Photography gear: reviews, lenses, cameras, film, etc.
“Rebelling against the standard” – that’s all the excuse I need.
Martin Castein makes a good case for using older gear, but one point he missed:
Save money.
Instead of $1,000-4,000 for a new camera, how about using a five- to 10-year-old camera for $500 or less? There are so many great deals to be had on fantastic cameras.
Amazing.
One of my core philosophical pillars is the belief in using older gear to do creative work. And because the OG Canon M is still one of my favorite cameras, seeing it come back to life as a cinema camera using Magic Lantern warms my heart.
FoxTailWhipz’s video series has me exploring this option with my beat-up-but-still-working EOS M. While I can’t get that fancy M-Lite rig anymore, I can invest in a few other pieces of gear to make my M a video powerhouse.
My original Canon M has been my go-to camera for 12 years. It goes almost everywhere I go: trips, family events, walks around the neighborhood. Its small size and stellar image quality, paired with the EF-M 22mm f/2, made it my everyday gear for more than a decade.
Right before the holidays, though, it started to show its age. In a few cases, I would go to turn it on, and it took a few extra seconds to wheeze into operation. When it did limp to life, it glitched or randomly powered off.
I don’t blame it! It’s worked very hard for a long time, taking tons of abuse at birthday parties and Lake Michigan beaches. It has never focused or shuttered quickly. And I know there have been a few rough bumps and drops that helped shorten its lifespan.
Seeing what was coming, I started shopping for a replacement camera. Even though it’s been discontinued, I have enjoyed the Canon M series for its punch-above-its-weight quality. These cameras are well-built, solid machines that deliver excellent image quality. Even if Canon never releases another M series body or lens, I felt that my investment in the system meant I could keep using it for another decade or longer.
My first pick, the Canon M6 Mark II, seemed like a solid unit—the best of the M series and the grand finale of the line. But it is more expensive and harder to find brand new than some of the more budget-friendly models.
Twelve years ago, I grabbed the Canon M during a fire sale, and have more than gotten my value out of that kit. Similarly, this time I opted for the budget camera – good enough is good enough. My choice: the M200 kit.
The Canon M200 is aimed at beginners and bloggers. There aren’t many buttons or options, it’s not the toughest model, and you don’t have the in-the-hand control you have on a more advanced camera. But coming from the original M, the M200 felt at home in my hands.
By buying the kit lens, I also went from two lenses (22mm and 32mm) to three, with a convenient zoom lens perfect for travel. I’ve never been a big zoom lens user, but the kit price was right.
Last weekend, on a sunny, freezing February morning, I took the M200 out to a local baseball field to catch the colors and sunrise. The sparse button layout and mostly touch-screen controls were much the same as the OG M, and I mostly set my M to P mode or AV mode and auto ISO to focus on shooting. That’s what I did here, playing around with focal lengths and testing the image quality.
The M200 has a handy flip-up screen for selfies, or flipping it up 90 degrees and looking down, twin-reflex style, to focus and recompose. It’s also great if you want to record video of yourself – set it up on a tripod, flip the screen, and you can see exactly what the camera is recording.
This is a stock feature for most cameras nowadays, but it’s a nice upgrade from the M’s frustrating touchscreen limitations.
A few other quick hits:
Other than that, I like what I like, and for my needs, the M200 was a great choice. Time will tell how long it holds up or if it reaches 12 years’ worth of use like the M. Until then, this affordable, easy-to-find mirrorless camera is all I need every day I need it.
The way we treat our phones now, I supposed getting my iPhone 13 mini was like getting a new camera.
So I took it for a spin on a sunny Sunday in late September, a few days after receiving it in the mail. And just as I figured, it was just as my iPhone SE was: a camera. Simple.
The new wide-angle lens on this iPhone is fun to play around with, but it’s not really my style. I’m more of a 35-50mm guy. Having that wide of a view may be good for landscapes and dramatic shots with fun angles, but it doesn’t fit my photography. In fact, I wish the mini iPhones had the Pros’ telephoto lens instead. I’d use that much more.
That said, I may be able to use the nifty portrait settings on the front-facing camera to try out some people shots. Here’s me with a fresh haircut:
Not bad, considering the subject. The fake bokeh is pleasant, but the high-key options are a bit garish.
The only thing I’m missing now is a tried-and-true photo editing app on the iPhone. My beloved Filmborn is MIA from the App store, VSCO is a confusing mess, and that leaves RNI Films and Darkroom in my list of go-to editing apps.
Any suggestions?
I’ve dipped my toes into the Bullet Journal pool.
