johny

Hi guys!
I have been reading your post for a while now, and I never participated in the discussions because of someone always came out whit my point, and he says much better than I can.
But today I am looking to discover if I am crazy and alone in my position.
But before going to the point I wish to apologize because English is not my first language, and at a time my thinking gets a bit confusing for a mother tongue, so please bear whit me and try to understand.
Now to the point, I did study photography at school and I graduated in artistic graphic design and photography, in a time when the film was the only way, and my first camera was a Pentax K1000 that I still own. After graduation a carried out a couple of photojournalistic jobs, and then life and injury set me on a different phat for almost 3 decades, where I sporadically used the camera. About 15 years ago I friend give me a kodak digital camera, I thin was a 5MP Easyshare that I never liked to use and passed to my sister.
Then a couple of years ago I decided to give digital a second chance and after some research, looking for a light and compact interchangeable lens camera to take everywhere, I got a used Olympus pen2, and after I found my control setting on the camera, I really liked the pictures and use that camera, but the EVF refresh was too slow, and so I decided to upgrade the camera and format, I feel that Olympus put too much of gadgets in their bodies, and ultimately you pay too much for a 4/3 sensor.
So I decided APS-C, and the decision was between Sony and Fuji, Fuji was pricey with better optics but offering lower resolution, much beefier raw file not supported by may software, and fewer features, the xt1 was a camera for still photography, while the Sony a hybrid, when the XT10 came out I told that is it, all was in place, felt good in the hand, light and compact to carry everywhere, but a problem was the flash support like in the XT1, then the XT1 was given full flash support (adding HSS) by firmware update, and because the XT10 uses same processor and sensor I assumed it was going to receive HSS as well (after all is only a step down), but did not happens, and I been told by Fuji it will not happen. In the main time, the XT2 for good it is does not have any major improvement that attracts me, is a hybrid, so the XT20, and do not talk about the XH1 and the XT3, are we making pictures or movies? did they improve the dynamic range? did they extend the low ISO (only marginally in the XT3)? more megapixel is better hi ISO? no, they have done nothing to improve the capability of the still photography, but look at the video... oh yeah! ... but a moment, 3 years and I do not know if the Hi-definition video recording work in my XT10, (sorry one time by accident filled my memory card and drain the battery while hiking to a waterfall. Now I fill as a faithful husband cheated by the much-loved wife, I choose a camera like a wife, for the long run, because we want the same thing in life, and we want to grow in the same direction, I choose fuji because was going in the direction of rediscovering the passion for photography, and now I am pushed to live with a teenager that goes all over the places just because is fun. So I told if I must change body next year I'll go FF and ten new body and new lenses... what fill my criteria of one job done right without bankrupt me? Sony sells TV so guess what the direction is? the other option I can find is Nikon df (which tick all my boxes) and came out in 2013, 8 years old, does make any sense to restart a new with a camera so old in a digital time?
It is only me that feel forced to keep up with a trend that does not give back what you look for, I do understand that a lot of professionals need to stay up to date and customer ask more and more, and want to pay less and less, so they need bodies that can make their life easier and can do all a paying customer may ask, and vlogger and blogger, they have their need, but what about still photographer that do not want go through pages of menus to change one parameter, and will never use 3/4 of the function offered, are we happy to pay for the development of systems we do not use?
I am crazy and alone on that?
Please if you fell You have something to say just say it as you fell, free to disagree and be rude if you like if I am wrong I need to snap out of that.

Almostageezer Loc: USA

Try a used Nikon Df. It might be just what you are looking for.

burkphoto Loc: High Point, NC

This is a common question. The answer is that camera companies cram lots of features into cameras because they have tens or hundreds of thousands of users, all clamoring for different things. It costs less to make one or two models with everything than to make all sorts of custom gear with only selected features.

In essence, you pay more to take video out that to simply accept that it is there.

johny

Yes I am considering the df, but I have no Nikon lenses and is 7 year old and still cost in the thousand, is a beauty, surely not a disposable. The age make me worry, because how digital goes, 5 to 7 years is what I can accept before updating body, digitally speaking.

Pistnbroke Loc: UK

Only 16 MP forget it ...much better to go for a D810 or even a D800,,once its set you don't need to touch anything just blast away ,,just find one 20-30K activations.

johny

I do understand that, and I can live with that, that I have problem, is the fact that it appears to me that video is taking the front seat. I try to explane, a still photographer can do very well without IBIS or OIS,videographer not so well, Photographer love manual dedicated knob, do not care clicking f stop or noisy autofocus ( well most of times), if you manual focus you know the difference between wired and geared focus, and wat we get now, we spend thousand to trade off in favour of video, is not only the way the sensor record the images, but all that is needed to support that outcome, and the processing power needed.
I wish to be proved wrong just to find pace.

johny

16 MP is not a deal breaker, look at sample from the Nikon df, and if you still think more MP is a must you got need that I believe most of us can’t see, or you crop like crazy, ( and that be a necessity in certain case, not for me, wen I do crop is to correct a composition mistake). But do not take me wrong, your suggestion are extremely good. My point is about what we do with the camera, and if there is anyone that like me fell not served by cameras manufacturer, and feel to need buy a Ferrari to go to the beach with the friends, I just want to go relax in company, why do I need a Ferrari?

