The Perfect Camera is Just Around the Corner!

Imperfected: the Nikon N8008s of 26 years ago

Add one part Fountain of Youth, one part El Dorado, one part Shangri-La, one part Land of Milk and Honey, plus one sprinkling each of the inevitability of change and idle daydreams and a hardheaded and practical prognostication of the likely future, and here is one thing that will rise from that happy stew: the mythical ideal camera that's coming along next.

It's almost here. Just not quite.

I got my first lesson in this—I'm dating myself to you younger readers, I realize—when Nikon refreshed the N8008 (F-801) with the N8008s (F-801S). I had switched to Nikon in 1989 because I joined the Paul Kennedy Studio in Takoma Park, Maryland, and the other three photographers all used Nikon, and we all pooled equipment; I was perfectly happy with my Contax gear—my only problem being that I couldn't afford enough of it—but my stuff wasn't going to be useful to anyone else despite the near-exact similarities of the lensmounts. So, using a frighteningly large percentage of my raggedy net worth, I ordered the then-new Nikon F4. Delivery was going to take a month. While I waited for it, I rented an N8008.

Much to my surprise, and despite the decidedly rose-colored filtration through with I viewed my impressive and beautiful new F4 (the Porsche 928 of cameras), I discovered that it wasn't really to my taste. It slowly dawned on me that I actually preferred the N8008 I had rented for a month. So eventually I sold the F4 and used the proceeds to buy two F8008 bodies. This coincided with the peak of my activities as a professional, and over the next three years I put a lot of mileage on those two bodies.

Naturally, I bonded with them, because you'll learn to love any equipment you use a lot (that's the real secret of having great equipment, by the way—use it hard, long, and exclusively, enough that you really get to know it inside and out, and you'll bond with it. That's more difficult now that ever, since digital model change is such an endless churn; it's tougher to step off the upgrade treadmill now than it was in the film era. But it was never all that easy. For me at least).

Also naturally, there were several things about the N8008 I thought could be improved. So I was happy when I heard that Nikon would update the 1988 N8008 in 1991, about halfway through my Nikon years.

At this point I don't even remember what the improvements I wanted were. But I do remember that I considered them to be self-evident. So when Nikon added little more than spot-metering and focus-tracking, two things I didn't need at all, and ignored the improvements I thought were obvious, I felt like Kanye West at the 2009 MTV Music Video Awards. I wanted to jump on stage, grab the microphone out of the winner's hands, and protest. "No, no! The N8008 doesn't need spot-metering and focus tracking! It needs [X] and [Y] and [Z]!!!"

The disappointment I felt was so acute that I can conjure the feeling to this day.

Those were innocent, pre-Internet days, so the vasty camera-culture of the Interwebs that dominates us today didn't exist. Now, we take a number of things utterly for granted that weren't taken for granted then. For instance, that a refresh will happen at all. Or the fact that we think we can influence the reiteration if we argue and complain loudly enough and often enough in public about what we don't like. Nikon was an inscrutable monolith back then. (Er....)

We even have a name for it now that didn't exist then: vaporware.

Anyway, I'm fast approaching the replacement stage for my Fujifilm X-T1, bought in early 2015. It's two and a half years old, and I usually use my main cameras for three years.

So what am I doing?

Waiting for the perfect camera that's just around the corner, that's what. Like the greenest wet-behind-the-ears newbie.

I know, I know. You'd think I'd learn. The camera around the corner isn't perfect. And, never assume.

Actually, I have four candidates in mind (not counting the X-T2, which I might get to use on extended loan from a friend), and two of my four candidates are already real: I wanted a Sony A6300 with IBIS. Much to my astonishment, that one actually materialized. But it was priced very high, and I no longer have any lenses for it except for a Sigma DN 60mm. It would be very expensive to switch back to the ex-NEX line, and past a certain point, cash tends to stick stubbornly to my fingertips.

The other monkeywrench in my decision-making process (did I mention I've never been good at making decisions?) is that I've decided to use two cameras going forward, one being the one in the iPhone 7+. So I also think I should consider the Sony A7II, which has all the features I need and also contains a sensor that is further from the size of the smartphone's, at least hypothetically adding more separation between the two cameras I'd be using.

The two cameras I'm waiting for are the Panasonic "GX9," which would be a GX8 with the GX85 shutter in it, and the Fujifilm X-T2 with IBIS, known on rumor sites as the "X-T2s." So as you can see, since 1991 I have not only not wised up, I've actually devolved...because now I can't even decide what format to shoot. Sheesh!

