Everything Means Nothing
Pentwater, Michigan, along Lake Michigan.
Shot on the OG Canon M with the EF-M 22mm lens.
photography
Vandercook Lake
We took the first day of August and hit the lake: paddleboards, swimming, and catching the last sunlight of the day.
From here, we’re off to Door County, Wisconsin, again for our summer holiday. That means more sunsets, more paddleboards, and more time on the water.
Gotta love summer in the upper Midwest.
Sheds of Summer
Some random summer evening shots around the neighborhood.
Out on walks, I noticed a surprising number of barn-shaped sheds. The light around 7:30 PM hit just right.
Coyoacán
As opposed to Roma, a more modern neighborhood, Coyoacán is pure history to the south of Mexico City.
A few coworkers took us down to explore the markets and chapel and walk the streets to Frida’s house. I also had the best popsicle I’ve ever had: pure, frozen lime juice with a bit of sugar. Amazing. I should’ve bought two.
This place felt like a classic Mexican neighborhood, filled with history and culture. Alive and ancient at the same time.
And just in case anything was stolen, I brought my classic Canon EOS M, paired with the 22mm f/2. She still runs like a champ.
Roma
My Mexican co-workers said I had a “Mexican heart.”
But maybe like anyone thrown into a new situation, new culture, new locale – it’s easy to fall in love with the “newness” of it all.
This is my second time in Mexico city in under a year. My employer has a corporate office in Mexico City, and I traveled there in mid May for a few days. I flew in a day early to walk around the Roma neighborhood of Mexico City – the posh, hip borough with lots of trendy shops and tons of Americans walking around. This is the “cool” part of the city now.
Roma gave me a chance to explore something new with my camera, and as before, Mexico City didn’t disappoint.
Web Power
I believe in the power of the web.
The second half of my career is based on websites: social media management, website building, email communications, and newsletters. Even my digital photography is mostly on the web.
Often, I see non-profits or companies (especially small, local mom-and-pop shops) without websites. I feel bad for them. They might be building their digital presence on sand.
Just yesterday I found out Workplace, the work-based social media management platform, is closing. It sucks for us companies that use it. But it also reinforces the stability, the always-thereness, of the web.
So many of these platforms and social sites have shuttered over the years. It’s enough to make one lose trust in anything other than the web.
Don’t Apologize
So you haven’t made anything in a while.
Maybe you broke a habit, or a long streak of productivity. Perhaps you haven’t taken your camera out in months. It could be you have nothing to share.
It’s fine. Don’t apologize. When it comes back – whatever it is for you – do it, share it, and keep going.
When you’re ready, we’re ready.
Spring Break in Chicago
Chilly, but always worth it.
Shot with my new Canon M200 and a few different lenses.
New Go-To: Canon M200 Review
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.
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- Canon M on the left, M200 on the right.
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:
- One feature I do miss from the M is that you could hit the physical “delete” button to send the focus point back to the center on the touch screen. That was convenient. The M200 has a dedicated touch-screen button for this feature, but I miss the feel of hitting that physical button to re-center the focal point.
- Another feature I miss from the M: the ridge on the front of the camera that acted like a small handhold. The M200 is almost completely flat except for a thumb groove on the back, in the upper right.
- The M200 feels much lighter in hand. The M was a dense brick of a camera.
- The M200 comes with a built-in, pop-out flash. This might come in handy for family photos is dark situations.
- The button layout is taking some getting used to after 12 years of muscle memory. The on/off switch is now inside the top setting dial, where the M had a dedicated on/off button. More settings seem to be moved to the touchscreen, which isn’t my preference, but not unexpected on this consumer-friendly model.
- This could be the zoom lens I’ve been testing out, but the colors are different. Not bad, but not what I’m used to. I’ll have to try the ol’ trusty 22mm f/2, which is not only a perfect lens, but produces perfect colors, too, especially in skin tones – the classic Canon Look™.
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.
Another World
Also on our California itinerary: Joshua Tree National Park, a long car ride on our last day so I could introduce the family to the desert.
“It’s like another planet,” my wife said, driving through the limestone boulders, washed clean by ancient floods.
Those were the exact thoughts I had 17 years ago, driving through New Mexico, Arizona, and eastern California. Another world.