The Search for a Better Digital Camera
Glenn Guy, Travel Photography Guru, outside Hallgrimskirkja Luthern church in Reykjavík, Iceland.
I purchased my first camera when I was 17 years of age. It was 1979 and I had just started my first full time job in a camera store. Many cameras have followed and now comes the best one yet.
The search for a better digital camera is dependent upon your budget, the genre and type of photos you want to create. Image resolution, auto focus capabilities, frame rate, buffer, high iso performance, weatherproofing and ergonomics are critical considerations.
Buying a digital camera, whether DSLR or Mirrorless, is a big decision. During more than 40 years as a photographer I’ve purchased many cameras based upon budget, the type of photography I was undertaking and the technology available to me at the time.
Let me take you through the purchase of some of those cameras and how that’s lead to my most recent camera kit.
My First Job In Photography
My immediate boss was Ernest C. Cameron, a 67 year old photographer who, after retiring from professional photography, had to re-enter the workforce.
My understanding was that this had come about after the guy who had taken over Ern’s photography business had gone broke far short of repaying the agreed amount for the business.
As a consequence of this debacle, and in addition to working full time in the camera store, Ern went back to doing weddings on weekends.
He was a lovely old bloke and it was a privilege to work with him. He taught me a little bit about photography, particularly camera and darkroom basics, and a lot about people.
I think Ern was rushed off his feet pretty much all his life. He died aged 69 and, far from ready, I took on the management of the camera department and a lot of his upcoming wedding photography.
I remember how mortified my boss, Peter Milburn, and I were at Ern’s sudden passing. And it was largely because of Ern and Peter that my life in photography began.
I owe both Ern and Peter a great deal.
Glenn Guy and Leica M6 camera in Lhasa portrait photography studio, 2000.
My First SLR Film Camera
Although my favorite film cameras have been Leica’s my first camera was a Nikkormat FT-3 which I bought with a standard or normal 50 mm f/1.8 lens.
It was a very solid, high quality camera and ideal for my needs as an enthusiastic, beginner level photographer.
I was earning $79 a week and the camera, even after being offered at a substantial discount, must have cost me at least $300.
Only three weeks after starting the job I contracted glandular fever, incidentally on the night I returned to my old school for the annual school social.
Apparently I kissed too many girls that night.
After a few weeks off, I returned to work, on reduced hours and pay. Over coming months I slowly returned to full time work. However, despite leading a very busy work and social life, it was 5 years before I’d fully recovered.
I can’t remember what my pay was reduced to, but it was probably around $60 a week. I was paying $25 a week in board (I think I’m the only one of five kids who ever paid board, at least on a regular basis) but, somehow managed to pay that camera off.
I started photographing weddings and portraits with that camera. I really loved it, though like the Olympus OM series, it seemed strange to have both the shutter speed and aperture changed by rotating one of two rings around the camera’s lens.
Sometime before my 18th birthday I joined my first rock band, Taxi, with my old school friend, Tony (Bert) Lambert, and new friends Rod Knights, Darryl Smith and Russell Bateman.
I guess it was somewhere in the middle of buying guitars, amps, a car and having a girlfriend that money became tight. I remember spending $79:20, a whole week’s pay, on a friendship ring for my girlfriend.
I sold my Nikkormat FT3 but, to my horror, had to wait several years before I was paid. In the meantime I took a step downwards and purchased a Pentax K-1000 camera with a 50 mm f/2 lens.
The camera retailed for $249 though, working in the camera store, I would have got it cheaper than that.
Sometime after Ern’s death I was offered the opportunity to purchase some of his camera equipment. I decided to buy his old Canon F1 camera body.
I can’t remember what lens I got, maybe a 50 mm f/1.8, though I do remember having to borrow a 35-70mm f/3.5-4.5 (I think) zoom from my boss Peter’s best friend, Jack, for weddings.
There was also an almost brand new Canon ring flash which I purchased from the estate. It was a pretty fancy piece of kit in those days, yet I only used it once.
Stupidly I also acquired a Polaroid 600SE camera and a Durst 5”x7” enlarger from the estate. Those purchases were, frankly, stupid and I would have been far better off acquiring Ern’s Mamiya 645 medium format camera kit.
After the Pentax I bought a Minolta X-300 camera with a 28-70 mm zoom lens. It was a good camera for its time, marginally better than the Pentax, but not as good as the Nikkormat.
My next step was a move into medium format photography.
