The discussion following my recent photo post is quite fascinating. Understandably, as most people here are backpackers, weight is an issue.
Last night I dug out my old Olympus OM4. This was a superb camera. I’d forgotten how small and light it was — amazing compared to even medium sized digital SLRs.
I wonder why we can’t got back to these sizes. The OM 4 only had one fault, the battery life. It was powered by two small pill-type batteries and they tended to drain quickly especially if the camera was out over a cold night.
These days you might need a little more space in the camera to take a modern battery. But then again do we need all of the features we get these days?
Do you really need Auto Focus? This is helpful (especially as you get older) but it is amazing how often the focus is not quite spot on.
Do we need all of these exposure modes on high end camera? I stick mainly to manual and aperture priority where I can trust it. I don’t use shutter priority or various programme modes.
Is it just me or old fashioned aperture rings easier to operate that all of the new fangled ‘wheels’?
What I really value is quick on/off, high ISO, different metering options and sometimes auto ISO.
Some of the new compacts and 3/4 cameras seem to be going back towards basics.
Digital SLRs are just too heavy. Cradling my OM4 it seems to me that there’s no need for it!
Oh, I should have added that the new flash integration on DSLRs is very welcome.
The OM-4 is almost identical in weight to the D3000. It’s thinner but also longer and I’d say the D3000 is no harder to store once you put a lens on each.
Of course you pay in the viewfinder department.
I wonder if it could be done, it’s a good point. I remember using early Pentax S1A/SV/Spotmatics which were simple, lightweight and a joy to handle with their excellent early Takumar coated lenses. The latest Nikons aren’t as bad as the early F/Photomic models which were versatile but built like tanks.
Many modern cameras appear to be bloated by design but perhaps there is a need for such volume to accommodate power supply and drive mechanisms.
Interesting stuff. The sheer amount of print, negative and slide stuff I have in the loft – it never gets viewed, because I don’t have time to scan them in! – coupled with our then imminent arrival, convinced me to go fully DSLR.
I have to say that with family events as they are, walking and weight had to take a back burner. I was offered the loan of an excellent 18-70mm legacy Nikon lens and that led me through to a second hand D70s.
So I’m a bit behind you, Andy! I agree that the weight and bulk is really something else, though. I’m a bit precious about it, too. My lovely OM1 never failed me and I used to bung that in the ‘sack and head off. My OM4 is brilliant, too, but the battery thing did really hack me off. It was a jolt to move away from Olympus after so many years, but I’m very happy with my Nikon and really enjoy playing with some key settings. This concept of changing ‘film speed’ in the middle of a ‘film’ still has me chuckling!
Interesting. For all the world I’d have thought the OM 4 to be lighter. It certainly is a very compact unit.
There is something wonderful about the handling of Nikons whether they are light or not. While lower models may be lighter I wonder if there is a demand for Full Frame professional cameras that are light. I suspect there might be.
If there was one thing that put me off photography (other than loosing my darkroom) it was the battery performance of the OM 4. It was truly dreadful!
Thinking about it my Pentax ME Super was probably the best/fun camera that I ever owned.
I had a Nikon F with the wonderully named Photomic Head back in, oh, 1976. I took it to Finland in mid-winter – after having everything stripped out and the mechanicals coated in garphite. Even at -40 C the meter still worked. I then got a Nikomat (US branding) which I was still using up to a few years ago.
The Nikon was our workhorse, we used them with pin register backs for multivision productions before the invention of Powerpoint. The viewfinder 100% image and a range of finders was the main attraction as well as the legendary durability.
I had a Nikkormat FTN for years it was a trusted friend!
Spot the deliberate mistake (?) on my 1.23pm post. A clue is in the last two words…
Andy, the smallest DSLRs are pretty compact, especially the Olympus ones. My Canon 450D is smaller than the Nikon and Canon film SLRs I used in film days. And pro film SLRs like the Nikon F3 and F4 were pretty big and heavy (not that I had these). But now the same quality images can be had from cameras smaller and lighter than DSLRs I think it may be time for a change.
Spot on Chris. I have yet to explore the compact market seriously. But I wonder where this will be in a couple of years time?
I used a brace of OM4ti s for many years, may ‘private work’ camera until recently was a rollei tlr. All great cameras, but digi has it for ease of producing images. I’m also not really in agreement with Ken Rockwell – a contact printed 8×10 neg is a thing of beauty, the information contained in that is pure resolution, you can SEE the veins in leaves in the background.
I’ve been fortunate to use hi end mf digi cameras, and you just do a ‘at pixels’ view of one of these and the pixels are worth every penny.
But yeah, I’d like a small manual camera – it does exist too – leica M9.
I’m surprised no-one has mentioned the recently-announced Ricoh GXR: http://www.ricoh.com/r_dc/gxr/
The prospect of interchangeable lenses with built-in sensors is an interesting one.
Andy, to answer your question as to where the compact market will be in a couple of year’s time, well, a number of prosumer (crap term!) dslr cameras from the main players already have HD video capability.
That should give you a clue!
The GRX looks like the kind of idea only marketing could love: want a new lens, then shell out for a new sensor too! Uh, no.
The Samsung NX should be announced next month and for my money it looks like they’ve done everything right — weather sealing, DSLR-like controls and an APS-C sensor. But Samsung isn’t an optics company and it’s difficult to trust that they’ll get the lens design right.
Still, whenever the mirrorless camera segment really takes off I expect it to virtually wipe out the low-end DSLR market. It doesn’t just offer smaller, lighter lenses and cameras; without the mirror box to get in the way, lenses can have larger apertures and be quite a bit better optical.
*ly
Jamougha, at least one of Samsung’s latest productions has a Schneider Kreuznach lens. I had a Rollei TLR with the an f3.5 version of the same. The main problem for me isn’t the quality of the standard focal length, but the very limited maximum aperture at full zoom extension, often something like f5.6, which severly limits its potential.
Ah, Steve — You’re back!
I was going to do a whole post of the GXR. I agree about interchangable sensors — this could have all kinds of advantages.
One of the things I like about Ricoh as innovators is their ability to jerk knees with a lateral approach! ;-D
Hmmm….just a marketing exercise?…. I don’t think so!
One body and a couple of lenses with different sized sensors for seperate applications.
I could use that.
I tend to agree Steve. What Ricoh’s development suggests is that we still haven’t hit on the ‘standard’ for quality compacts.
I can see a great advantage in being able to buy a new lens/sensor combination rather than a new body. Often a new body is bought because of a new improved sensor when there’s nothing wrong with the old body. I think the GRX is an exciting development.
Hell Andy, I cam across your page whilst poking around about camera gear and walking. I am just preparing a post about this on my own blog, having fairly recently completed the Limestone Way with camera in tow. I have always used the canon system, currently have a EOS V1 and 40D plus lenses. But they are heavy and bulky as you say. This meant that at some point they were consigned to the rucksac. This prompted an on going debate on whether to take the rucksac off, get the camera out and take the pictute, or just continue walking. Needless to say after a while I chose to keep walking. Which completely defeats the whole object of taking the camera with me. So I’ve started to re look at the whole thing. Rangefinder cameras seem to be looming large, Leica etc, as well as the more compact digital point and shoot, Lumix is one that has poked its head above the skyline. I would be interested in your views. I like the blog. I’ll drop by some more.
Drop by whenever you want Paul – you’re always welcome!