I also might still be living in the recent past. It's possible that the recent downturn in the camera market might have put the brakes on future development at some of the camera companies. Thom has pointed out that Nikon's new product offerings are historically slim lately, and it's known that Panasonic is rethinking its commitment to the digital camera market. Which I think is a shame, because I'm a real fan. But it's at least possible there won't be a "GX9," but that Panasonic will live with the GX8 and just move on to a different future model when market conditions warrant.

Fuji, at least, seems to be vibrant, alive, healthy, and growing; but the "X-T2s" is the least certain upgrade. Although bandied about on the rumor sites and forums as if it's a done deal, Fujifilm itself has made no official announcement. But I think I should wait for it before making any decisions.

Though not official, the Fuji-with-IBIS is even being designated by the addition of the same letter as the N8008s of 1991! (A bad idea, by the way, because it's the same letter that denotes plural in English—an editorial headache back in those days was how to write "more than one N8008s." N8008ss? N8008s's? N8008ses? Fujifilm ought to pick a different letter for this reason.)

...So, twenty-six years on from 1991, here I am waiting for the "X-T2s" with high hopes. Just like I was waiting for the N8008s with high hopes way back in 1990.

Anyway, you'd think I'd have gotten the message by now. I guess it's just human nature to want to imagine the vista from on top of that next hill, the one you haven't quite crested yet.

And too pleasant to believe just a little in El Dorado, Shangri-La, and the Land of Milk and Honey.

Someday, no doubt, I will learn.  :-)

Mike

Original contents copyright 2017 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:

Jamie Pillers: "WHAT? Not waiting for the new mirrorless Nikon that accepts F-mount lenses and has IBIS?? Come on, Mike...get your waiting priorities together!"

Dave Kosiur: "Don't you think it's amazing (and sad, in some ways) that we now think of the 'lifetime' of a digital camera to be 2–3 years? That certainly was not the case for film cameras. Remember 'planned obsolescence' for cars? Now we've got it for just about all electronic devices, whether we want (need) it or not."

John Krumm: "It helps if you buy something that is maybe at the end (and beginning!) of a product line, and who knows, maybe even close to the end of a brand, like the Pentax K1. I know I don't have to wait for a K1s, or at least I don't think so. The lens roadmap now looks increasingly vaporous, so I've made peace with a couple nice Limiteds. Occasionally I get sucked into buying an old manual lens, find out it's not as good as I had hoped, then add it to the pile, but that's about it for gear lust.

"Like an old guitar, the more I use it, the better it works."

Daniel: "While we are at it, have Fuji make the X-Pro2M—a fully monochromatic X-Pro2 body."

Gene Spesard: "Just FYI, according to the Oxford English Dictionary 'vaporware' was in use back in the early 1980s—for software but apparently not yet for cameras."

kirk tuck: "My pursuit of the perfect camera is relentless. I'm happy for a while and then I start to crave change. It's a strange affliction but it's cheaper than sports cars and mistresses....

"Today my brain tells me the Panasonic GH5 is the right camera for me. Who knows what my brain and the industry will conspire to enchant me with tomorrow?"

Comments

[MJFerron]

The quest and the desires never end Mike. They never end.

[Dennis]

When I saw the headline, I thought maybe you had some inside scoop an the upcoming Nikon mirrorless system :)

As you alluded to with the Sony comment, I'm finding that at least a few of Sony's cameras are actually hitting that "perfect camera" status (for me), but they're also hitting pretty high prices. I upgraded from the A6000 to the A6500, but only after finding a used one. I own an RX100 (original) and like the looks of the latest models, but the IV actually seems fine; no need for the V. (I won't buy either, at least no time soon). And I've toyed with the idea of the RX10-III as a travel camera (paired with the RX100 for days I don't want the bigger camera) and only wished that it had faster AF. Here it is with faster AF ... and a $1700 price tag !

I could probably come up with a few wish list items, but nothing I could or should reasonably expect. Most cameras have addressed most obvious limitations, except for that of my budget (and they're going the wrong direction on that count).

[Herman]

Instead of straining to see what's coming in the way of cameras, I prefer to look back at the cameras that I had.

[Speed]

Questions for someone contemplating a new camera ...

Have you made any photographs with your current camera that would have been better with a new camera?

