The Wrong Camera

I was walking away from the Smithsonian in D.C. one time with my friend Kim, who has taught photography there for many years, and I noticed Kim was walking with his head down. I asked him why, and he said, "I don't want to see a picture. This is just the kind of light I like." He didn't have his camera with him.

Not having a camera with you is one way you can miss those serendipitous opportunities that pop up every once in a while. People discuss that a lot. But the other way you can lose out is having the wrong camera with you.

As a camera reviewer, that's happened to me a lot over the years. So maybe I'm overly sensitive.

But I tend to use one camera for my "real" work in any given period, and the look of that camera is important to the look of the work. So when I'm caught out snapping away with some different device, then, suddenly, great photo opportunities become a bad thing.

Here's one of my standard examples of this:

I was testing a Ricoh GXR at the time. No offense to GXR users, but it's not a terribly good file. I really wish I'd had a better camera with me when this situation developed. I'm pretty sure there was a good picture there. I might even have found it.

Having the wrong camera with you is the problem with cellphones, in my mind. What if you see a good picture?

Of course, the cellphone could be your camera of choice—the one you're using for your "real" work. Then, naturally, you'd need your cellphone with you when you got lucky and hit a great opportunity. For me, however, it would be the wrong camera. And when I have the wrong camera—as with Kim that day on the Mall—then, seeing a good picture goes from being a good thing to being a bad thing.

There's nothing worse than seeing a fantastic picture when you don't have a camera with you. But seeing a fantastic picture when you have the wrong camera with you is almost as bad.

Mike

P.S. You're in no way obligated to agree with this post. It might not be true for you. And if it isn't true for you, I'm not saying you're wrong. I'm just describing what's true for me. Please don't take it the wrong way.

Original contents copyright 2014 by Michael C. Johnston and/or the bylined author. All Rights Reserved. Links in this post may be to our affiliates; sales through affiliate links may benefit this site.

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(To see all the comments, click on the "Comments" link below.)
Featured Comments from:

DavidB: "That's funny. I am almost locked into a mindset for each of my cameras. For my Sigma I see industrialization, smoke stakes, dead birds. These are the images I see on a walk. With my SLR/n I see textures, I just want to image trees, rock surfaces. My phone seems to be just for snap shots, ete. But maybe that's just the craziness of my brain. I feel for a specific image I want to create with only a specific tool."

Mike replies: I think the important thing is knowing how your own mind works and then accommodating that. Sounds like you have.

David Miller: "I couldn't agree more. A while ago I bought a Fuji X-20 specifically as a carry-all-the-time camera: small, quick to use, functional optical viewfinder, reasonable zoom range…ready for anything, right? A few months later the Fuji X-T1 was released, along with great sale prices on most of the X-mount lenses. I got the camera and several prime lenses, deliberately staying away from zooms for a while to see how that would influence my photography. To my great surprise the 23mm prime (equivalent to 35mm focal length on a full-frame camera, and not a length I've ever used much with zoom lenses) 'clicked' with me. (Pun intended.) That lens now lives on the front of the X-T1, and the outfit has become my carry-all-the-time: it's surprisingly versatile and I've discovered that I don't mind missing the occasional not-bad shot in exchange for capturing a smaller number of higher-quality images that really please me."

Mike replies: Yeah, isn't that lens amazing? Impresses every time.

Scott Price: "I used to worry about having the wrong camera/lens/whatever with me. It seemed that the more I learned about photography, the more likely I would miss an opportunity to capture a special moment. Then, I encountered a 'decisive moment' in my development as a photographer—the realization that my growth as a photographer was allowing me to recognize these moments more often. In effect, the act of searching for beautiful things to photograph taught me to see and appreciate beautiful things in my daily life. Once I realized this, I no longer mourned the 'loss' of these moments because I lacked the 'right' tool to capture them. Instead, seeing these moments for what they are has made me more thankful for what photography has given back to me."

