What a Good Camera Does

Recently I've been happier with my photography than I've been in years. I'm very happy with my two current cameras. As I've mentioned several times, I've been conceiving of my gear as two very different cameras for very different purposes:

Camera 1: The Sigma fp(m) monochrome rig for serious work

"Camera" 2: The iPhone 13 for note-taking, immediate sharing, pretty colors, funny stuff I see, and messin' around.

Two purposes, two cameras. Both of them intersect equally with the simple joy of "seeing and noticing" which is probably as good a description as any of this activity—amateur photography for pleasure. As you can see from the previous two posts but one, the iPhone makes decent photographs for the Web and for texting to friends. It doesn't even do too badly for small prints, as my recent "Mike's Miniatures" print sale might have demonstrated to those of you who bought a print.

As for the Sigma, with its funky-but-oh-so-cool viewfinder attachment it's one of the weirdest, quirkiest cameras I've ever owned in my life...and I could not be happier with it. After its conversion to monochrome, it has felt gloriously liberating to go back to the kind of photographing I did all through my youth—with a camera that takes only B&W pictures. I love B&W. Always have. It's my medium. (I just put up two new pictures in my current album. Mind the descriptions.) As I described many times now, even though converting color digital to B&W works very well and yields excellent results technically, working that way just doesn't suit the way my brain works. I need to have color removed as an option. Not everyone is that way, and people like me might be a very small minority for all I know—well, a minority within a minority, as there are very few dedicated B&W photographers now. However, I've always known this about myself. My recent experiences with the Sigma have demonstrated to me, richly, how right I was about that. It's been like coming home again; it restores my photography to me, after many years of wandering half-heartedly in the wilderness of color-priority digital. (I did say wilderness...but that's just what it was for me. I know that what it is for most people is the opposite: the coming of age of color, the unlocking of the joys and beauties of color, the control of color, the liberation of color.)

Those are the two ways I photograph. These two cameras suit those needs admirably. I think it goes without saying that 99.999% of photographers will want and need something other than what suits me!

Cold Twilight

I've finished building the Sigma kit. It all fell together like magic. I got a bag that fits the camera (this one), on which I put an UpStrap Friendship strap (best camera strap ever made, and I speak advisedly—and no less an eminence than Jay Maisel himself agrees with me on that) for over-the-shoulder carrying; a wrist strap for when I have the camera in my hand (I chose this one); a charger; an extra battery for emergencies in the field; a spare card, ditto; and I put a camera baseplate on the camera and threw my lovely tripod in the car. That's the best tripod ever made. I took the picture above with the tripod. Oh, and I got a deep yellow filter for the lens, which I remove for low-light shooting...but I'll post again about color filters with the monochrome cameras in more detail after I do some more tests.

Getting to the point
The point I want to make here, although I am taking a long time getting to it: what I would wish for you—what I would wish for every reader—in fact every photography enthusiast anywhere, whether they've ever heard of TOP or not—is for you to be as happy with your setup as I am with what I'm using now.

What that is, though, will be different for all of us, because we're all different and we like doing different things. For all the enthusiasm I've generated for specific cameras over the years, I don't actually care what you use. What I want is for you to be happy. Enthused. Productive. Enabled. That's what a good camera does: it frees you to do your work. That's what gear talk is all about when it comes down to it.

And it depends on your personality. I knew a guy in the 2000s who was still shooting with the same Barnack camera (i.e., Leica screwmount) he bought in the '50s. I know another guy, a retired financier, who won't even tell me how many cameras he has, that's how many cameras he has. But that's fine, because he's an excellent photographer and works hard at it, and using different cameras of all different types all the time obviously agrees with him. A friend down in Texas tends to switch serially a wee bit, getting very jazzed about one set of gear but pretty soon migrating on to another and getting just as jazzed about that. No harm, no foul. A friend in Washington, a very good photographer who taught at the Smithsonian for years, hates all cameras—they all get it in his way and annoy him. He works around it. I know a reader who can afford his own airplane but is still happily shooting with an entry-level Nikon DSLR from fifteen years ago; he likes the color. A friend who used to live in Milwaukee, a retired beer company executive who makes more money doing photography in his retirement than 90% of the professional photographers I've ever known (hey, if you're a great businessman, you're a great businessman) for years used a Leica S as his point-and-shoot—at lunch one time he passed a Nikon D800 back to me saying he could never use a camera with all those buttons on it! But another reader, who shares a name with a large forest ungulate, has patiently unlocked all the esoteric technical capabilities, and they are legion, of a second-tier Micro 4/3 camera (although he recently bought the latest top model). This list goes on.

