Gene51 Loc: Yonkers, NY, now in LSD (LowerSlowerDelaware)

Here, here!!!!!

Curmudgeon Loc: SE Arizona

NO. Do not ease your passage into old age, fight it tooth and nail with every fiber of your being! Everything you give up to ease the passage is a thing you will never get back. I have osteo and rheumatoid arthritis almost everything hurts my hands, knees and shoulders but if I don't use them before long I won't be able to.

Camera too heavy? Probably it's not the camera it's that 5 pound lens you attach to it.

dsmeltz Loc: Philadelphia

One last shot. Two things that have no bearing on this. Age and mirrorless. Age - stay in shape and exercise and you can handle the relatively small weight of most full frame cameras and gear. Mirrorless does not equal lighter. Smaller sensor and the related lenses can mean lighter, but simply switching to mirrorless will not, if you stay in the same sensor size.

brooklyn-camera I Loc: Brooklyn, NY

At age 74 and still going up and down the sidelines of semi-pro football, plus moving so I don't get run over. Shooting with the 7DMKII, battery pack, 70-200mm f/2.8 L II USM no monopod.... hand held. Also shoot hockey from the bench, need to stay awake for sure.

On blood thinners so I have to pay attention to what is going on around me all the time. Have neuropathy and can't feel feet that well anymore, had to have hand controls put in car for safety reasons. Doing stairs, well that's another story. VA gave me canes and a walker which I use to hold my pants on.

Point is that if I can still do the sidelines and bench shooting I will continue to do so. I can do it safely and I enjoy the comradery with the players, coaches and other photographers. Plus it's go exercise, I'm in Afib but doing well and you can always dress for the weather.

Had some players (age 25-30) kid me about my age, my answer is lets see what you are doing at age 74?

(Download)

Xbander Loc: South Mississippi

As the gear grows get a bag with wheels for the main going and a smaller pack to pick as needed.

ORpilot Loc: Prineville, Or

While working on my BFA in Photography (1970s) I roamed around with 70+ lb of 8x10 camera all over the hills around Athens Ohio. Not any more. Now I carry my Bridge Camera or my FF Sony depending on where I'm going and what I am shooting. Granted there is nothing like looking at a print from an 8x10 or any other size view camera, but I am satisfied with my 35s. With 50 years of photo experience, I generally know exactly what equipment to take. What I take is totally dependent of the final results I want. I recently did a test with my Mamyia 645 lenses on a Fujifilm GFX and came to the conclusion that I don't need my Mamyia 645 any more because the FF Sony is as good with the exception of the Mamyia 145 soft focus lens. That specialty lens just makes dreamy images. At this point in life I am much better at my choices than in my youth. Yes, less weight is better in most cases. Heavy tripods are better at stabilization than whimpy light ones. Note: I do have both carbon fiber and aluminum. Camera weight does not directly corilate to better photos. Sensor size and mp are deciding factors not weight. Lenses are the main weight now. Fast lenses have more glass. More glass is more weight. Some lenses are housed in brass vs composite plastics. Metal is like tanks but plastics are less subject to temperature expansion and contraction. If I could have only one camera it would be the Sony RX10. I have a show room of cameras that I feel do each job the best. Everything from my bridge camera to a 4x5 and a boat load of lenses. I wouldn't even think of taking the 4x5 to the wildlife refuge to shoot birds. But I would take my bridge camera to the Grand Canyon. I prefer my Sony a99ii for landscapes. I prefer my Sony a7iii for bird shooting. But it's a toss up between the a7s and the a7iii for milky way shots. We all have our likes and dislikes.

Photoguy120

One never knows what the younger generation thinks or what they think they know.

lamiaceae Loc: San Luis Obispo County, CA

I'm too arthritic for many activities even at 65. Walking is even hard. Any risky behavior is long over with. I was too clumsy at even 16 to think of rollerblading, roller skating, or even skate boarding. A bicycle was fine and I probably should have stayed with that and driven less. Being clumsy and not athletic pointed me to more intellectual pursuits such as music listening and doing art like photography. I still manage to shoot with my APS-C cameras but weight and cost has kept me away from FF. I've shot Medium Format film in the past. Not sure I would enjoy that today. I am looking at Fujifilm MILCs though.

Ched49 Loc: Pittsburgh, Pa.

In most cases, a comparable DSLR vs. mirrorless comparison of the same manufacturer, there is a sizeable difference in size and weight. Compare the Nikon D850 to the Nikon Z7 or the Canon 1D X to the Canon EOS Ra.

david20313

We don't quit playing because we get old, we get old because we quit playing!

mborn Loc: Massachusetts

Last July I ended up in the hospital and rehab for most of the month. Was started on OT & PT and am getting my strength back Doing exercises and weight training I am now better now at82 than I was at 81

EdR Loc: Gig Harbor, WA

👍🥴
I was replying to growing old is mandatory, growing up is optional!

BebuLamar

I don't have heavy gear so my gear weighs about the same when I was 22 and when I am 65. I always had the heaviest of the 35mm but they were still only 35mm so not too heavy. I don't have big lenses.

gessman Loc: Colorado

Isn't it amazing how some things seem so simplistic to us yet difficult for others which leads us to presume that if others would just do as we do they would feel as we feel. Being compact in stature, I have had uncommon strength most of my life and have rigorously exercised including weight lifting but now that I am approaching 83 in a few more days I am painfully aware of my strength rapidly diminishing with aging compounded by being nearly a 50 year diabetic which causes a loss of elasticity of muscle tissue. Now, the least bit of physical exertion makes me sore for days so it has more and more become a reason to do less and less. While previously I would just muscle my way through everything, I now find myself resorting to all kinds of trickery, even treachery, to avoid the soreness and exercise doesn't build me up - it only tears me further down. I'm not looking for answers because I've tried about everything. I'm just here to say to you folks in your 60s and 70s that you have yet to arrive to where you someday may be and hence you might want to give some thought to the idea that, when you have arrived, it may not so precisely match your present perception you may have from reading all those testosterone supplement adverts on Instagram.

BboH Loc: s of 2/21, Ellicott City, MD

Will do next month what you did in November.