A Personal History of Cameras |
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| The first camera I picked up was at around the age of 12; I was going skiing with the school and mum and dad were kind enough be buy me a Praktica MTL 3 this really was a completely manual film camera and was the best introduction to photography I could have possibly had. I later studied Electronics at Southampton University during the 90's and combined this with running the University Photographic Society which was one of the largest student societies at the time and enabled me to develop my skills and style extensively during the years I was there. This is when I particularly become interested in Social, Event and Portrait photography. |
1979 |
| During my time as a student, I managed to find enough funds to buy a second hand Olympus OM2 SP from The London Camera Exchange in Bedford place. This has always been my absolute favourite camera. So fantastic in fact that even though it was subsequently stolen and replaced by the Nikon I have since bought another one to keep my Digital EOS company ! |
1985 |
After spending a few years working - and having had my trusty OM2 stolen - I decided to 'upgrade' to Nikon. If Olympus was every aspiring David Bailey's choice of the 80's then Nikon was the aspirational choice of the 90's. I plumped for the F801S because that was about all I could afford and it had spot metering - I was a fan by now - Oh yes, it also had: Auto-Focus ! Over the next few years my photography took a back seat to work and socialising - looking back this was not helped by the F801 - I think this just could be the worst camera Nikon have produced; I found the controls counter-intuitive and the camera a strange combination of plasticy design yet still quite heavy. The worst aspect was the focusing which was very slow and inaccurate - Note the Canon EOS system was already in production back then - and yes, I was envious. |
1992 |
Fast forward to just a couple of years ago; my F801s was not focusing correctly at all; the lens had fallen apart and I wanted to take some pictures on holiday. After some deliberation, I decided to move into digital. The choice of manufacturer was obvious: Canon - The 21st century definitely belongs to Canon - Keep up the good work guys ! I bought an EOS 10D which has proved to be an absolutely fantastic camera. It feels just as good to use as my trusty Olympus; My digital OM2 SP - without the spot metering ;-) |
2004 |
| I have taken a great many pictures with the 10D and my passion for photography has certainly been reignited. Although this is surely due largely to myself, I think it also owes a certain amount to to this really fantastic camera and I have learnt a mountain of stuff about digital photography with the 10D. However, last year, I decided to upgraded to an EOS 5D - I now expect to stay with this camera for a lot longer. For those interested my reasons for going with the 5D are: 12.8 MP Full frame (read more res and lower noise), Spot metering and various other advances. I think this camera really does deliver a digital SLR which truly works, behaves and delivers results just like a quality film equivalent. |
2006 |
