10.15.2013
Have you noticed that some cameras get down on their hands and knees and just beg you to shoot with them?
I've bought cameras that I had high hopes for and they ended up languishing on a table after the first few attempts at making photographs. As time went by they seemed like more of a burden than a partner and off they went to owners with less romantic ideas about how cameras should feel. Then there are cameras that seem dorky and lumpish that seem to come alive as you use them, tossing a lasso around you and tightening their grip until you hardly think of shooting with anything else. I can never tell when I buy one just how I'll feel but after the first few dates you start to get a sense of which way the relationship will go. I stopped dating a woman once who was incredibly gorgeous and all my friends thought I was nuts. Until I told them that she liked to eat chicken noodle soup with her hands....
I got rid of a well respected Nikon camera because the sound of the shutter was so boring and offensively obvious.
I don't pretend that there's some sort of logical engineering references that inform my decisions. Some cameras work and some don't. I guess it's all very personal. I do know that eating soup with your fingers is not the way to go....
I got rid of a well respected Nikon camera because the sound of the shutter was so boring and offensively obvious.
I don't pretend that there's some sort of logical engineering references that inform my decisions. Some cameras work and some don't. I guess it's all very personal. I do know that eating soup with your fingers is not the way to go....
I dunno about the "down on their knees part," but I do know that some cameras do inspire me to shoot with them while others leave me cold. And, like you, the turn-off can be something as minor (to others) as the sound and feel of the shutter release, the location of the on-off switch, or the inscrutability of the user interface. That's why, although I enjoy reading a well-written camera review, the only impressions I care most about when it comes to buying a camera or lens are my own.
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