I purchased a Mamiya RB67 Pro S camera with a 90 mm standard and 180 mm portrait lens. The RB67 Pro S made images that were 6x7 cm in size and you got ten images on a roll of film.
I can’t remember what I paid for the kit, though $3,500 rings a bell. But it’s a long time ago and, after buying and selling so many cameras over the years, it’s hard to keep track.
It was a fortune, particularly as I was only on about $120 a week at that stage.
But I was doing a lot of weddings and portraits and the band was busy, although I was also spending a lot of money on guitars and amps.
And of course there were cars. The first of which, a Cortina, cost me $380 and required a roll start every morning to get to work.
A few years later I upgraded to a Nissan Bluebird station wagon which served me well until I sold it to help fund my first overseas photography adventure in 1988.
My boss, Peter, bought that very expensive Mamiya RB67 Pro S medium format camera kit for me and let me pay it off. Outstanding!
Actually, now that I think about it, he may have charged me ten percent interest to do so. He would also have picked up a nice rebate from the distributor for paying the invoice by the due date.
You know the saying, the rich get richer.
My Newspaper Photography Adventure
The next camera I bought was a Nikon FE. I used it for several years, including two years in my own studio photography business and during a six month stint as a newspaper photographer.
I predominantly used the Nikon camera with a 35 mm f/2 lens, which was great for environmental portraits, and an excellent 85 mm f/1.4 lens for traditional head and shoulder portraits.
Beginning Formal Studies In Photography
In late February 1986 I moved to Melbourne to begin formal studies in photography. I continued to use both the Mamiya RB67 Pro S and the Nikon FE camera for the first two years of my studies.
After being kicked out at the beginning of the final year of the course (actually its not what you think, I was a very good student) I decided to travel.
Glenn on the road to Pangong Tso, Ladakh in the early 90's.
Overseas Travel Photography Begins
Four months later I was off on my first overseas trip. The trouble was I had to fund it. In addition to saving hard for six months I sold my car, a Nissan Bluebird, the Mamiya RB67 kit and the Nikon FE camera and lenses to fund the trip.
The obvious flaw in this strategy was that I was about to embark on a three and a half month overseas photography trip without any camera equipment.
Enter our good friends at Canon, Australia.
Since moving to Melbourne in 1986, to formally study photography, I was supporting myself through some commercial jobs and by working in a camera store.
My boss, John Noyes, arranged for Canon (Australia) to provide me with camera equipment for the duration of my overseas trip.
I found out, quite late in the piece, that the gear would be second hand. It was a bit of a concern, but beggars can’t be choosers, and I was very grateful for Canon’s assistance.
I began to worry, come the week of my departure, with the gear still undelivered. I put the hard word on John, probably after buying him a chocolate éclair, and he in turn put the hard word on our Canon sales representative.
The gear arrived late on the day before my departure. With no time to test it I left Australia, with the mother of all flus. My god, I thought my ear drums were going to burst on that flight.
The kit comprised of two bodies, an old and battered Canon F1 and what was referred to as a Canon New F1, which appeared to be in better shape, and a couple of lenses.
I can’t be sure but I think I had a 35-70 mm zoom and a 200 mm telephoto lens. I may also have had a 24 mm wide angle lens in my kit for that trip.
So, instead of having one camera over each shoulder, like you’d see in the movies, I opted for a less conspicuous approach my using one of the cameras (I think it was the Canon New F1) and changing lenses when required.
The other body was packed away, as a spare in case the primary one broke down.
I decided on slide film for the trip. As I’d had some experience with Agfa slide film at the college where I began my formal studies in photography, I allowed my other boss, Rob, a former Agfa employee to talk me into purchasing one hundred rolls of Agfachrome 100 slide film.
Sadly, on my return 3 ½ months later, devastating news awaited.
I was in the practice, at that time, of engaging the camera’s Depth Of Field (DOF) preview button to check how much of the scene was going to be recorded with the range of acceptable sharpness both in front and behind the subject.
I was also in the practice, prior to loading every roll of film, of visually checking that the camera’s aperture and shutter speed seemed to be working correctly.
This is a simple matter, with a film-based camera, of opening the camera back, putting your eye up close to the shutter and firing the camera.
By changing the camera’s shutter speed from say 1/15 second to 1/30 second you could tell that roughly twice as much light was let in at 1/15 second compared to 1/30 second.
You could continue this practice, quite accurately, from around 1 second up to about 1/1000 second.
Similarly by setting the camera to a slow shutter speed, say 1 second, you could check that an f/2 lens, when set to an aperture of f/2, let a full circle of light onto the film.
