I've photographed people with film cameras from 1979 to 1998, got hooked into digital photography, and then rediscovered my appreciation for film in 2007 when I took my first photography course at Penn with Gabe Martinez. From 1998 onward, I became a digital convert, adoring the convenience that digital photography provided and never letting its limitations bother me as I was mostly producing web-based images that didn't require museum-quality Giclée print quality. 1998 My first digital camera was the Epson PhotoPC 700, a 1.3 megapixel camera introduced in 1998. Images were a measly 1280x960, but they were very good for its time with the help of a 1/3-inch CCD sensor. The fastest aperture setting was a respectable f/2.8. The camera was easy to hold and the dimensions made it reasonably portable by late-90s standards. I purchased this camera new in 1998 to use in my makeover business to take pictures of my clients who requested this service.
1999 A year later, I upgraded to the Epson PhotoPC 850Z, a 2 megapixel camera that had adjustable ISO (100, 200, 400), switchable DSLR modes of shutter priority, aperture priority, program mode, and manual mode, a 35-105mm zoom lens with a fast f/2.0 at its widest end, a hot shoe for an external flash, and the ability to create beautiful 1600x1200 images with its 1/2-inch sensor, which is larger than many compact camera sensors today. The internal flash was located more towards the top of the lens, which was good for mimicking the look of top-mounted flash photography. The 850Z became my workhorse camera for many years.
2003 I became intrigued with the concept of portability, street photography and quick club snapshots, so I started looking into the Canon Digital ELPH series, the first of which was the S230. The jump to 3 megapixel images also intrigued me, although at the time I wasn't too keen on what sensor sizes meant in terms of overall picture quality. The 0.37-inch sensor was smaller than the 850Z's sensor and I always felt that my 850Z could produce higher-quality images than this Canon model.
2004 to 2006 I continued upgrading my Canon compact cameras to ones with more megapixels, slimmer profiles, and more features. These were the S400, SD630, and SD800. I also tried using a Sony DSC-T1 for a time and found it to be substandard even with its so-called Zeiss lens. The strange thing is the image quality really wasn't getting much better from camera to camera. I could show you images from all four compact cameras I purchased during this time and you wouldn't be able to tell the difference between the 3 megapixel and 7 megapixel ones. I was very disenchanted with compact cameras at this point. They weren't very useful in doing discreet photography because the flash was usually needed. 2007 Two friends of mine who did fashion model photography suggested I purchase a Nikon D70s, my first DSLR camera. The D70s produced great pictures, but never consistently. Sometimes the auto white balance was way off, but it wasn't too difficult to correct this in Photoshop. With its APS-C CCD sensor, the D70s could produce very high-quality 6 megapixel images and I felt that Nikon was onto something but wasn't quite there yet. I kept reading good reviews of this camera, so I lived with its idiosyncratic auto white balancing for a year before I upgraded. As a backup camera, I purchased a Nikon D40, which I actually ended up using more than the D70s because its LCD screen was larger with more accurate previews. I was using a Canon PowerShot SD800 as a compact camera at the time and found myself preferring the SD800 over both the D40 and D70s because the SD800 could nail the white balance almost every time. I loved the SD800 so much I bought another one as a backup.
2008 Total control over your camera. That's what photography is all about. The D70s gave me this somewhat. None of my Canon compact cameras gave me this. My second photography course was also film-based and taught me to hone my skills to the utmost perfection. I have Karen Rodewald to thank for that. Suddenly, it wasn't about snapping pictures so quickly anymore, but making sure that the exposure settings and composition were to my liking before I finally clicked the shutter to capture the image. I purchased the Nikon D300 and my life changed. I was getting the total control over my camera that I wanted. If I wanted to use one of the automatic modes, I could do so with confidence. Auto white balance was much better than it was on the D70s. The 12 megapixel images produced from the D300's APS-C sensor looked perfect. There was a world of difference between the D70s's 6 megapixel images and the D300's 12 megapixel images. I gave up on using Canon compact cameras for anything serious, sold my pair of SD800s, and bought a pair of SD1000s to use as smaller, lightweight cameras for vacation trips.
2009 I was on a camera buying frenzy, purchasing a Panasonic DMC-LX3, Nikon D200, Leica D-Lux 4 Titanium, and Leica M8. I sold the first two shortly after buying them and continued using the latter two for street photography. The D-Lux 4 with its f/2.0 lens is excellent for capturing low-light images. The M8 is a really quirky camera, so if you're new to rangefinder photography, you'll have a bit to learn and get used to before you start taking good pictures. I'm setting my sights on the full-frame sensor Nikon D3s or the upcoming D4. The Nikon D700 is an intriguing camera, but doesn't have 100% viewfinder coverage like the Nikon D300 has. I've come to despise cameras with less than 100% viewfinder coverage, such as my Nikon D40, D70s, and D200.
From 2007 to 2009, I was actively using film cameras for my coursework at Penn. As a result, I now own a Canon EOS Rebel Ti, Nikon F100, Hasselblad 501C, and Shen-Hao HZX 45IIA. 2010 I sold my Leica D-Lux 4, replaced it with a Canon S90, and then replaced the S90 with a Panasonic Lumix LX5. The LX5 is a seriously awesome compact camera. I was hoping to love my S90 for its size and similar feature set to the D-Lux 4, but there was always something not quite right about its picture quality. I opted to go with the LX5 over its more expensive cousin, the Leica D-Lux 5, since the feature set was the same. On April 16, I acquired my newest camera, a Nikon D3s and have been using it with my 50mm and 85mm lenses. I ordered my first FX zoom lens, a NIkon 17-35mm f/2.8. This is a really fast camera that beats an already fast camera in my Nikon D300. I'm sure the weight will bug me after a while, but the manual control and depth and breadth of functions on this camera are astounding. If I had the money a few years ago, I would've purchased a D3 as I had originally intended. Thankfully, I waited for this camera and its refinements.
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My Adventures with Digital Photography