Are there any photographs that you couldn't make with your current camera that would be possible with a new one?

[Peter Wright]

You just posted a picture of the most despised camera of all the ones I have ever owned! I traded in my Pentax MX and lenses for one of these, because I thought I would use the AF. Then I found that the "AF" was markedly inferior to my MF capabilities, and sometimes would refuse to acquire focus at all. The final parting came when I got back from a (business) trip to Tokyo where I added a day to tour round by myself, and when I got my films back from the lab discovered that all the pictures were underexposed by about 3-4 stops and thus useless!

The N8008 had an intermittent contact that had caused my problem. It was all I could manage not to take the damn thing to the garage and adjust it with a sledge hammer! Anyway, it and I parted company, but as I had a Nikon lens or two by then I bought an FM2n with which I had a long and happy relationship. Lesson learned.

[Mark Bridgers]

If memory serves, you like rangefinders, and you like the 35mm field of view. Seems like the logical candidate is the X100F. It doesn't have IBYP (In-Body Yip Prevention) but I'm sure you can learn to compensate with calm thoughts just before you pull the trig....er, press the shutter.

[Sid]

I too have been awaiting the rumored Panasonic Lumix GX9 or whatever it'll be called along with a set of its lenses. The sooner, the better.

By the way, you seemed to have worked in Takoma Park, Maryland. Tacoma is in the State of Washington.

[beuler]

You recently mentioned that on your scale of pros and cons, the balance tips in favor of EVF over OVF. Be on the lookout for a Nikon F mount or Pentax K mount mirrorless camera within the next 12 months (no adapter necessary).

The Pentax vaporware will come with 5 axis IBIS if it materializes at all. You can pair it with a 31mm limited and a 100mm f2.8 macro tokina/"bokhina" rebrand. Add a couple of sigma Art lenses and you are done.

Or wait for the XT-2s...

[David Dyer-Bennet]

Meanwhile, the lack of spot metering in the 8008 is why I had my little sojourn in Olympus land (two OM-4Ts, 1987-1994). I'd been Nikon since 1981, wasn't yet interested in AF, but wanted more precise exposure.

In 1994 I realized I did need AF (rented an N90 and AF lens for a weekend), and had only unloaded part of the Nikon gear, so sold the Olympus and jumped back to Nikon.

So, if Nikon had just put a simple obviously-necessary feature like spot metering in the original 8008, I would have been saved considerable trouble! :-) (Or would have found other ways to mess myself up, more likely.)

[Stephen J]

As Aldous Huxley wrote in "The Island"...

Here and now Mike...

here and now...

[Stephen Gilbert]

Remember when digital made you unable to tolerate the time it took to process film?

I wonder how much value things like the iPhone offer, given that they eliminate the wait for downloading images in order to share them?

[Eolake]

Testify, dude.

I'm trying to decide whether to go from my iPhone 6S+, which I love as a camera, to the new X. Sometimes I want the longer focal length and bokeh, but is the difference big enough to justify this expensive phone? It is a 50mm-e lens (that's not a tele, Apple, please).
The 8 won't do it, because the longer lens has no IS, which is a crime. The amazing IS is one of the reasons I like the 6S+ so much; night shooting is a breeze.

[Eamon Hickey]

I have the opposite feeling about the 8008s. In 1991, I was working in a camera store in Northern California that was a decidedly Nikon-leaning shop. My faithful steed, at the time, was a Minolta SRT-101, bought used for me by my mother and uncle in 1978.

In the early 1990s, Nikon USA had a program whereby if you worked in a camera store, you could earn points for selling Nikon stuff and then cash those points in for Nikon gear of your own. I was a good salesman, and I saved up enough points for, ta da!, an 8008s. (It was comparatively a lot of points.)

I still remember when that box came from Nikon USA, addressed not to the store but to me, my first brand new camera, a high-end Nikon to boot! A thrill from a more innocent time. That camera was a very satisfying object for me, much more for what it symbolized for a kid who grew up in a family of modest means than for any pictures I took with it (which were relatively few).

[Tom]

Well at least Apple has learned the error of their way and is skipping the iPhone 7s to go right to the iPhone 8.

[Clayton]

Am hearing great things about the A9- a bit further away from the phone...... You do it to us!

[Brian Taylor]

Another highly entertaining ramble Mike. Much appreciated.