Pistnbroke Loc: UK

You don't do photography to "live with" its " good enough" and all that you get the best you can . I often go to weddings and a manager will say when I question something ,, "well everyone else manages" I say I am not here to manage I am here to do the best job possible . think back to your old 4/3 16MP crap ..why go back there? forget whether its got video not relevant. Pleased to see you are picking Nikon ..I was never happy with Canon

Pistnbroke Loc: UK

Like so many people who ask these questions you have already made up your mind and just want someone to tell you you are right . YES SO GO FOR IT GET THE DF YOU WILL FIND OUT LATER IF YOU ARE ACTUALLY RIGHT.

johny

I am sorry, but I had no intention to contradict you, you are right, you must work to saddisfy a client, and you got not room for mistake or second take, exactly my point, I try to express my view, in a poor attempt of fine art, not make a living, and that differentiate us not make one better than the other, (and yet probably you are more technically sound than I am), you have different need, and is not me or anybody else but you to judge the validity of them. And no I did not pick the df, I am afraid to pick that camera just because the age I am considering the Sony a7 as well, and also considering to get a now discontinued XT1, or XT2 , and maintain the lenses I have. Comparing I viewed some pics from the Df, and the a7 (more than twice the MP, ) and the df did not look worst at all, I am only sayng at a certain point I feel the megapixel count is not so relevant, unless there is a need for very large print or strong crop, but again in my “work” I have all the time to think and set all I need and wait for what I want to happen. Maybe that is a loxury you can’t afford. Cameras are tools and every tool has is own job. I want old on to my tools and love them but they are tools, and I do not believe in brand loyalty.

billnikon Loc: Pennsylvania/Ohio/Florida/Maui/Oregon/Vermont

I went with the new Nikon D500 for two reasons. 1. 10 fps. 2. Nikon just put a second focusing engine in the D500, D850, and D5. I shoot birds in flight and this has made a great difference for me. Focusing is much quicker than on my D750 and D7200 so I traded up and am very happy with the result. Yes, for me, the new technology was a game changer.

jaymatt Loc: Alexandria, Indiana

In answer to your language situation: having been a writing teacher for forty years, twenty-six at the collegiate level, let me say that your command of the written language is better than many of the natives here. You have nothing to apologize for. -- John

rmalarz Loc: Tempe, Arizona

Like you I have cameras that I use that are up to 70 years old. One, I've had since it was new. That was in 1971. All those cameras did was expose film that I processed and printed. The new breed of cameras, Nikon for me, contain a great deal of functions that I've used once to see that they were about. The only functions that mean a good photograph to me are ISO, shutter speed, and aperture. The rest is fluff. But, I still pay for it.
--Bob

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

English is a second language for me as well.

I would like to emphasize that every camera can be used to take just about every image you'll ever need to take. And if you are hired to work for someone, no one will complain about an image you give them what they want. The really don't care if you used a Nikon, Canon, Olympus, etc - or what the sensor size/type is or what lens you used. If you are a fine art photographer, then you are the arbiter of taste, and you'll need to decide what camera (or camera system) meets your needs and allows you to realize your artistic goals.

Camera mfgrs have worked hard at understanding what their customers want and delivering what they want. And they try to do it with as few camera models as possible, with mostly clear differentiation between capabilities and features. Many also give you the capability to set up a camera to suit your individual needs, even if they are completely different than someone else's. You can often set up a "favorite settings" menu to minimize needing to go through seemingly endless pages of menus to get to something you want to do or change.

The thing about customers asking for more and more and wanting to pay less and less is more about business management and salesmanship than it is about how good a photographer you may be, and most certainly the topic of at least several other threads.

No you are not crazy. Everyone goes through this.

berchman Loc: South Central PA

In the first place, we don't know who is a native English speaker here unless they tell us that they're not, and in the second place, Johny's language does *not* show a greater command of the written language than other semi-literate outpourings on UHH. In my 50's I took five years of Italian courses at my college. Writing in a foreign language is very difficult. I had to write a lengthy description of an interaction I had while buying cheese at an Italian grocery in NYC. I didn't get everything perfect, but even with my use of the subjunctive and future perfect, the professor had only a few corrections to make. Johny's letter was torture to read.