For two months now, I’ve been logging my daily activities, organizing my tasks, and laying out my appointments and meetings in this handy journal, using a no-frills approach to the Bullet Journal philosophy. Basically, I took what I was doing using Things and paper lists and combining that workflow into one canonical place: a notebook.
(And a cheap-o one at that. Nothing fancy.)
The basic idea is that you write your task list and appointments down on paper, month by month. Whatever you don’t get done each month transfers to the next month. Along the way, you make decisions about those tasks – like, should they even be in there?
From there, you use an index system at the front of the notebook to keep tabs on the various months, task lists, projects, and reference lists you keep in the journal. And then it’s up to you to add whatever system you want on top of that basic outline.
I’m still in the very early stages of using this system, but already I’ve noticed a few things:
Other digital systems have never quite stuck with me, whether those systems involve an app (Things), a device (my iPhone), or notes (Apple Notes, Simplenote, etc.). Maybe all I needed was a notebook and a pen.
I’m still living the Getting Things Done® lifestyle, with projects and weekly reviews and all that. The journal keeps all that in one spot, and gives me direct, immediate feedback on how I’m doing. At the minimum, the system requires a monthly review.
The combo of iOS Reminders, my Apple Calendar (on Mac and iOS), and the Bullet Journal has been key with appointments, meetings, birthdays, etc. Writing down an event on paper is fine, but I still need my phone to buzz and remind me of upcoming dates.
Photography-related: I have a whole @Photos project in here with to-do items, lists of ideas, and potential blog posts. Again, it’s an on-paper reference – one canonical source for photography stuff.
Habits are hard to establish. I feel like GTD has been an easy at-work habit, but maybe not such an easy life habit. With this journal system, I may finally have the platform to get things done in all areas of my life.
Desire, as the Buddha taught, is the source of suffering.
This is true in photography as well. New gear comes out, and photographers start sweating from Gear Acquisition Syndrome. It makes photographers feel like their gear is unworthy, and that photographs would be so much better with that new lens/camera/whatever.
Here’s a trick I learned to get over that feeling: just wait.
Wait a week. Don’t think about it. Maybe wait a bit longer.
Then: assess your feelings. Do you still desire that object?
For me, the waiting works every time. I look back at my week-ago self and wonder, what was all the fuss about? Is my life worse off? Did I suffer for not jumping on a purchase?
This strategy applies whenever I’m thinking about making a major purchase. If I wait, and I still feel strongly, then I know it’s important. If I wait and the feeling passes, I know I can either save up a bit more, wait a little longer for a discount, or just not go through with the purchase.
As Tom Petty sang, sometimes the waiting is the hardest part. Once you’re past that, you’ll make better decisions.
Om Malik, on the cruddy quality of camera reviews:
All I want to know from reviews is how it feels in hand, the pictures it makes and what is the actual performance from a daily usage stand point. The sensor size, the sensor type and what kind of processors mean absolutely nothing — what matters is the photos.
Even more helpful: give me a year-out view, after you’ve spent some quality time with the camera, and really tested its capabilities.
What would make me love it more than what I already have? What are the limits of its use? Where have you taken it, and what did you see?
A few of the big photo sites take a stab at this philosophy, but I value reviews from individual photographers more than any review-heavy site.
(via CJ Chilvers)
“Just like any real human relationship, there are better looking, smarter, richer people out there,” says Olivier Duong. “But what really counts is what you do together.”
Chris Gampat at the Phoblographer breaks down the resale value of the major camera brands, both film and digital.
It’s such a strange way to think about buying a camera.
If I’m going to make an investment in a camera or lenses, I’m going to think about the lifespan of the equipment and how much work I can get done with it. Resale value doesn’t enter into the do-I-buy-it equation at all.
For me, I’d rather have a well-used camera that helps me make photographs than worry about selling it down the road.
Bellamy Hunt at Japan Camera Hunter argues for a new compact film camera:
One of the large makers needs to step up to the plate and make a compact film camera. And I am not saying this on a whim or with a wistful idea of halcyon days. I get more requests for compact cameras than I could ever fulfill, even if I had the cameras. People are prepared to spend nearly $1000 for an old Contax or Ricoh, knowing full well that it could simply stop working at any point and there would be nothing they could do about it.
Hunt’s point – that the current stock of compact cameras is dwindling, and getting more expensive – tells me that there’s a market for a new film camera out there, if someone would just take a chance on making one. And with more and more companies investing in film again, photographers need new tools to take advantage of those film stocks.
Compact cameras are my favorite kind of camera, and I’m not alone. The company that stepped up and started making new film cameras again would gain more than money – they’d earn a whole bunch of goodwill.