Hi Photographer friends.
Are Digital single lens reflex cameras giving way to the smaller non-reflex cameras.
(A single-lens reflex (SLR) camera is a camera that typically uses a semi-automatic moving mirror system (hence the name "reflex", from the mirror's reflection) that permits the photographer to see exactly what will be captured by the film or digital imaging system.)The trend with the newer generation of photographers seems to be the use of small cameras without the pentaprism/mirror arrangement of typical DSLRs. I always liked big cameras because they are easier to stabilize...more weight = less shaking. However, this is all changing with technology. Most digital cameras now have some kind of shake reduction system. With the evolution of technology, smaller sensors can now produce images as good as the top DSLRs of just a few years ago. The EVF cameras (Electronic View Finder) have evolved as well and there are no latency anymore.
I recently acquired the new Pentax Q cameras. It is currently the smallest interchangeable lens camera system in the world. I suspect it won't be for very long as other manufacturers are introducing models of their own. To my surprise, this little camera is very capable despite the small sensor. I believe we have definitely entered in the mirror-less digital cameras.
Wind the clock back just ten years, and big was in. Now big is on its way out and small is in. There are always going to be some people that will not accept new technology and will swear that in the good old days, camera were better built and that you had to be a real photographer to use one of these. At weddings, you would see the "Uncle Bob of the world" with their SLR cameras, but the Professional Photographer was always easy to spot with the big (D) SLR, Medium format camera or the good old twin-lens Mamiyas, that used to be the king of wedding photography.
The new generation of photographers, (the new generation period), don't give a hoot about big and impressive cameras. It's not about impressing others anymore, it's about taking pictures, anywhere, anytime, with or without a degree in photography. Just put your mirror-less camera in auto-everything and you're good to go. Heck, cell phones now have cameras built-in with image quality better or equal to expensive dedicated digital cameras. Furthermore, with the cell phones, you can send your image via the internet immediately to friends and family. How cool is that?
I can't understand why no camera maker has come up with a Digital Camera with built-in internet access through cell phone companies 3G and now 4G networks. Look at the Apple iPad 2, it has a camera and for only $20.00 per month, you can access the internet via Verizon and AT&T. It's time to wake up manufacturers. Don't let technology pass you over. Just think of the generations of tomorrow, everything will be done instantly via an even better and faster internet system.
You can hang-on to your big cameras, (and I personally will) but soon, they will join other items on dusty shelves as relics of the past. It just the way it is. You either embrace progress or eventually you are left behind. It's a young people's world, always has been and always will be.
The best you can do to stay young, is to adopt the way of young people. This is the Twenty-First Century, you don't have be in a rocking chair and wait for the big one.
Thank you for reading, and don't get mad, it will come to past,
Yvon Bourque
3 comments:
The current range of DSLR are overkill for what many people use them for. I use my Lumix GF1 for general photos just a record of what I've seen and it produces superb results. For quality macro and landscape I use my Pentax K-5, although the Lumix works well for landscapes. Possibly with a macro lens it would do the macro as well. The K-5 does give me the option of cropping and still getting an excellent A3+ print, not that I do many of them.
I now travel "light". Having begun photographing in 1972 (yup, seventy-two). I have bought and used a wide range of cameras: my 1st was a Roleiflex TWR, and later progressed to a Nikon N1, N2, F3, F4HP, F5, a Contax N1 (awesome, esp w/Zeiss 400mm f/4 tele) to a Pentax K20d, a K-x and now a K-r. I use three Pentax zooms: a 10-17; a 16-50mm f/2.8, and a 50-135mm f/2.8.
With the above (current) equipment, I can do most of what I set-out to do on a shoot.
However, I'm intrigued by the "Q" system, as smaller and lighter is definitely the way to go today. BUT, and this is a big "BUT", the performance has to be there w/regard to what is shown by the K-r. (I've made a change from buying the top-of-the-line DSLRs. Now, I wait for the latest generation "beginner" DSLR (Pentax) and use it, as it has most of the last generation's high-end DSLR attributes. It saves me big bucks, with the added advantage of having in-camera processing!
Testing will reveal the strengths and weaknesses of the "Q" system, as this is Pentax's initial offering in this class of camera. If the next few generations can match or exceed the K-r's attributes, I'm all for it!!!
I now travel "light". Having begun photographing in 1972 (yup, seventy-two). I have bought and used a wide range of cameras: my 1st was a Roleiflex TWR, and later progressed to a Nikon N1, N2, F3, F4HP, F5, a Contax N1 (awesome, esp w/Zeiss 400mm f/4 tele) to a Pentax K20d, a K-x and now a K-r. I use three Pentax zooms: a 10-17; a 16-50mm f/2.8, and a 50-135mm f/2.8.
With the above (current) equipment, I can do most of what I set-out to do on a shoot.
However, I'm intrigued by the "Q" system, as smaller and lighter is definitely the way to go today. BUT, and this is a big "BUT", the performance has to be there w/regard to what is shown by the K-r. (I've made a change from buying the top-of-the-line DSLRs. Now, I wait for the latest generation "beginner" DSLR (Pentax) and use it, as it has most of the last generation's high-end DSLR attributes. It saves me big bucks, with the added advantage of having in-camera processing!
Testing will reveal the strengths and weaknesses of the "Q" system, as this is Pentax's initial offering in this class of camera. If the next few generations can match or exceed the K-r's attributes, I'm all for it!!!
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