What's up Ya'll? This weeks blog is sort of a what if. If I could buy a camera from different camera companies what would I get? Would I get the most expensive one? Would I get the one that was centered on video instead of photo? "Or" Would I get one that is suited to my personality ? Well I wouldn't get the biggest and the baddest copy of what ever the flagship camera was . I do believe that I would not do that. In this blog I'm going to go through my thought process on what I think I would do. Now I'm an old timer brought up on film and most of my shooting are on photowalks  and travel type of stuff. So what I'm really going to be looking for is a classic styled camera that has the knobs and buttons that I grew up on film cameras. A retro style camera if you will one that is not too big or bulky that I can carry when I'm out and about. So let's go through some brands and see what I would get. Let's start with my current brand of camera's Sony.

Sony: I have been shooting Sony for almost a decade and have shot their crop sensor sized cameras A6000 series and have shot with full frame the A7 series. Sony doesn't have a retro style camera but the closest I could come too is the A6000 series of camera's. They are small have good quality and a good set of small lenses to choose from. Although I now shoot with a full frame camera the A7III and the Smaller A7C I think if I had to choose again I would get the crop sensor version. The A7C that I shoot now is about the same size but the lenses are bigger even the compact lenses that they sell just for the A7(C for Compact) camera. Next company let's go with Nikon.

Nikon: I am a big fan of Nikon and they were really my first serious cameras when I started digital. I shot with the D7000 series of cameras and then switched to the D800 series of cameras . I had the holy trinity of lensed to go with the big Nikon full frame . This was a great system and in my camera club Nikon is king. Don't really know why but they are. I think that they can do a lot and seem very complicated to me now that I've been shooting Sony for so long. But all of my friends shoot Nikon so they must  be good . I wouldn't get their flagship though I would get the Nikon Zf camera. It is a retro style 24 mp full frame. I've heard nothing but good things about it although being a full frame you still have to deal with larger lenses.  Let's look a Canon.

Canon: I own a couple of Canon digital cameras . Small ones. One has been converted to IR a Canon EOS M and I have the point and shoot Canon Powershot G7XII which I just love. Canon doesn't have any retro type cameras although there are always rumors of them making one. One that was made to copy the Canon AE-1 in digital form would be awesome or even one that copied the Canonet 17 would be cool but no offerings. I love the touch screen and the easy menus of the camera and if they came out with a retro I would definitely be looking for one. Next let's look at Fujifilm.

Fujifilm: Fujifilm has been making all of their money on the retro style cameras. It's what has made them as big as they are. From the X-Pro Series of range finder cameras that have interchangeable lenses to the X-100 series of camera's that have a single lens and is based on a range finder camera. Even their flagships use a SLR shaped camera body with all the dials and knobs to choose your settings with which I like. Oddly enough only one person uses Fujifilm in our club. A Medium format Camera GFX100rf just came out and sort of mirrors the body style of the X-100 camera. But if I were to get one I would get a X-Pro series of camera. Although they don't have a current version of this camera there are rumors that they will. Hope so! What about Micro 4/3 rds cameras?

M4/3's: Olympus put out a retro style called the Pen-F many years ago which is cool but out of date. OM- Systems (formally Olympus) Just came out with a retro style camera the OM-3. It is a SLR styled camera and being M43 camera the lenses would be small and very portable. This camera has ticked all the boxes on my list of camera's and if money wasn't a factor this would be one of my first choices and may still end up in my bag. In the Lumix side of the house I don't think that they are very retro and are strongest in the video side of the house. Now lets talk about the elephant in the room Leica.

Leica: Leica has the prestige and the history of royalty. (In the camera world) But for some reason I have never lusted for one. I know they are well engineered camera's and have a reputation for lasting for ever. But they are not really high tech either and they don't care. I think that if I had one of these camera's I would be scared I would break or do something I shouldn't with it and would spend more time polishing it instead of using it. I know that sounds silly but there you are. 

This is just an exercise of looking around and seeing what I would buy if I had a choice. What would you buy? Well Until Next time Get out and Shoot!

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