It just depends on what works for you. You're just trying to get to where you're free to do the work you want to do. It really doesn't matter what takes you there. Find your own bliss!

Mike

Featured Comments:

David: "As someone who still shoots B&W film (gasp!), I have been following your adventures with your new camera with interest. Mike, you have been taking some wonderful images with it! I am sure they look amazing full resolution on a monitor but what about prints? I have not yet seen digital B&W prints which come anywhere near classic darkroom FB prints. So for now, I will be sticking with film."

Mike replies: I'm as curious as you are about Sigma fp(m) prints.We are readying a print sale as we speak, so we can all see for ourselves.

Comments

[aaron c greenman]

Amen, and enjoy!
Next stop, Piezography printing…….
Best Regards,
acg

[Charles Rozier]

“But another reader, who shares a name with a large forest ungulate”

John Doe?

[Bob G.]

Mike,
I’m curious to know if you remained in consultive contact with the guy who rendered your Sigma’s sensor to black & white, and whether he gave or gives you advice or guidelines once you have it. It seems specialized enough , as well as used by unique subset of users to have that info.

[Daniel Tokarczuk]

Hi Mike,
Any chance of getting the RSS feed working again? It hasn't been updated since Oct 28. I know it's probably not high on your list of priorities. (Maybe I'm the only one who uses it!)

Thanks,
Dan

[Speed]

I am quite happy with my current photography gear. And I will likely be happy with it for some time -- right up to the day the manufacturer announces a newer, faster, lighter, better, more pixels, better color and more expensive model. Then I will become grumpy and pine for the day when there is enough money in the camera pot to upgrade.

So it is and so it has ever been. In my house anyway.

[Albert Smith]

I think finances can come into play. That old cliche of "paralysis by analysis" can be true. If you have options, then your thoughts will be about those options. Little or no options and you just get on with what you have and make it work, or option 2, quit.

I have a lot of cameras and lenses. I can never just leave the house without fondling several bodies and lenses, trying to decide on what to bring. I'm always second guessing my choices and cursing about what I left at home.

I really think sometimes that I was more productive and happy when all I had based on what I could afford was a Pentax MX and a 50mm lens. If I lost all my gear tomorrow I'd opt for less options.

[rube39]

Excellent advice!

[John Camp]

You first mentioned the UPstraps years ago, and I went out and bought one, because I always hated the straps that came with the cameras, and most of those I found in camera stores. I now have four UPstraps, one for each camera.

I would like to point out, in a completely friendly way, that you and almost everybody else misspell UPstrap. Yours is the most common, with the capital U and S. The next most (even with reviewers) is Upstrap. One well-known camera site, which highly recommends the straps, refers to it as the Up-Strap. Others break the word, as Up Strap, no hyphen. Some reviews don't capitalize anything, and refer to it as the upstrap, as if it were a generic.

Anyway, I went to Journey Camera thinking the Friendship strap might be a bit different than the ones I have, and was surprised to see that the owner has announced that the current supply of UPstraps will be the last one. Apparently, when these are gone, there will be no more. I considered buying a couple as backups, but the fact is, I don't think the ones I have will ever wear out. Still thinking about it, though.

[Benjamin Marks]

I feel like I need the basic Leica or Nikon FM controls: shutter speed, ISO, aperture, exposure compensation. OK, OK, color balance is also nice.