Comments

[Gingerbaker]

I find the idea that a camera other than a GXR might have been able to capture that scene properly, while the GXR could not, interesting.

Are there predictable characteristics of other sensor/processors which would render this scene more satisfactorily, and what might they be? Because I think there might be.

But I don't think our typical measurements about dynamic range, color rendition, resolution or ISO noise are going to address this.

I think it has more to do with the rendering of luminance differences at different luminance values, but that is a guess.

For example, I have seen comparison shots between two different brands of cameras taken after a rain storm at night of an operating food shack. Both shots were low key and overall exposure values were very similar. But the output of one camera was much more aesthetically pleasing than the other, because the reflections of the shack on the wet pavement had higher luminance values than the other brand. It rendered the light differently.

[John Krill]

Not having the wrong camera is worser. I love that word. It's worse than worse. It's worser.

If you don't have a camera you'll probably just grunt and get on with it.

Having the wrong camera will get you very frustrated. Maybe even angry. You might even just toss the damn thing. Bad things happen with the wrong camera.

[emptyspaces]

Mike, just to be safe, shouldn't you paste that "P.S." into every post?

[xtian]

It seems to me that if one of the ways you make most of your photographs is while 'walking around' - be that in a car, on foot, bicycle, or kayak a camera like the Sony DSC-RX100M III can 'always' be with you. Now if you are a studio portrait photographer or a large format landscape devote, than that is a totally different matter. However, I submit that today cameras like the Sony produce technically better photographs than my manual SLR with its 50mm Zeiss lens on it did.

[Patrick]

What might your process be to find a winning picture from the rainbow situation Mike? I'd be interested to know how you might explore or progress through the scene.

[John Bax]

I suggest Kim reads "Photographs Not Taken" edited by Will Steacy.

Amazon Link

[gary isaacs]

i pretty much always have a camera with me and whatever body/lens combination i'm carrying seems to always allow me to respond to whatever interesting happenstance that i might come upon . .. . but, the day in and day out reason i've got it with me is that it's how i get some "peace of mind" . . . meaning, if i don't have a camera there's that voice in my head that likes to point all these potentially great photos i could be making while if i do have the camera that same voice tends to be far less impressed with the typical landscape . . . you know, it's that same voice that's saying to you right now what voice is he talking about . . . . .

[Bryan Willman]

Such as it ever was.

If it's the right camera, it's the wrong lens. Unless you have all your lenses with you, in which case it's all too cumbersome.

It used to be the wrong film, at least that particular problem is absent from digital.

[Michael Perini]

Mike,
Just have folks take the x-Rite color challenge
http://www.xrite.com/online-color-test-challenge

I do it every couple of months, probably 20 times total.
I've only gotten it all right once, but I'm usually pretty close, and you can cheat by taking twice or 3 times in a row--it does help you get better and Identify deficiencies .

[Rob L.]

This is why I try to carry two cameras when I'm on a trip(okay, i bring more, but..) Because while I almost always end up just using one, I never know which one it will be. Have a choice at the start of the day seems to fit my head better than feeling 'trapped' into a scenario.

[A. Costa]

In 2002 I bought a second-hand and little worn-out "venerable" Nikon D1x. With it, I took VERY beautiful shots - but the camera was so bulky that I brought it with me less and less, until I decided to sell it and lately bought a cheap point-and-shoot. Nowadays, I have a nice high-end mirrorless always with me, in a little shoulder bag. And I've got such amazing shots with it that I would never have taken with my smartphone. So yes, there's something like a "wrong camera" for YOUR type of shots.

[Michael Bearman]

If find that having limited tools inspires creativity. But it is true that limitations are limitations.

[Maggie Osterberg]

This is why my Ricoh GR lives in my purse.

[GFF]

I never ever stress about a missed photo. It seems so pointless. I think more about the ones I CAN get, regardless of the limitations of my capture device... And I almost always have my iPhone with me.