No new year's resolutions for me. I never keep them. However I have decided to take some decisions about the cameras I own. The collection currently is much smaller than it was a few years ago but I have one camera system- the Panasonic Lumix S5 and lenses- which I have hardly used since I purchased it in June 2022.
Buying it was a mistake. I did not need another camera and although it is an very capable camera and system and capable of producing superb results it has one major drawback. It is too heavy. Well probably not too heavy for most potential users but too heavy for me. My days of hauling around a bag full of heavy gear are behind me and I should have recognised that obvious fact before buying it.
I made quite an investment in the Lumix outfit. Even heavily discounted the superb, but, oh so heavy, 70-200mm f2.8 lens alone cost A$3000. It was a mistake and a costly one.
Which brings me back to the core of my collection-the Leicas. Firstly there is my heriage Leica, the 1937 Leica 3A. My first Leica. Purchased way back in 1967. This was fully renovated last year. I have run a colur film through it with good results. Two photos from it are below. Now I have to apply myself to finishing the 35mm black and white film I have in it.
Using the film is not as as easy as it sounds. Using the 3A is very slow work. I don't know how the early Leica users took the photos they did. They certainly were committed. Just imagine what they could have done if they had used today's cameras.
Second in the stable is my Leica X1. My long term favourite. I now have two of them and I've dusted them down, charged their batteries and used one of them in the last few days. Here's one of the photos I took with it - a DNG file post processed in LR.
When I first moved to Terrigal back in 2008 I took my X1 with me on my early morning walk every day used used it to take a wide variety of subjects including friendly locals. Now the whole scene has changed. The number of people walking early morning has increased considerably. And many are not so photo friendly and of course there are smartphones. So I now use my iPhone13 Pro as my early morning camera as well as using it to pay for my coffee and to catch up on the Guardian Australian edition whilst drinking the coffee.
It would be nice to be able to say that I can see the X1 having a new lease of life in my hands but that is not realistic. It is victim of the iPhone. So here's an early morning walk iPhone13 photo.
However the X1's more sophisticated sibling, the X Vario, is a different case. I still use mine regularly, particularly as a "cat camera" as the tiltable, accessory shoe fitting, EVF allows me to get down to cat level without lying on the ground.
Although it is nearly 10 years old and by today's standards the specification is modest I still cherish my X Vario as the image quality is superb.
When launched the X Vario was maligned but it was very much a victim of very poor marketing and a really nasty social medi "pile on".
For a neat reprise of the X Vario story see this on the Macfilos blog X VARIO
I see from Lightroom that I have taken over 3000 photos with my X Vario so making a very small representative selection is not easy but here they are
That brings me to the final two cameras in my Leica collection.-the Sofort(!) and the Q2 but they will have to wait fot the next post.
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