"The real secret of having great equipment, by the way —use it hard, long, and exclusively, enough that you really get to know it inside and out". Its not only the digital churn that makes this harder now. Cameras have become so labyrinthine.

Mere mortal that I am, I've only just found out that my XT10 has a proper silent mode rather than the 'sneeze mode' that's meant to let you know you've pressed the electronic shutter. This, and a couple of other belated discoveries, have swung my affections back towards Fuji.

The intoxicating lure of the 'happy stew' you mention -a child's eye view through the toyshop window, surely- could I suppose be resisted by investing in a new lens? But that would be cheating. Another alternative might be to get some counselling. There must be specialist practitioners out there with a deep knowledge of the Panasonic/Fuji product line and personal experience of G.A.S?

I don't need counselling of course. At the moment I'm feeling quite contented. Smug almost. But if my faculties are still intact by the time the "GX9" or "XT2s" have lost some of their golden glow, I'll certainly have a look at them.

Actually, that's not quite true. I can't wait to see 'em. :)

[Richard Man]

The last digital camera I bought (other than the iPhones....) was the Leica M9 in 2010. With the economy being what it is, I thought that would be the last Leica I will buy, and it along with my M7 should be good "forever".

Now in late 2017, my feeling is that they are good... for a few more years, especially the M7. The M11 follow-on to the M10, announced in 2 years (my prediction :-) ) will be perfect, and I will upgrade then... may be.

[Bill Tyler]

Minor historical note: Both the Internet and the term "vaporware" existed in the time frame you're discussing, but neither was known to the general public. The Internet and, the term"vaporware" were both well-known in the computer industry. Along with "vaporware" was the joking comment that company X was now shipping--brochures, that is. The brochures, of course, described X's vaporware.

[Richard Parkin]

Sorry to hear your Fuji XT1 no longer takes good pictures, maybe not the fault of the camera ;~) Fuji are NOT going to introduce IBIS, they have said so in interviews.

[Moose]

Well, darn! I thought I already had it, maybe even them.

Tomorrow, who knows; now, they're in the bag. The camera to come doesn't take pictures.

I'm about to head out on an exotic photographic adventure. I've spent a lot of time trying to think of a camera or cameras that would better serve me. Couldn't.

There is no perfect camera. There are cameras that do some things better than what I have, but do other things less well, or are in other ways less suitable. It's all about balance.

Your "real secret of having great equipment, by the way—use it hard, long, and exclusively, enough that you really get to know it inside and out" is a factor, too.

[David Sutton]

I'm fortunate to have both an X-T1 and an X-T2. They work fine. Guess if I've ever lost a photo through not having ibis?
I have lost more than a few through not paying attention. I can't find a button on these cameras for that.
Using the X-T2 I just made a 3 x 2 ft print of a stained glass window photographed in bright sunlight from a single shot at 1600 iso. No highlight or shadow clipping, and you can read the fine print if you can be bothered getting out a magnifying glass.
The camera is nice enough. But it's the lenses.
And why 1600 iso and not 200? See above about paying attention.

[Kevin Purcell]

For Fujifilm we already know what the letters mean (from the X100)

s = second (mark 2)
t = third (mark 3)
f = fourth (mark 4)

As they've not released a mark five we don't know what the next letter will be.

[Dave Jenkins]

With regard to the Nikon F4:
One day around 1989, the photographer with whom I shared studio space brought in his new Nikon F4. I hefted it and placed it on the UPS scales on my desk. Then I weighed my Pentax 6x7 with the 105mm normal lens. They weighed almost exactly the same. I thought, "It will be a very cold day in a very hot place before I will carry that kind of weight to make a 35mm negative!"

With regard to the Nikon 8008S:
Of all the film AF-SLRs I have personally used, the Nikon 8008s was the worst. My first serious camera was a Nikon F, bought in 1969. Used Nikon until '78 or '79, then switched to Olympus OM. I loved that system -- used it for PJ assignments in 27 countries on five continents, plus a ton of editorial and commercial work in the U.S.

I actually held on to my OMs two years longer than I should have, in hope they would come out with a professional-grade auto-focus system. Finally, my aging eyes could wait no longer.

I began with no bias toward either Nikon or Canon. However, as I said, the photographer with whom I shared studio space had Nikon equipment, so I reasoned that I could get a Nikon AF body, list my OM stuff on e-Bay, and, as it sold, use the money to buy Nikon lenses and another body. Meanwhile, I could borrow his lenses as needed. So I bought a Nikon 8008s and later, a 6006.