Closing down one stop to f/2.8 would result in half as much light coming through, and f/4 half as much again. I would continue this test right down to the narrowest aperture (e.g. f/22).
The problem was that when the depth of field preview button was engaged, which back then I used almost every time I made a photo, the camera was no longer able to close the lens down.
No camera I’d used previously, or since, displayed this strange behavior.
As a consequence, even though I may have set the aperture to (say) f/8, f/11 or f/22. I ended up making the photo in question wide open with the lens at its widest aperture.
So, the vast majority of my shots were severely overexposed. On transparency film that spells death.
Ronbulk Monastery near Mt. Everest Base Camp in Tibet.
To make matters worse most of my films were severely scratched by the lab during the mounting process. I did the math and only 13% of my images survived, and many of them were a good stop or more overexposed.
Once I culled out the least interesting slides there were not many left worth keeping.
To save this image of Ronbulk Monastery near Mt. Everest Base Camp I had to weave a little bit of Photoshop magic. Converting it into a warm tone black-and-white image also helped disguise the lack of highlight detail evident in the overexposed slide.
In case you’re wondering there were a few tear drops and I remember my boss, Rob, making a joke at the time that I would have been better staying at home after all.
It was a hard fact to take in that almost all my pictures were lost from a trip that included the following:
A journey across China
Camping at Mount Everest base camp, on the Tibetan side
A hike over the Tibetan border and down to Kathmandu
Northern India, including Kashmir and Ladakh
Hong Kong and Bangkok
I don’t mind saying that I fought back a tear at the news and, almost instantly, anger at my bosses derogatory comments.
But within a few seconds I’d recovered enough to vow that I’d do it all again next year. And I did.
Rob’s sneer drained from his face and he walked away and left me alone for the rest of the day.
I travelled back to some of my favorite locations from that first trip the following year. It wasn’t the same, and I had other camera-related problems, but my photos improved.
More important was the fact that I was on my way to building a more meaningful and purpose driven life through travel and photography.
Today the dream continues. It’s a simple life. I teach, build content for this site and, when I can, travel which, in my mind, marks both the beginning and the end of the circle.
What this and so many hardships have taught me over the years is the need to turn adversity into opportunity.
We can’t be afraid of failure, but we need to learn from our mistakes and misfortunes so that we will, eventually, succeed. And by then we would certainly have earned it.
Glenn Guy’s Life: Photography, Work and Travel
My Life: Photography, Work and Travel
I returned to study in 1989 to a degree level photography course. The previous two years study at the private college was not recognized so I had to begin again as a first year student.
I needed another camera so I purchased a 60’s vintage Rollei SL66 camera with an 80 mm standard and a 150 mm portrait lens.
This was a medium format camera, producing twelve 6x6 cm images on a roll of 120 film. The newer versions of the camera, from the 1970’s onwards, were superb.
Unfortunately mine was a dog and caused me considerable grief.
That year I also purchased a 4”x5” large format camera. Rather than the large, heavy and cumbersome monorail version favored by studio photographers, this was a flat field camera which meant it folded flat.
The camera was lightweight and ease to carry. It really was a beautiful thing, all wood and brass with a bellows, that I purchased with a secondhand wide-angle lens.
It’s the sort of camera where you load a single sheet of 4”x5” film into the camera, composing the image on a similarly sized ground glass screen. During this process a large cloth (ideally black on the inside and white, to reflect the hot sun, on the outside) is wrapped over your head and the back of the camera to cut back reflections forming on the ground glass screen.
Not being terribly competent with the camera I took it on my second overseas trip. Sadly, after arriving in Ladakh following a torrid journey through Kashmir and over the Himalayas, with numerous adventures along the way, the lens packed it in.
Unable to have it repaired, I had to carry the whole kit around for the remainder of the 10-week trip. I did make several usable images, a few of which I may still have.
I remember, in particular, some pictures of a young Korean Buddhist nun I photographed on a rooftop in Leh, Ladakh.
It was a romantic notion to be using that type of camera, much like the great early travel photographers such as Samuel Bourne, in India and the Middle East, or Timothy O’Sullivan in America.
The fact was neither me nor the equipment was up to the task.
In 1990 I returned to another 6x6 medium format camera. I wanted a brand new Rollei SL66 kit but, being almost impossible to buy through the Australian agents at that time, I upgraded to a new Hasselblad 500CM camera.
The blad was a good camera, though a little clunky with one or two really weird foibles that had remained with the camera since the original model several decades early. Once again I bought an 80 mm and 150 mm lens.
