What's up Everybody? Hope you're having a good week. Me? Not too bad. Thanks for asking. I've had a small Kidney Stone Surgery that went pretty well and I'm hanging out this week trying to catch up on some blogs and maybe start planning some trips with the MAV (Max's Adventure Van). This week I wanted to talk about a subject that isn't talked about a lot. Fixed Lens Cameras. A Fixed Lens Camera is a camera that has a lens that is attached and cannot be removed. We get so caught up in our very expensive Mirrorless cameras that have interchangeable lenses that we sometime forget about these cameras and how creative and fun they can be. They have been around almost since the beginning of photography and most of us took our first photo's with them. But since the modern phone has come out over the last 10 years or so they have lost a little of their status in the camera community. But I think that is wrong. There is something about having a 20170107_Brownie Memories_013-Edit dedicated camera in your hand that you can't surf the web or take a phone call on or don't have to be connected to the internet. Now some of these camera's are making a comeback like the Fujifilm X-100 series of cameras that have a fix focal length Lens attached to them and almost have a cult following. And others like the Canon G7X series of point and shoots that have a fixed zoom lens attached. These are fantastic cameras and other manufacturers like Sony, Ricoh and even Leica also has their fixed lens camera's too. I have film cameras with fixed lenses and my first digital was a fixed lens camera and they worked great. 

    My first experience with photography was with a Kodak Brownie that my mother had and I used it to take family photos when we went on vacation or to the beach. It had a viewfinder that I could look down at waist level and one that I could bring to my eye to take photographs. This was back in the late 1960's. My family then got a Polaroid Camera that I used a little with a fixed lens they were cool because you could get the photo right away and didn't have to send to the drug store to get prints developed. The next fixed lens camera I had was during the gulf war a 110 film camera that I took and used while I was deployed to the desert. I have some cool keepsakes from that time in the desert with that fixed lens camera. The next fixed lens camera was my first digital camera. It was a Kodak only a few megapixel but it was fun to shoot with and got me interested in photography again. This was in the year 2000. I had just retired from the military and started working for a civilian company and took the camera everywhere I went.  After a while I upgraded to a Nikon P9100 I think it was called it was a crop sensor camera with a big zoom on it and I used it for a while. Don't really know what happened to that camera. I must have sold it before I bought my first DSLR camera. I have a few fixed lens film cameras that I have purchased over the last couple of years that I really love. They are the Canon Cannonet line of cameras manufactured in the 60's and early 70's. The Canon Cannonet QL17 is my favorite small film camera and I often take it with me when I'm out and about. It has a 40mm f1.7 lens on a rangefinder 35mm film body.

Advantages of Fixed Lens Cameras- There are some advantages to shooting with these cameras. First of all is the size . These cameras are usually small and portable. They usually can fit in a big pocket or small bag and if you have a strap on them they won't weigh you down. You don't have to carry extra lenses. This obvious thing will keep you nimble and quick and you won't get tired lugging around a big bag full of equipment. You can be more creative with these little cameras because decision making of what lens to carry is already made for you you just have to make it work and can use that extra time on decision making on composition. Sensors stay cleaner because you're not changing lenses exposing the sensor to the elements. Over all these camera's are cheaper than their interchangeable counterparts. Lenses are usually pretty good and engineered toward the sensor in the camera. 

_MSP9739 The only real disadvantage of these camera's is you might lack the flexibility that you might have with interchangeable lens cameras. Some sensors may also be smaller making low light shooting harder although some of these cameras come with built in flashes bur maybe not a look you're looking for. Other than that I think that they are great cameras. My EDC (Every Day Carry) is a Canon G7XII . And I really love this little camera. Can it do everything? No but for a lot of stuff I do it's just enough. Great for street, candid portraits, landscape and travel. I like to take it when I'm out with my wife because Its not too big and bulky and I don't fumble around with it as much as I do my big boy Sony camera and lenses. I actually bought it for a trip that my wife and I took years ago to Washington DC and it worked fantastically. I got some great shots and didn't annoy my wife too much with camera nerd stuff like I would have if I brought the Sony. So as you can tell I really like fixed lens cameras for being convenient ,capable, and just fun to shoot. Until next week "Get out and Shoot"

Hey if you want to check out my photography go to my instagram account Max Stansell Photography there are over 2000 posts there. Here is the link

 Max Stansell Photography Instagram Link