cameras!

What went wrong? Did I become crazy? I guess partly that’s true but that’s only half of the story. We got burglarized in 2007 and I lost almost all of my camera equipment. But that’s not the real reason either.

• DSLRs

The main reason is that I was a so called early adopter. I bought my first DSLR in January 2002. A second hand Nikon D1. A 2.7 MegaPixel professional DSLR. My first real compact digital camera was a Canon Ixus II with a 2.1MP sensor. Back then every new generation brought massive gains in term of image quality, screen size and resolution and other features. The screen on my D1 was truly small and low resolution. There was no histogram and no loupe. No way to check the image. It was more of a confirmation that an image has been recorded on the memory card. Back than that was the standard and nobody complained.

My next camera had a 4MP sensor, a massive screen with a histogram and a loupe. An even faster frame rate of 8fps but I only shoot it about a year because end of 2005 I got a 10MP camera and even though AF, speed, built quality and everything else was inferior to the other camera the IQ was far better. When my gear got stolen in 2007 I had the chance to try out living on the “dark side”. I never shot a Canon SLR before and I was not impressed with built and handling but the image quality of the 5D blew me away. Its 12.8MP full frame sensor delivered an image I have never seen before. It was no comparison.

Every camera switch brought massive gains in image quality but then it slowed down. That’s the reason why I shot the 5D for almost 6 years. I replaced it with the 6D last year. What I gained was slightly better image quality and far better high ISO quality. But what I really got was a lot of great features like Auto-ISO, sensor cleaning, WiFi and GPS and last but not least a better autofcus. That’s a lot but only because the 5D came out in 2005. Its design was 8 years old in 2013. But I have no idea what I would gain should I replace the 6D. What will come next?

• Compact Cameras

The two reasons why I went through so many cameras were image quality and features. I did the same with compact cameras. Unlike my Contax T2 which delivered exactly the same image quality than my film Nikons my digital compacts were not even remotely close to my DSLRs.

That changed in 2010 when I got the Sony NEX 5. I super small mirrorless that gave me an image quality that was almost as good as what I got from my Canon 5D. High ISO was even better! Finally there was no drop in image quality when shooting with a compact camera. But the interface was clunky, the shutter was extremely loud and AF was slow and unreliable. I still loved the camera.

It was the same with the other first generation mirrorless cameras. Image quality was good but everything else was still compact camera style. Now all this has been addressed and the newest generation offers image quality, AF performance and speed that is on par with DSLRs ( for static subjects ). Even m43 cameras manage to deliver clean files at ISO levels unthinkable a couple of years ago.

Camera makers addressed all issues that early generation digital cameras had. They improved resolution, noise performance, dynamic range, colors, white balance, sharpness, tonality, autofocus speed, image processing, screens and viewfinders. They included features like HD video, GPS and WiFi. They did all that and managed to bring down the price significantly at the same time. A 20MP full frame Canon 6D with full HD video, ISO 25.600, built in GPS and WiFi is about 1.500 EUROs today. That’s exactly half the price of a Nikon D100 with its 6MP APS-C sensor and ISO 1.600 when it was introduced in 2002.

Regarding camera gear we live in a amazing times – yet a lot of people complain about their cameras:”Yesterday I took a picture of my cat in my living room at ISO 12.800 but I can see noise when I push the shadows. Is this normal or should I send it back?” We live in amazing times but nobody is happy. This guy sums it up:

But the camera industry is facing a big problem now: What’s next? Where to go from here? Sure there is 4k video but a lot of people like myself do not care about video in their cameras at all. After this very long line of improvements and added features what could possible come next to make people buy a new camera again? I have no idea? There will be something for sure but it’s not easy.

Of course some will always get the latest and greatest but if you can’t take a good picture with the cameras that are available today you can’t take it with a next generation one either. I think it’s better to buy a better lens or if that is covered already to spend the money on a nice vacation. Better take some pictures of Grizzly bears or Venice instead of talking snaps of your cat or the inept things on your cupboard.

Photography is a beautiful but dangerous hobby. Just like HiFi. There is a high risk to overspend and to forget what attracted you to this wonderful waste of time in the first place. Some people end up listing to test records or cables instead of enjoying the music. Some taking pictures of test charts, brick walls and make some long time exposures to pixel peep for shortcomings instead of simply enjoying photography.

• Conclusion:

I don’t want to talk anybody out of buying another camera or lens because I’m not that kind of person but mainly because I’m not entitled to do so. I went through so many cameras in such a short time that I’m one of the biggest gear addicts on the planet. But I learned that too many things can become a burden. I collected a lot of HiFi gear, bikes and cameras but now I have started to think about new purchases more carefully.

My MacBookPro is about 4 years old and I’m still on an iPhone 4. Since the “update” to iOS7 it’s slow like hell. Sometimes its gradualness almost drives me crazy but I resisted to buy a newer one. I know that’s just a small step but you need to start somewhere.