"Have camera makers lost vision of actually making photos?
It seems that like the nuclear arms race of the cold war, cameras have generally become overkill to the taking of photos.
Yes, some advances are welcome, especially in the realm of AF and fps. But overall does a camera need to be so complex, needing over 1,500 pages of instructions in some cases, to use them?
Or are all the bells and whistles truly needed and used?"


I have read all the answers to this interesting post and I felt compelled to make my own comments. I am no expert, my opinions are based only in my own experience.

Yes, cameras are now more complicated than they ever were. Technology has a lot to do with it since technology has its limitations in a film camera but there is no end, as I see it, to incorporate new technologies in a digital camera. I am in total agreement that camera companies are there to make business, a business that we photographers encourage like when we wanted more megapixels, do you remember that? A better AF is only useful for action and wildlife photography but do we need a better AF for landscapes? For almost a century we depended on manual focus. FPS is useful but do we need 60 FPS?

I am sure the majority of you know, as has already been mentioned, that film cameras had simple instructions. The first time I bought a camera with more than 100 pages of instructions it came as a shock to me, at the time I did not understand that as cameras became more complicated more pages of instructions were necessary to explain all of the features incorporated into them. The number of pages have kept on growing.

Do we need all the features modern cameras have today? The simple answer is no although I understand very well that some photographers need the features others do not. I could be a good example, I do not need a faster AF because my main interest is landscape photography. I do not need more FPS for the same reason. I do not need more than 16 or 20 Mp. because I do not have the need to make murals nor I do professional work although professional work is perfectly fine with 20 MP. in addition my computer would be loaded with data that I am not certain it could handle. Focus stacking is not for me, I do not engage in creating images that need it. I am not a night sky photographer so features like Starry Sky in Olympus cameras will be useless for me, I know it will be valuable for those who practice that type of photography. The list could go on and on. Can you see now why I still use old cameras? A new camera is not going to make me better than I am right now, image quality using the lenses I now own is not going to improve. At times I have my fight with GAS but when I come to my senses I realize that I am perfectly fit and happy with what I have and need.

I can say the same of editing software. I have a 2017 version of Photoshop, an old version of Topaz Adjust, the old version of Affinity Photo and an old versions of Topaz Denoise and B&W Effects. I am never involved in masking (I know I should) and my editing is pretty basic but effective for me. My advise to others is to concentrate their attention on the basic features of the camera they own and to learn, if not done previously, basic photography with special attention to exposure and what apertures and shutter speed can do. Improve your photographic techniques and you could be pleasantly surprised of what can be done with ANY camera.

I'm looking for a good lens to use on my Nikon D7200 for general landscape and some sports. I have a AF-S Nikkor 70-200 1:4 G ED which I like for sports. But I find it too long for some of the landscape shooting I do and for team pictures. I'm thinking the Nikon AF-S NIKKOR 24-120mm f/4G ED VR Lens might be the perfect lens. I want distant objects to be sharp as well as fairly close objects. I want it to have VR. I prefer to buy used since I can't really afford to pay thousands of dollars for a lens that I use as a hobby. But I want sharp images. Any ideas?

Following on from my previous post of a lazy holiday due to having back problems, I thought you might like to see where I was staying. The hotel is set on a rocky hillside right beside the sea, no beach just jump off the rocks to go for a swim! Not that I did.

There was a full strawberry moon, meaning a change in the season when strawberries are ready to pick.

Canon 650D, 18-55mm, Tamron 18-400mm lens.

Please try the downloads the colours are brighter.