When I first started becoming serious in Digital Photography, that is owning more then a cheap low-end point and shoot camera I maybe used to take a few photos at a family event or on vacation in I had a very different outlook on the Photography industry then I do right now.
Things back then were very different. You had pocket cameras that gave somewhat limited "ok for family pics" cameras, Bridge Cameras which were slightly better but still not great, and the all powerful DSLR. I joined during the era where DSLRs were finally becoming more then just for Professional Photographers who had 10k in equipment, namely with a Canon Rebel.
I did a recent post about the newest Rebel I own and why these cameras are so special to me. So I won't dive too far into that. However my mindset when I started out was very focused on when the next camera would come out; was there a new lens that would expand my capabilities?
My first decade of Photography from 2008-2017 my mindset was locked a 3-5 year "camera upgrade" cycle. At the time where Digital Photography was evolving and advancing this was a very solid plan and it gave me something to save up for and look forward to every few years.
Ten years after my first advanced digital camera; 2018 was a transitional year for both the Photography industry and myself. This was the year I got "ahead of the Digicam Trend" and started collecting Digital Cameras (many which I no longer own as some were later sold or traded off).
This was the year I made the realization that not only did I take some great photos with my older camera equipment but that it was a lot of fun to use them. I broke out of the mold of needing "One camera as expensive as I could afford" and started to embrace other unique cameras most photographers would see as e-waste.
Digicam collecting offers the ability to "try something different" instead of just looking forward to what is new. Prior to 2018 I was excited to save up and look forward to what was "new and better". From this transition point and forward I look forward to using something "new to me" that I have never shot before and Digicam collecting is a great way to do just that.
The decision to move into Digicam collecting was perfectly timed. Not only did I get ahead of the "craze" as it were and got a lot of my collection when used camera stores were dumping older used equipment in droves for dirt cheap (some cameras I used in 2018 I wish I wouldn't have sold since they are nearly impossible to find now) but I also got ahead of the camera marketing splintering and going off into "finding new ways to make things Cheaper or force people to change lens mounts and get people Excited for being "innovative" for doing so.
This of course happened when Nikon and Canon both stuck up their middle finger to their older mounts (Canon moreso since they forced an existing established mirrorless mount into Oblivion) and created the R and Z mount Mirrorless system.
Sony had already done this to their A mount users five years prior in 2014. This was the beginning of the end for the DSLR but since Canon and Nikon were slow turning ships that waited for one to make a move and didn't care what Sony was doing; they took a few years to catch up.
When I first started digital photography I had a pretty clear "upgrade" path. Like clockwork Canon would put out a Rebel or XXD body every 2-3 years with a brand new sensor that would tempt me into "upgrading". To a lesser extent my Secondary system Micro 43rds fell into the same pattern albeit for a lot shorter amount of time.
In 2024 the camera industry has moved out of a stable predictable industry back into a Wild West much like it was in the early 2000s but different. Sensor technology more or less peaked in the mid 2010s so in order to make cameras more "appealing" camera mfgs can no longer rely on the sensor to carry them alone.
How do you force people to stop using a pretty much perfect camera? You stop making and supporting them. Which is pretty much what Canon and Nikon did by shutting down the EF and F DSLR mount cameras and lenses. Now whatever remaining stock remain in warehouses are all that is left and let the smart people (like myself) fight over the leftovers in the used market.
It doesn't stop there however, as in a move that is considered "brilliant" by a lot of marketing and kool-aid drinking camera fans both Nikon and Sony are being praised on high for taking out the old "antiquated" Mechanical Shutter out of their high end cameras.
In the end, the removal of the mechanical shutter becomes only a small part of the reason I am currently unsure in what direction the camera industry is going. "The Big 3" seem to be making a lot of choices that don't make a lot of sense right now and there is no real consistency.
From Canon blocking 3rd parties from making Autofocus lenses for their camera system, to Nikon releasing an APS-C mirrorless camera but then not making a single meaningful update to this camera in 5 years and Sony being well... Sony it doesn't instil me with a lot of confidence in picking one lens system and "sticking with it" and looking forward to getting a "better" camera body every 3-5 years.
I do own a Nikon Z50. It is a very underrated and very capable camera in its own light especially for what I paid for it used. I will most likely do my own review of this flawed masterpiece of a mirrorless camera in the near future so I won't spend any more time on the details of this camera.
At this point however, I am not sold that Z mount will be my path forward. Nikon keeps going in a direction that I sure as hell don't want nor could even afford. My future is not a $3000 Full Frame camera with No mechanical shutter. I'm sorry but no just no.
Normally I could argue that I could jump ship to Fuji as I don't like the direction the "Big Three" are headed and Fuji's APS-C cameras often check every box of what I want but ultimately I can't afford this path.
Switching systems is painful and expensive. Nikon Z was more doable because of the Z to F adapter which works with most Nikon F first party glass (which I have a good deal of) just fine. This was the reason I bit the bullet and got the Z50 when I did.
Now however, I am not convinced there will be an upgrade path; but at the same time maybe their doesn't have to be.
The perfect camera I can pick up and just shoot in pretty much any condition without any real thought is not the Z50. It's the Nikon D7200 DSLR. I still get much more consistent output from a nine year old DSLR then I do from a 5 year old current generation MICL camera that is still being produced.
Don't get me wrong, the Z50 is a fun camera to use, and there are defiantly some things it does better then the D7200. Can I say that the Z50 is a full upgrade from the D7200 however? My answer to that is No.
Watching my friends get brand new cameras and new lenses is still difficult. While Nikon has dragged their feet in making a pro APS-C camera to compete with Fuji; Canon has released one: The Canon R7.
I have a friend who has a Canon R7 and there is still a part of me that wants to jump ship back to Canon so that I can have the R7 and still use mostly older Canon EF glass on it. A voice in the back of my head wisely tells me its only a matter of time before Canon pulls another stupid and I'd want to move onto something else.
Taking a step back I realize that I have several great cameras which take amazing photos mixed in with a larger collection of more challenging to use cameras that can still take some really cool shots, just under very specific conditions.
I could sell my entire collection and likely have enough to jump ship over to Fuji for "One Modern high end APS-C camer abody that does everything I ever needed or wanted" and a few lenses that cover most situations.
However as the only Fuji shooter in my local camera club I'd have no one to share lenses with or otherwise bond with either, and I would miss the comradery that goes along with being familiar with a more popular brand of camera even if its an older or lower end model then the current flagship monster.
In the end for me having access to a variety of different cameras makes my journey into photography more special and unique. This is what I should be focusing on rather then trying to have a proverbial "Long Lens" competition with another photographer to decide who has "The Best Camera and Lenses" (sadly its all far far too common).
Maybe I really need to just take a step back from what the photography industry and realize that Canon and Nikon making a mount they have supported for two decades "no longer supported" is actually an opportunity as many will rush out to get rid of and sell all of their old "useless" equipment so they can keep up in the Arms race with their competition and have "the best camera equipment money can buy" again.
Ten years from now I will still likely be shooting equipment from 2015. Will it honestly look any worse then what the next generation of cameras will bring? I honestly doubt it at this point.
I may not have an "upgrade path" anymore but you can pry my Mirrorflipping and Mechanical Shutter cameras out of my cold dead hands. I am not giving them up any time soon.
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