The Fuji x100vI has just been released. Time to sell the x100v and upgrade? And the Sony ZV-E1 is a step ahead of the FX30 thanks to its full-frame format, isn’t it? You always have to keep up with the latest technology, so you have to get the new camera.

I don’t think it’s too much about the best camera specs. It’s more about how much value we want to give to photography in our lives. And why a camera upgrade might be the wrong way to go about it.

Welcome to “Do this instead of buying a new camera”.

I want to show you something – here are some photos I took 8 years ago with the Fuji x100t – the model before the Fuji x100v and before the Fuji x100f.

16 megapixels, slower autofocus…but I don’t think I could have taken better photos with the Fuji x100vi.

I even think that my photos got gradually worse with better cameras, because the cameras are slowly taking away too much of the brain work that you used to have to do yourself.

Here I am shooting with the Fuji x100f in Bangladesh – I don’t think the Fuji x100vi would have made my photos any better.

Color Science from Fuji was also outstanding on the older models, and I’ve printed the Fuji x100t photos quite large for an exhibition, which looked great. I think with today’s AI you could upscale these images to the point where you could print them on posters.

So what, if not the desire for a better quality camera, drives us to always want the latest model? I have a theory.

 

Value is not necessarily money you spend on a camera

I think it’s a way of expressing to yourself and your family or your friends the value that photography has for you.

On the one hand to motivate yourself, just like you’re saying “Now I’ve spent so much money on this camera, now I really need to get into photography” and on the other hand to show your family

that you are now a photographer which is like “Now dad has a 10,000 euro camera, he must be a real photographer, not just some hobbyist“

In my opinion people neglect the fact that most folks have to earn the money for an expensive camera in the first place.

And that they may have to work longer hours for it, which takes time away from photography.

How do you think you take the better photos – with a 10,000 euro camera in your town or with a

Fuji x100t for 1000 euros plus 9000 euros for photo trips? I have a hunch…I don’t know about you, I’ve never said to myself “I wish I’d had a better camera on this or that trip”

– it’s more likely that I simply used the wrong aperture, for example, but that’s my fault alone, not the camera’s.

Now you might also say, just before you press the “Order” button: “Photographer XY also has a Hasselblad or a Leica, if I don’t buy them, I’ll never get where I want to go artistically“

Tell me a photo from the field of iconic photographs from the last 100 years that would have been better if it had been taken with a modern-day Leica Q3 or a Sony Alpha – I’d love to hear your comments!

I don’t believe that such a photo exists.

 

Expansive camera, bad photos

Photos that remain in the memory usually convey moods, and evoke emotions.

And does technical perfection evoke emotions? It’s not for nothing that we are moving away from the oversharpened digital photos we wanted to achieve about 10 years ago.

It’s not for nothing that we apply retro filters or presets to our photos.

I think we passed the edge of what the perfect camera is for people who don’t do photography as a job about 5 years ago.

You can actually buy any camera from the well-known manufacturers from that period.

And most likely you will have great pictures that surpass the technical quality of photos by Vivien Meier, Henri Cartier-Bresson or Elliott Erwitt.

And I think it doesn’t matter whether you pay 300 or 3000 euros for the camera.

Who cares about edge blurring or slight distortion with a fantastic subject in frame?

Well, I guess there are a few nerds, ok 😉

But what boring subject is really improved by outstanding camera quality?

The real luxury in photography is time, not the latest camera.

Signal to yourself and your family and friends that you want to add more value to photography in your life by taking more photos – not by spending more on a camera.