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I'm actually supposed to be at the Tyler (Texas) Zoo this morning with the kids, cousins, In-Laws, you name it. But the little excursion fell through, so here I am "blogging"..... about photography ..... instead of doing it!
Some photographers are like me (no, that's not my collection), as much, or more collectors. Although, I must admit that I do have a bit of a wee collection myself. I'm not here to talk about collecting which is actually a bit out of my areas of expertise, but creating a stable of cameras to shoot pictures in different situations by using different cameras that suits the purpose the best. Although it might actually seem like conspicuous consumption, my intent AND application is quite the opposite (as you'll see).
It all started here some years ago when I went "whole hog" DSLR and sold everything for a Nikon D70 and 18-200mm lens. It could just as well have been the Canon 20D, but that buying decision was completely driven by the lens. This turned out to be the correct one, since I still have it and use it as my primary lens. Some 7+ years down the road (and one VR motor replacement later), it spends most of it's time on my D300 which does our family's photographic heavy lifting.
When I say "heavy lifting"; that's exactly what I mean! Configured like this (or some version there-of ), it's a little bulky and difficult to manage for long periods of time. However, I must say that it does a fantastic job (when I do mine), and has alleviated me from employing a professional for family and children portraits over the years. Although it's no longer "state of the art", it does what I need it to do. But, what about when I don't need to do as much?
As of last year, I have the option to take; not as much camera! As you might have read in my "Compact Camera/System" series, a progression over several camera models has brought me to this option. AND over that same amount of time, I've also been accumulating lenses of a size/performance appropriate for it as well. Although a lowly 6mp by today's standards of 24 and 36mp, it's does a fine job for snap shots in package size that will fit in a winter coat pocket. It goes to places like amusement parks, and family gatherings where I neither want nor need the bigger/heavier/more capable D300.
And then there's this. Given the size of the D40, does it even have a role? Well yes, it does actually. I probably wouldn't have gone out and bought it on my own, but since it arrived unbidden (along with other stuff) from my brother when he was cleaning out: I took it in like that "stray kitty". Interestingly enough; unlike it's brother Coolpix 8800 with the 35-200mm eq. lens, this 8400 with the 24-85mm eq. lens gives it the ability to do quick indoor pics unlike anything else I have! Plus lacking the pentaprism hump of an SLR and having a completely retractable lens, gives it an advantage over over the D40. Is there more?
Oh, there's LOTS more! But as part of my day to day line-up of "starters"; this is it. The Nikon CoolPix 995 of 2001!!! What on earth do I do with it? First of all, it only tops out at 3.3 megapixels, so it's not too difficult to dial down it's file to sizes to be appropriate for web use without having to fiddle with them in software. You know; pics for ads and such. Plus it's unique split body design allows me to have it twist into contortions for different angles instead of my old aching body! A couple more things. Yes, I have adapter lenses for it as well. Right now, just a wide and a fisheye, but with a 28mm accessory mount size, it's easy to find adapters for any kind of instruments like telescopes and microscopes! Another area that the twisting body design comes into play. Besides, I got mine off of Craigslist locally for about $10, then a second one showed up courtesy of my brother with the fisheye attached!
So, there they are; the "starters" on "my team" (left to right- 995, 8400, D40, D300). In fact, I employed the second 995 to shoot this picture! None were bought new. None were bought anywhere close to their original selling price. Actually, I'm not even certain that every piece of photographic equipment I own put together cost me as much as the $1800 list price of the D300 by itself! Yes: old equipment have their limitations. However, they can all be very useful if used for the right tasks. They can all be easily found out there for a ridiculously small percentage of their original selling price. They're kind of like the San Antonio Spurs of cameras!
A couple of weeks ago, I came home to find this on my porch. My brother, who's going to be working for an extended period of time in Taiwan for awhile decided he needs to "clean out" before he leaves in October. I suspect, this isn't the first box I'll be getting from him. Now, as far as that weird camera goes.... if you are wondering; it's a Topcon Uni, a leaf-shuttered, interchangeable lens, SLR introduced in 1964. It came in the original leather "ever-ready" case, along with a 100mm/f4 lens as well as the standard, 53mm/f2, and other random stuff like a Topcon, waist level finder (most likely for a SuperD), and a Scheider-Kreuznach, Retina-Curtagon 35mm/f2.8 in one of those cool "bubble" containers that lenses used to be sold in...... whew! And that was just the beginning! Here's a link to a guy's blog that I read regularly, that discusses this model of camera:
http://mailch.blogspot.com/2012/02/users-review-wink-mirror-camera-topcon.html
Also in the box was this Sekonic Type L-VI selenium meter that I really like (even though it doesn't work anymore). I have a bit of an old light meter collection, so this one, which is small, fits in perfectly. You'd think that this would be enough, right?