My work in those days was almost entirely with slide film and required extensive bracketing. After a year of increasing frustration with Nikon's focus-hold-the-button-recompose dance for each shot in the bracket, compounded by the fact that the Nikon's AF hunted for focus like a hound dog with a cold in its nose, I tried Canon.

My first EOS locked on focus like a pit bull and Canon's Custom Function 4 ended the focus-recompose-shoot, focus-recompose-shoot nonsense. I promptly got rid of the Nikons and remain firmly in the Canon camp for 24 years, until an aging back dictated a move to the Fuji X system.

Incidentally, I found the 6006, a less expensive camera than the 8008s, to be much more user-friendly. I sold it to a friend who used it for many years.

[Roger]

I'm sitting in a hotel room in College Park, just back from dinner in Rockville. Apple Maps sent us through Takoma Park to avoid a bit of traffic.

I used to own an 8008s. I was constantly cursing it and its modal knobs that provided no reminders (unless I thought to view the LCD) that I had turned the EV up or down the last time I'd used the camera causing to incorrectly expose at part of the next roll of film.

[Stan B.]

I'm happiest using the non latest or advanced equipment- that way, when I don't come up with the goods, I can always (try and) blame my antiquated tool set...

[Rod Thompson]

3 EM5 mk1'1 for 5 years. Still discovering their limits (have a Pen F also, but still like the OMD's). Nice change from the Canon merry-go-round I was on for years before.

[aaronL]

Ah come on, I've been looking at the GX8 price dropping while rubbing the numbers off my visa card...
Did you have serious problems with its shutter?

Seems like the GX8 is the real value out there considering it has the newer sensor design.

AaronL

[Bill Morgan]

Don't decide until you've taken a look at the upcoming Fuji X-E3. That's where my cookie-jar money will be going next.

[John Krill]

As for Nikon you have a better chance of being hit by a bus as you walk out your front door of your house than Nikon doing anything that makes any sense. I gave up on Nikon 3 years ago and nothing has changed at Nikon since then.

I went with Fujifilm for their prime lenses and haven't ever regretted it.

[Rob L.]

I'm at a similar crossroads - there's a loose connection in my X-T1 that results in the EVF sometimes not working, so I'm back considering next steps. I figure waiting to see what Nikon does in mirrorless is worth waiting on, as does an X-T2 with IBIS - I'm not a spring chicken anymore that can handhold 180+ mm lenses with impunity.

But shopping is fun - committing, and locking yourself into a camera for a while...that's both freeing and stifling!

[Jeroen Pulles]

In my boring world, I'm still waiting for The Digital FM. Although Nikon's recent new lens introductions give me no reason to expect that camera to ever materialize. Luckily, I also have no real reason (or urge) to go out and buy a new camera, so I'm happily waiting for what's around the corner.

Nikon f801 (as I know it) versus Fuji X: Does the Nikon have the dubious honor of the first Nikon with a Mode button? You have to keep a button pressed (mode, exposure, iso) and turn the thumb wheel to switch between settings; The chosen mode is only shown in the LCD display, so you can only change or verify the setting while the camera is powered on, and you're not holding it to your eye. -- You can use a camera for years, but that Nikon design won't become more comfortable to use. You will keep on discovering you had the wrong mode selection after you took the picture. The Fuji X "retro" controls are so much more simple to understand and operate.

On vaporware: Will New Kodak Ektachrome materialize?

[Tom Dills]

The XT-1 is still the perfect camera. Don't overthink it, just use it.

[Ian C]

Just in, a Rumour from the Future. Sony will revive the Minolta CLE and Konica Hexar AF in digital form. The CLE-D will have an M mount and Fuji-style hybrid viewfinder; the Hexar-D will have a new 40mm Hexanon f.1.7 lens and the shutter top speed will rise from 1/250 to 1/4000. Both cameras will use CCD sensors and there will be monochrome-only and Foveon sensor versions available too. And I need to go and get my medication now.

[Brian]

I still have two working N8008s bodies. They both used to be Digital cameras, now one of them is for film- the DCS200 back went out. The other is a working DCS200ir.

The AF on the N8008s is faster than the N8008. I traded that camera for a Nikon S4. The latter has retained more value.

[Steve Deutsch]

Shangri-La eh? May I refer you to a song of that name by the Kinks?