The camera world has lost its appeal – or is there something else to come? | News

Tech talk about cameras has become increasingly rare in many forums – including MTN – in recent years. Almost all cameras are now at a very high level. Shouldn’t we be happy about that? But the charm is gone! – What happens next?

I’ll openly admit that I’ve lost interest in taking photos with a system camera lately. At first I thought it was due to my advancing age and the fact that I no longer wanted to carry bags weighing tens of kilos and possibly a tripod with me. That certainly plays a part in my waning interest. Just like the fact that the iPhone can now reproduce many photographic situations in excellent quality and is always with you without putting any strain on your sore back. But there is also another important reason: the technology has simply become too good!

Sounds absurd? Somehow, I know. But it’s true. Remember the days when we used to argue on the forum for days about which camera (or brand) was the best? Which sensor has the least noise? What are the best and most indispensable functions without which a camera is “no good”? Or about the race to see which camera offers the highest continuous shooting speed? Or just about which file format is best and why you should definitely shoot RAW if you want to do “serious” photography? – Out of. Over. Story. There’s no rooster crowing about it anymore.

Technology has made enormous progress and system cameras and their sensors are now so sophisticated that even with a cheap entry-level camera you no longer have to worry about excessive noise at ISO 6,400. If necessary, AI-supported algorithms can help to effectively denoise the image. All cameras today are also fast enough to be able to follow fast sporting events. Not to mention the autofocus. Okay, there may still be a little room for improvement on this point, but what even cheap cameras can do today is remarkably reliable.

In addition, the priorities of image creation seem to have shifted for many people. Today, “photo cameras” are almost without exception also excellent video cameras with which you can make cinematic films. Although, if anything, it’s mostly just a matter of starting your own YouTube channel and seeking your fortune by hoarding recognition. Photography? It’s somehow become completely irrelevant, hasn’t it?

Apparently I’m not the only one who somehow seems to lose interest in the matter due to the technical “synchronization” of the cameras. The well-known and fairly wide-reaching YouTube tester Gerald Undone has just announced that he no longer wants to test cameras in the future. He’s done with it. He’s Done! For similar reasons.

This farewell made it clear to me once again that things tend to be similar for me.

Everything is better – and more boring
Cause and effect seem to be in a strange disproportion here: the cameras are getting better and better and that’s why interest is waning? It sounds somewhat paradoxical, but it is true. At least for me. I’m seriously considering selling my camera equipment while it’s still reasonably current. The lenses are more durable than the bodies and can certainly be sold in a few years, but what should I do with them when I give the cameras away?

And will I then be missing something in order to a.) do my work and b.) capture interesting motifs? It doesn’t seem so. For some time now I’ve been taking product photos almost exclusively with my iPhone. Some might argue that the product photos I took for REWIND used to look more professional and that this could be attributed to the full-format system camera. But that’s not the case. In the past, I just spent a lot more time post-processing the photos. Something that – as sad as it sounds – is not honored. Neither in money, nor simply in the appreciation of the images. What I photograph with the iPhone can usually be used directly “out of the cam” without having to laboriously develop and post-process each RAW photo individually in Lightroom. And so far no one has complained about the quality of the iPhone recordings.

Purely documentary images that are only intended to show a product detail do not require a system camera any more than photos that are intended to have more ambience. The artificial bokeh from the iPhone is now so good that a super bright lens that costs tens of thousands of euros can’t do much better. And 99.9% of all viewers can no longer tell the difference anyway. So what?

It may be that it is not yet sufficient for certain artistic requirements. The “Leica look” is currently being discussed with a passion that has become rare in the MTN forum. (Although this discussion has noticeably flattened out again.) But today, people hardly talk about the pure technology or certain functions and which camera it has or doesn’t have. This also makes the “hunt” for ever better cameras somehow pointless, because they are all really, really good now. Even “brand wars” like those between Canon and Nikon are practically history.

I don’t know about you. Whether you think similarly about it – and admit it to yourself, or whether you still believe that it’s worth looking forward to the next camera launch from your favorite brand and saving money for it. (When will a new camera actually come out again? The number of new introductions has decreased significantly.)

It Ain’t Over ’til It’s Over…
…sang Lenny Kravitz. And maybe that also applies to me and my passion for photography. It’s just that the focus has undeniably shifted for me. Finally, I thought about purchasing a fast fixed focal length in the 50 mm range, but in the end they were too expensive for the purpose. Then Canon introduced the comparatively extremely cheap RF 45mm F1.2 STM, which may not be the technically best of its kind, but it is cheap and has character. But I didn’t do that either because I somehow didn’t feel like going specifically in search of a subject with a camera bag again. Especially since I photographed pretty much everything in my area. Sure, there are always exciting motifs, but they usually appear when you are NOT specifically looking for them. And then the camera probably isn’t there, but the iPhone is.

In fact, I’ve been taking the binoculars with me more often than the camera lately. Kind of telling, right? It’s tricky. I don’t want to say goodbye to the camera world completely. I will continue to keep an eye on them and report on the most interesting innovations in REWIND. But there’s no denying it: I’m no longer as passionate about the topic as I used to be.

And how are you doing with that?