No, not close...... next out was a Nikon 995 (my second), but this one had a FC-E8 Fisheye converter attached! That'd make the camera's built-in lens have an angle of view ranging from 8mm to 32mm as related to a 35mm camera. That's right; 8mm! I don't know where he got it, but, it's huge.... as you can see. There's a scratch on the front element, but hey, it was free.
Then out of the bottomless box, came this: a Nikon CoolPix 8800. That's right; the same model of camera I bought when I went digital "whole hog", then subsequently sold to jump into the D70 DSLR. It's an 8 megapixel "Super-zoom", where the lens goes (35mm eq.) of 35mm to 350mm.... hence SUPER ZOOM. It had the battery grip attachment as well, so it was like my original rig just came home! I had forgotten how compact it was, and I think it's really going to be nice to have as an "in addition to", camera. Yes, they are slow compared to a DSLR, and the buffer takes forever to flush when shooting in RAW, but really, when will it ever need to shoot in RAW when it sits on a shelf next to a D300!?! It'll be really great to just hand the kids when they want to go some place and need a camera.
Last, but not least, was this: the Nikon CoolPix 8400, which as the companion model to the 8800. It's 35mm equivalent zoom range was an unusual (at that time) 24mm to 85mm range. Perfect for those inside affairs like birthday parties etc. where the D300 just isn't necessary and really, just too bulky.
Both the 8800 and 8400 have the fold-out and twist screens which allow you to use it at virtually any angle. Again, perfect for informal affairs where there might be a crowd to shoot over, under, around or through!
So, what am I saying? Am I going to back-track? I'm sure most of you have figured this out already that I'm just going to add them to my arsenal, and use whatever is the most convenient and sensible at the time. We'll start off with this: as you can see, there's quite a size (and you can imagine the mass) difference between the two. This image is of the CP 8800 compared to a D70, so you can imagine the difference with the D300 which is even bigger and heavier. That part is obvious. What is not obvious is that both of the CoolPix cameras use a compact sensor.... meaning about the same size as the one your wife carries around in her purse, which has many limitations, most of which are exacerbated, not alleviated by a high mega-pixel count. So the CPs are "noisy" cameras if you try to use them at or above 400 ISO, therefore, they aren't for low light use without flash. However, they both have Nikon's advanced iTTL technology so can take advantage of my SB-600 and SB-800 Speedlights. Also, there's the "advanced amateur" bugaboo, that almost all manufacturers are prone to in that there's just not enough memory buffer to allow continuous shooting when dealing with large files (eg. RAW), so they are certainly not for fast action shooting where you might want to blow up or manipulate the image later. JPEG is the order of the day!
Are there any benefits other than weight and size? You bet! Here you see the aforementioned Speedlight compatibility at work. Yeah, it's a bit ungainly, but it works great. Then, there's the memory card compatibility. Yes Martha; that's a full-sized Compact Card in the CP 8800 there. I only have about a dozen of those things ranging in size from 128Mb to 32Gb.
Overkill? Probably. But you know; not only would I never wear a shirt like this, but these camera will keep me from carrying around a bunch of camera like this poor guy!
Who doesn't remember that advertising slogan from the 80's and 90's? At that point, the originally created firm of Nichi-Doku Shashinki Shoten (or Japanese-German Camera Shop) was at their peak having surpassed both Canon and Nikon to become number 1 in the critical American market during this time! They were riding high. The company had been innovative for quite some time, being the first Japanese manufacturer to adopt the bayonet mount as well as full aperture through-the-lens (TTL) metering. Then in the late 70's being the first "multi-mode" SLR camera manufacturer with the XD-11 (U.S.) that is now the standard "PASM" (Program, Aperture, Shutter, Manual) modes that's seen on virtually every "advanced" camera on the market today. They were considered so advanced at the time, that it was Minolta whom Leitz turned to in the 70's when they felt the need to integrate electronics into their equipment, and the "Leica CL" was even made by Minolta in Japan. Something unheard-of at that juncture paving the road for future German-Japanese cooperative efforts such as the Sony-Zeiss, Kyocera-Zeiss/Contax, Matsushita (Panasonic)-Leitz, and Cosina-Zeiss/Voigtlander cooperative efforts seen today.
