TOP Classic: The Improvement Law and the Resignation Imperative

[Ed. note: I was just having fun with words in this post from 2016, but the idea that "even the perfect camera can be improved" made me laugh. Definitely true, though. I edited this slightly this time around.]

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Postulate 1: Every camera can be improved.

Postulate 2: Every camera could be changed in specific ways to improve it for any given gear geek user.

How many times in your life have you ever said, or thought, "I like [x camera]. But I wish it [had/didn't have] x"? Q.E.D.

The Keppler Axiom, named for Burt Keppler, is:

The more cameras you've tried or used, the more acute Postulate 2 becomes.

Mr. Keppler wrote, in one* of his many columns in Modern Photography and Popular Photography magazines, that his "ideal camera" would cobble together many of the features he had liked best from the great many different cameras he had tried. This feature from this camera, that feature from that camera. Add them all together to get the camera he thought would be perfect.

However, that last sentence ignores The Persistence Corollary of the Improvement Law, which is:

Even the perfect camera can still be improved!

This seems illogical, but it is true. Use the perfect camera for long enough, and you will say, "Hmm, I like [x camera]. But I wish it [had/didn't have] x."

This leads us, finally, to The Resignation Imperative:

The best camera for you will still have a few things that you wish were different.

Resign yourself to this: it's not a flaw in the equipment, it's just a manifestation of the Improvement Law, which is an immutable law of the Universe. It will always be true. We must learn to accept Postulate 2 as part and parcel of humans being human and cameras being cameras. C'est la vie.

Mike

ADDENDUM: I forgot to add The Antidote to the Persistence Corollary of the Improvement Law, which is: the more work you like that you make with a given camera, the more you will like that camera, regardless of its features or flaws.

* The column is lost to history. I have made quite an effort to find it, including contacting Burt's old right-hand man, retired Popular Photography Editor-in-Chief Jason Schneider. No one can find it. It did exist, that much I know; it featured a drawing of Mr. Keppler's imaginary unicorn camera with the shutter-button on the front rather than the top. But the column is lost.

Original contents copyright 2023 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. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. (To see all the comments, click on the "Comments" link below or on the title of this post.)

Featured Comments from:

[Ed. note: I was just having fun with words in this post from 2016, but the idea that "even the perfect camera can be improved" made me laugh. Definitely true, though. I edited this slightly this time around.]

-

Postulate 1: Every camera can be improved.

Postulate 2: Every camera could be changed in specific ways to improve it for any given gear geek user.

How many times in your life have you ever said, or thought, "I like [x camera]. But I wish it [had/didn't have] x"? Q.E.D.

The Keppler Axiom, named for Burt Keppler, is:

The more cameras you've tried or used, the more acute Postulate 2 becomes.

Mr. Keppler wrote, in one* of his many columns in Modern Photography and Popular Photography magazines, that his "ideal camera" would cobble together many of the features he had liked best from the great many different cameras he had tried. This feature from this camera, that feature from that camera. Add them all together to get the camera he thought would be perfect.

However, that last sentence ignores The Persistence Corollary of the Improvement Law, which is:

Even the perfect camera can still be improved!

This seems illogical, but it is true. Use the perfect camera for long enough, and you will say, "Hmm, I like [x camera]. But I wish it [had/didn't have] x."

This leads us, finally, to The Resignation Imperative:

The best camera for you will still have a few things that you wish were different.

Resign yourself to this: it's not a flaw in the equipment, it's just a manifestation of the Improvement Law, which is an immutable law of the Universe. It will always be true. We must learn to accept Postulate 2 as part and parcel of humans being human and cameras being cameras. C'est la vie.

Mike

ADDENDUM: I forgot to add The Antidote to the Persistence Corollary of the Improvement Law, which is: the more work you like that you make with a given camera, the more you will like that camera, regardless of its features or flaws.

* The column is lost to history. I have made quite an effort to find it, including contacting Burt's old right-hand man, retired Popular Photography Editor-in-Chief Jason Schneider. No one can find it. It did exist, that much I know; it featured a drawing of Mr. Keppler's imaginary unicorn camera with the shutter-button on the front rather than the top. But the column is lost.

Original contents copyright 2023 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. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. (To see all the comments, click on the "Comments" link below or on the title of this post.)

Featured Comments from:

Comments

[Allan Ostling]

Who knew that Herbert Kepler answered to 'Bert?' I would have thought 'Herb' more likely.

[And he spelled it "Burt." --Mike]

[John Bour]

The motto of my (video/photography) business is
"Perfect is a good starting point."

[Roger Bradbury]

Here's a unicorn camera; not sure if this is the right one, though... : )

https://www.smythstoys.com/uk/en-gb/video-games-and-tablets/digital-and-instant-cameras/cameras-for-kids/unicorn-kids-interactive-camera/p/197426

[David Dyer-Bennet]

My first SLR, the Miranda Sensorex, had the shutter button on the front rather than the top. And in fact I very much liked that feature (it gave me a much more stable hold for vertical photos, and no worse for horizontal).