My old boss, John Noyes, was now National Sales Manager at the Australian distributor for Hasselblad cameras. That made the purchase of this expensive new kit somewhat easier.
John died suddenly a number of years ago. I was overseas at the time so I was unable to attend his funeral.
John was a great guy who very much enjoyed life. I’II never forget the friendship and support he provided me during my years studying photography.
After studying for a few years I found my way into work at Kodak, where I stayed for eight years. During that time I continued to study photography and pursue my love for travel. I purchased several more Hasselblad cameras along the way.
I’d been teaching photography, on a casual basis, for a number of years until, after leaving Kodak, I started teaching on a full time basis at a variety of photography colleges in Melbourne, Australia.
I think it was around 1998 when I purchased my first of six Leica cameras. Five of these were film-based cameras, my favorites being a Leica M-6 TTL and a Leica R8.
Moving from film to a digital SLR or Mirrorless camera system.
The Move To A Digital SLR Camera
I purchased my first digital SLR camera in 2006. It was a Canon 5D which, for its time, was a really good camera.
A few years later I upgraded to a Canon 5D Mark II and that camera accompanied me on numerous travel photography adventures.
It was a fantastic camera, well suited to portrait and landscape photography. However, it’s limitations began to emerge under the following conditions:
High contrast lighting conditions when extended HDR photography was required
Fast autofocus of moving subjects
Low light photography where high iso was required
Can a great photographer make a great photo with any camera?
Can A Great Photographer Make A Great Photo With Any Camera?
I’ve made some wildlife photos over the years with which I'm very happy. However, I'm not a specialist wildlife photographer. It’s just not an area of photography with which I've had a great deal of experience.
There’s an old saying that a great photographer can make a great photo with any camera. But is it true?
Just as in so many other things the answer is, it depends.
A great photographer can certainly make unique, interesting and evocative images with any (adequately functioning) camera.
That’s particularly the case when absolute image quality (e.g., sharpness, resolution and extended highlight and shadow detail) are not of critical importance.
The more abstract the image the more likely it’s possible to create it with a very basic camera.
But when it comes to wildlife, high end fashion and product photography image quality is critical.
In the case of wildlife and sports photography, particularly when working under low light conditions, the following criteria really does matter.
low noise characteristics and excellent high ISO performance
Super fast and accurate focus, particularly when photographing a fast moving subject
Very fast frame rates
Large buffer and the ability to write images to a fast, high capacity memory card extremely quickly
I remember a trip I took to South Georgia Island and Antarctica. I was using a Canon 5D Mark II camera back then.
While a very good camera for it’s time, capable of producing fantastic landscape and portrait photos, it really wasn’t the best choice for recording fast moving action.
Frankly it lacked the frame rate and buffer to compete with, for example, the Canon 7D or ID Mark IV cameras of the day.
However, as I mainly photograph people and landscapes, the decision to purchase a full frame camera was the right one.
My next camera was the Nikon D800 which I purchased for two main reasons:
It offered extensive options for High Dynamic Range (HDR) photography.
The dynamic range of the sensor was better than my previous Canon 5D Mark II camera.
The camera’s resolution was 36 Megapixels which was a significant increase on the 24 Megapixels associated with the Canon 5D Mark II.
I was quite clear that neither sport nor wildlife photography would form a significant part of any projects or adventures I was likely to be involved with at that time.
But quite recently I’ve become more interested in both telephoto and action photography. This shift has resulted in the purchase of a new camera and several new lenses.
The World’s Best Action Photography Camera
Photography is very much a game of compromise where camera features and their potential benefits have to be considered in relation to size, weight, useability and cost.
The fact is my current Sony a7Rii camera is way overdue for an upgrade. Technology has moved on since I first purchased this camera and it just doesn’t offer the features I need for high end action photography.
The camera's auto focus system is not able to accurately and consistently track fast moving action through the frame.
My soon to arrive, brand new camera will allow me to produce clean, (relatively) noise free images at a higher ISO than I’m currently able to. As a result I’II be able to achieve greater sharpness by being able to increase the ISO, where necessary, to achieve a faster shutter speed.
On a related issue it’s impossible for our eye to see the individual slices of action produced by fast moving subject matter. It’s one of the wonders of photography.
But the faster the action the more frames per second you need to be able to record the image that best conveys the combination of movement, gesture, structure, appearance and emotion needed to produce a compelling image.
By recording more individual slices of action cameras with faster frame rates and larger buffers may allow you to record more compelling images.
