I purchased my first digital camera 24 years ago in 1997. It was a Sony Mavica FD7, a horrible camera, with floppy discs for recording 640×480 pixel jpegs, and an uncontrollable flash that ruined every photo if you tried to use it.
I continued to shoot 35mm film into the early 2000’s, and every year or so I would upgrade to a new digital camera. At various points in time, I owned a Nikon Coolpix 880, Olympus E-10, Canon GX9, Panasonic FZ200, GF1, Nikon D100, D200, D800, Coolpix A… on and on. In the early years, upgrading delivered big gains. The manufactures were churning out higher resolution cameras every year, full frame sensors became affordable, and the forums debated if the latest cameras image quality was “better than 35mm”. For me, I crossed the line with the D100 in 2002 and never shot a roll of film again.
In 2012 I purchased a Nikon D800. I still have it, and I’ll probably keep it until it stops working. It’s a big, and heavy camera though. Lately when I travel or go to family events, I would take my Coolpix A or Panasonic GX85. The D800 goes out less and less, even though the image quality still beats my other cameras. The Coolpix A was an APS-C camera you really could put in a coat pocket, and have with you all of the time. I really liked the Coolpix A… but it was slow to focus, had no viewfinder and the 28mm lens was just a little too wide for me.
Over the last few years, most of my photography was for family and vacation photos. I wasn’t going out with the sole purpose of just taking photos for myself. During the past year, I focused on scanning my personal negatives, and my mothers shoebox of 1000 family slides…
So around comes 2021. Covid seems to be getting under control… I start thinking about going on an actual trip. What better way could someone that loves photography celebrate life returning to normal than buying a new camera? In April, I got an email from BestBuy… 10% of any item for your birthday! Which camera should I get…
Nikon Z6 ii / Z7 ii? I’d have to sell my D800 and not all of my lenses would work, even with that adapter thing… wallet says no.
Ricoh GRIII?? Nice sensor, image stabilization, pocketable… but 28mm, no flash, and like my Coolpix A, no viewfinder.
Fujifilm X100V??? Searching youtube, reading reviews… what’s all the hype about? Lots of people are gushing over it… it even has film simulations (Note to Fujifilm… please please please release the “50 year old slide with mold” simulation!). It looks really nice in silver… hipster drool worthy. Ugh… out of stock at BestBuy… my 10% off is only good until April 30th… refresh, refresh, refresh…. finally on April 28th… success!
On delivery day, I managed to hide the box from wife… she wouldn’t appreciate the fine build quality, machined dials, and that very delicate, extremely expensive hybrid viewfinder… or the credit card charge. She notices me boxing up the Coolpix A for an eBay buyer… I think she knows something is up.
So… how does it shoot? Do you like it? Did your wife find out?
To be continued…..