Not that I do not have one (I have 3 small "old" digital compact cameras + another one that must be somewhere in a drawer), but I wanted something better (normal reaction of the basic consumerist sheep), after all "how can I pretend to become a good father if I am not even able to take good pictures of my child ?!", but this is another story...
I need a camera, ok, but which one. So the quest started...
A reflex ? It's big... A compact ? I already have 3 of them... A compact with changeable lense ? What size of sensor ? How many Megapixels ? WHAT WOULD BE PERFECT ???
I spent evenings after evenings on websites like lesnumeriques.com (in french) and dpreview.com comparing the different models caracteristics. Then I spend hours whatching tests on youtube, checking prices and availability on selling websites and so one. Till I was sure, sure of what I want.
The Olympus EPM1 it will be... I ordered it... then cancelled the order :-( Small camera, big lense, "half big" sensor...
Ok, so a reflex it will be ! Nikon D3100... no, D3200... Wait, these are still not full frames... Ok, D800... in 10 years... when I will have the cash : my child will have beautiful pictures of it's teenager's years. But in 10 years the D800 will be completely obsolete.
Bloody hell, there was just no solution to this problem... So I gave up and went for the most practical : a compact... that would become my "pocket bitch" ! And with the consumerist pressure down, I will be able to find a better solution.
I bought the Canon S95 (very good pocket bitch btw) and started to shoot. The pleasure was back. Shooting everything I could. Starting to get interested in shooting strangers in the street, metro, markets, bars... Dozens and dozens of pictures every day. I had even a hyperfocal setup for these unexpected moments when you need to shoot within a second. I have a small camera bag that I can fix on my trouser's belt and my S95 can be ready to shoot almost instantly. The only boring part is to sort out the "millions" of pictures... but that's street shooting, isn't it ? Anyway, I am actually very satified with this camera : small, very nice to use, manually operable, the picutre quality is fine and it even shoots raw. Very, very nice little thing. But I was missing 1 thing...
BOKEH !!!
I want more Bokeh in my life ;-) and as bokeh is linked to sensor size and lenses... You see my problem ? No ? MONEY ! CASH !! FUNDS !!!
Hasselblad does a very nice Medium Format digital camera... oh, yes, it's around... no, you don't want to know... it is over my budget... for a car. Pentax also does a nice one, half price... but still over my budget for a car...
I don't really remember how, but I stumbled on a website speeking about the Pentacon Six TL. A medium format camera in my budget ! (around 100-200 USD) WTF, I was dreaming ! I had to check this out in a shop. I went to the biggest one in my city : they had 6 of them ! I looked in the waist-level finder and I knew. I knew it would be mine. It is huge, it is massive, it is to cameras what the Desert Eagle .50 is to guns. I LOVE IT. And the shutter's noise... and the noise when you load it... wow. That's a weapon for real man... I take pictures with my S95 but not with this. With this I "nail" pictures. Holly molly, I totally love this stuff :-)
I got mine. It's my German BigBoy and I think it is the best possible combo with my Pocket Bitch. Here it is on a picture I retouched to give this dramatic interrogatory effect : (oh yes, it was produced in East germany, has a Carl Zeiss Jena lens and it is a film camera. I shot my first roll with it two days a go... no idea what it will give, let's wait and see)
This is the first shot with my "S95" setup but you need a second camera to be able to use it as subject, which makes the price of the snap quite high :-). So nop, this snap will not be counted in my "100 snaps challenge".
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