With more frames from which to choose there's a greater probability of recording the most interesting slice of action that best tells the story.
I guess it was around 5 years ago when I decided to change, not just brands but camera types from DSLR to Mirrorless. I’ve been using the Sony a7Rii camera with great success since then.
It’s been a wonderful camera, but lacks the specifications that would make it a desirable choice for high end sports and wildlife photography.
Actually I’m not a big sports photography, but I do want to undertake more wildlife photography projects. What’s more I’m always interested in a camera with excellent high ISO and noise characteristics.
The fact is I'm much more interested in making images than I am in equipment. However, the time has, once again, come for me to upgrade.
I’m staying with mirrorless and I’m staying with Sony.
This time around I believe I made a purchase as future proof as possible. My new Sony Alpha 1 camera offers the following key features and benefits.
15 stop dynamic range
50 Megapixel sensor
Excellent high ISO capabilities
Fantastic color rendition
Extremely fast and accurate focus
Extremely high frame rate (up to 30 frames per second)
Very large buffer
It looks like a fantastic camera that, rather than offering a decent compromise between a dedicated sports/wildlife, portrait and landscape camera, offers arguably the best digital camera in the market.
In addition to its amazing action photography features the Alpha 1 mirrorless camera offers the dynamic range, high ISO performance, color fidelity and resolution sought by the most discerning portrait, landscape and architectural photographers.
I’ve already purchased and picked up a few new lenses and I hope to have my new Sony Alpha 1 camera in my hands within the next two weeks.
You can expect some real world reviews following soon after.
Environmental portrait of an elderly woman, with prayer beads, in Myanmar.
Be Careful Changing Camera Brands
It needs to be said that the Sony Alpha 1 camera is an extremely high end and expensive camera. Frankly, it’s overkill for most people.
It takes time and research to determine the right camera for your needs, both now and into the medium term.
And special care needs to be taken when a new camera purchase means changing brands.
Remember, you are not just buying a camera, but a system.
So, if you're considering changing brands there are two things, in particular, to consider.
You'll need to replace your lenses when changing camera brands. That can be expensive.
You'll need to adjust to different ergonomics and a new interface and logic (i.e., menu structure, buttons and dials) associated with a different camera brand.
Wherever possible try and, maybe, hire before you buy.
What's more as you'll need to adjust to the features and logic associated with your new camera, particularly when changing to a different brand, it’s important to become familiar with the unit before undertaking any serious photography projects.
The amount of folks who purchase a new camera just before they head off on an overseas trip is, frankly, frightening.
The more technology that's incorporated into cameras the more complicated, in most cases, they become.
You'll likely need to spend a couple weeks getting your head around the camera's features, logic and navigation system.
You don't have to know everything, but you need to know how to set your camera up for the type of photography you’re most likely to be undertaking.
Some of the settings you'll apply may be once only settings, which you may never have to change. But there are other features and settings on the camera which you’ll need to understand, locate, set and, where appropriate, change on a case by case basis.
Having a solid understanding of focus modes and techniques, ISO, white balance and exposure compensation are essential for any serious photographer.
Needless to say you'll need to be able to make all the necessary changes, on the fly, when you’re out in the world making photos.
It’s necessary to adjust your way of thinking in line with the camera's own logic. The more you play with and use your camera the more confident you'll become using it.
After all your camera should not become a physical barrier between you and the world around you.
“Your camera should be a passport into lives and worlds outside of your own normal, everyday experience.”
Repetition of effort will, eventually, allow you to employ your camera more as an extension of yourself, rather than it being a barrier to experience.
Use you camera as often as you can, particularly during the first few months after purchase. Familiarity will grow into expertise allowing your own creativity to grow and, eventually, blossom.
What I Need In A Camera
From a features and specifications point of view I need a camera with a full frame sensor that incorporates a large pixel count.
It needs to be able to record a scene with excellent color fidelity under relatively high contrast (i.e., dynamic range) conditions.
The ability to photograph at ISO 1600 or higher, with little or no discernible noise, would be a benefit as would improvements in metering, focusing and flash integration.
A camera with a super faster frame rate, very large buffer and significantly better dust and weather seals than offered by my current camera would also be welcomed.
The camera’s ability to lock on, track and continually refocus on a fast moving subject is a critical factor underpinning successful action photography.
The new Sony Alpha 1 meets all those requirements. I’m really excited by its imminent arrival and I’II be sure to share photos from this new camera with you just as soon as I can.