Mainly, with every new camera I get I figure out as quickly as I can how to reduce its bells and whistles to the above features list That way, when the camera falls to hand I can quickly get to work.

[John Krumm]

I'm in a gear sweet spot as well right now (used Z6, just ordered a used Z7). Very happy with the overall simplicity and dependability. Recently bought a used kit lens for under $400, the 24-70 f4, and the quality is very good. For my style of shooting, (slow) I don't see much of a reason to upgrade for quite a while. But you never know.

[R]

This article makes way more sense than most 'reviews'(ahem, advertorials) published elsewhere. Thanks.

[Fred Haynes]

This is the first comment since the last in which I suggested holding on to your bucks and to wait for a camera that would be reasonable and have a black land white sensor. You were contemplating converting a camera you had. I was speaking from the point of view of a retired guy in his mid eighties living on social security. Well I was wrong. I’m so glad you did the right thing for yourself, because your photo output is unquestionably much better for it. I can feel the creative energy coming through every picture. I don’t love every single one, but I would love to have taken any of them myself. I have to say, I kind of envy you! And I can see your happy, and that’s a good thing!
Best Fred

[Moose]

I certainly agree with your opinion!

"But another reader, who shares a name with a large forest ungulate, has patiently unlocked all the esoteric technical capabilities, and they are legion, of a second-tier Micro 4/3 camera (although he recently bought the latest top model)."

ROTFLOL, much fun!

I don't know about the ". . . second-tier Micro 4/3 camera.", though. I have not bought what I considered a "second-tier camera." since my first DSLR, the Canon 300D, in mid-2004. I've bought what I thought was the right camera (and lenses) for what I wanted to do; and been right more often than not. \;~)>

". . . has patiently unlocked all the esoteric technical capabilities, and they are legion, of a . . . Micro 4/3 camera . . ."

On the floor, laughing, again. Not even close! The latest Olys are covered with a plethora of buttons and things I've never used, and tend not to know what are for.

Just pulled out the OM-1. There's a button inside a switch on the back; says "AEL" Auto Exposure Lock?? Never used it. The little switch around it? They've been around for a while - no idea. Oh, look! There's a little joy stick! I hadn't noticed it before, although I recall reviewers making a big deal about them, and whether cameras have one or not. What does it do? Create Joy? How?

Some of the buttons have labels, although a couple on the front are entirely mysterious. And I did learn that the one with a red dot, which always has meant shoot video, only means that now when in Video Mode, otherwise it sets HR Mode.

Unlike your friend ". . . saying he could never use a camera with all those buttons on it!", I just ignore them.

And patient? You've not been near me out in the field when I mutter imprecations, working to do something I know that damn thing can do, but don't know or don't recall how to make it do.

I know, or learn, how to do the stuff I want to do. The rest can wait. Right in keeping with your theme, no!

[Mike Ferron]

What is freeing me is a Canon 6D I picked up for a whopping $300. Yeah yesterday’s news but it’s is smallish for a full frame camera and very capable with high quality primes available at affordable prices. I picked up a used EF 50 1.4, EF 100 F2 and have a EF 28 2.8 USM IS on the way. Total investment is $1100. Look at it this way the new Fuji XT-5 is $1700 with no lens. I would not trade.

[The images from that camera always looked great. --Mike]

[Gaspar Heurtley]

What a good camera does is drive you, compel you to take pictures. I have a few cameras lying on shelves around the house. All perfectly capable, working cameras that I hold in my hands every once in a while, play a little with them and put them back to the shelve. Those are not good cameras, no matter how top-of-the-line they are or their brand’s pedigree.
But when I hold my good-old Olympus EM5 (1st. Gen) or my Pentax P30t I immediately start shooting whatever is around.
Those are good cameras.

[Jim Kofron]

Mike,

It thrills me to see you really happy with the gear--and as a long time Sigma shooter, I'm smiling along with your choice. I enjoyed my weekend with my rented fp--still waiting to hear what the progress is on their FF X3 (x-Foveon) sensor/camera.