It seems to me that camera manufacturers are using the retro look trick to lure people in to making new purchases. I've been amongst the older camera users hankering for a simple camera like we had in our youth. But having used my film camera since going digital I realise that the controls are much better on modern cameras. Sure it's nice to have actual buttons and dials to change the things you need to change often instead of fiddling about with menus, but in most cases cameras can be set up to do just that - often with the right hand and without taking your eye from the viewfinder.So when pictures of the much trailed, and I mean much trailed, new Nikon full frame 'retro' DSLR appeared it seemed to me to be a curious mix of old and new. Worst of all it's lacking the one feature everyone really wants - the size of a film camera. Tomorrow all will be officially revealed.
Smallness is where mirrorless cameras score. It's why I keep getting tempted by them. I've been thinking that the Panasonic GX7 might be the Holy Grail. It has pretty much all the features I need. So that's what I've been trawling the net for info about recently. The files I've seen from it show it to be capable in low light which is a plus, and if the lens is up to it the detail it can resolve is great. There's one thing that puts me off. The pictures have that same look I get from the G2. That thing I still can't put a name to. The colours are sort of bright in a crayon colour way, yet dull and chalky at the same time. Unrefined. If I was only going to shoot black and white it would be fine though!
Still, I did find a promotional video for the camera. A book of Kertész photographs and Ian Berry's The English were my main inspirations when I discovered photography beyond the mainstream photographic magazines. Leaving aside the fact it's an advert I enjoyed watching and listening to him in a 'reading between the lines' way. Listening to what he had to say about photography rather than the camera and watching how he moves when photographing. In the way the web works that video lead me to another.
There's no point having a camera that's great to use if you aren't happy with the 'film' it's loaded with. No point having a camera you want to like, and being less than happy with it. Which is still where I am with my little Fuji. I had it with me on a sunny morning in Preston (Berry's birthplace!) today. A day of bright winter sun and long shadows that made me want to take photographs. The problem was that I had no time to spare and had to snatch what I could while walking from the car to the art shop and back.
The camera did an okay job most of the time. That focus lag is a killer though. It's no wonder that the web is awash of shots like the one at the this post. Pictures of things that don't move. Luckily the people waiting to cross the road didn't do much moving. There were other frames, but this was the only one where people were shading their eyes. Which helps make the picture what it is.Which is something, but not all that much.
Why in black and white? The colours distracted from the visual point - the shadows - and confused the picture. It's an image that relies on its graphic qualities, so strip it back to the bare bones of tones.
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