So, what happened? I'm not going to get into all the details, but let's just say that arguably the most advanced of the Japanese camera/electronics (Laser printer, copiers, etc.) companies didn't move as quickly as the other major players (Nikon, Canon) in the transition to digital photography. Even the 2003 merger with another industry major player, Konica failed to revive it and ultimately ended up with the 2006 sell-off of most of Minolta's photography assets to Sony. But we're not here to discuss the demise of Minolta, but what it means to the frugal photographer of today.
If you are a photographer of a certain age, you've probably owned a Minolta (maybe even have one sitting up in a closet somewhere). Whether it was one of the famed SR-T series or one of the market dominating Maxxums, you know that they were eminately useable pieces of equipment and top notch optics. So questions concerning the brand have nothing to do with quality.
.....which brings us to the Konica-Minolta Maxxum 7D (what a mouthful) of 2005/6. This camera was essentially a digital adaptation of the Maxxum 9i, 35mm film camera. In the world of early 2000s, it was a highly thought of "system" camera just short of the professional Nikon and Canons. What we would today call "pro-sumer" equipment. Again, I'm not going to do a review, for which I'd recommend dpreview.com, I will say that it was very well thought of at the time. There were many excellent optics available as well as other systems equipment, but the really innovative feature was the very first application of sensor-shift technology to ameliorate ever-present camera shake. Although generally considered to not be as effective as in-lense reduction as used by ,Panasonic, Canon and Nikon, it tends to be less expensive and applicable across the board on any lens attached. As such it has been commonly adopted by virtually all other makers of advanced, interchangeable lens cameras.
This camera was not only advanced, but; as the British would say, "a serious bit of kit"! Like other top level DSLRs there's a magnesium chassis, and controls to beat the band.
If you don't believe me; take a look at the back! This is what I'd imagine Batman's camera to look like (including all the rubberized control surfaces). Virtually all the contemporary reviewers of the day commented that it looked intimidating, but extraordinarily easy to learn and operate since the plethora of buttons keeps the user from having to delve into the menu system to operate it. This is pretty much the opposite from the norm for most cameras of today.
Although this camera was very advanced and the center of an elaborate and proven system it was ultimately unsuccessful in the marketplace. First of all, it was a top level prosumer camera aspiring to be the equivilent of the Nikon D200 and Canon 30D at time when those that level of equipment had moved on to 8Mp sensors. However, it's pricing (due to it's build) put it squarely in the upper range in cost of production. Really the "little brother" 5D was better positioned to be successful. Unfortunately, it's late arrival to the game also put them behind the proverbial 8-Ball since many had already bought into a "system" and therefore were not pre-disposed to switch after investing in a particular lens mount. Worse yet, by the time that this camera came to the marketplace in any numbers, it wasn't the D200 and 30D that it was competing against, but the looming introduction of the 12Mp D300 and 40D which came on the seen in first half of 2007! So, with the handwriting on the wall, and the situational of being more than one generation behind, Minolta made the inevitable decision to sell off to the only company with the resources to catch up.....Sony.
What caused all the retrospective examination of the Minolta and the Maxxum 7D? "$275 OBO", that's what! As always, I was scanning the local Craig's List ads to see if there were any good deals out there in my area. And down the in the Photography and Video section was an ad for a Minolta Maxxum and two Sigma lenses. Of the Sigma lenses (18-125, 70-300) of that generation, the less said the better, although the 18-125mm should be OK. I guess someone could use the other one until they can afford something better, the generic lenses of that type and age whether they be the original maker (Tamron, Sigma typically) or an importer such as Quantaray, aren't very good. But, back to the original thought: really, this advanced of a camera, of this build quality, with lenses so that you can use it immediately for........$275 OBO!!! I'd bet that the "OBO" means that he'll take $250. If you are the least bit concerned with the 7D's 6 megapixels, you guys know that my stance is that 6Mp is perfectly useable, especially for entry level. Remember that for our Alaska trip a few years ago, I took a 6Mp Nikon D70 and was very happy with the images it gave me (when I did my job).
A couple of last thoughts. No; it was not a "one-off" situation. I checked eBay and the mid-$200s pricing is in fact what that camera is selling for right now. Also, if you are the slightest bit concern at buying into a "dead-end" system, remember that it wasn't killed off, but taken over by Sony, so not only can you buy brand new Sony lenses, flashes etc., but even upgrade to using legendary Zeiss glass that are now made for that mount!
If I had random extra money, I'd have already snapped this thing up!
