Lea & Lens

Last summer, I sold off the bulk of my digital photography gear and bought a compact, mirrorless Fuji X100F as my all around, carry-with-me-everywhere camera. For a few months I used it to document my life, my family vacation and even a few freelance jobs for my longest running client (who I simply couldn’t refuse during my 6+ months off). It’s a great camera, no question about it. And the smaller size made it the perfect tool.

Then, in October, my husband bought me an iPhone 8+ to replace my failing iPhone SE. The camera is very good. And the portrait mode…wow. All of a sudden, I had an even smaller carry-with-me-everywhere camera to document my personal life.

This begs the question,

“Does the average person really need a high end standalone camera these days?” I’m going to say no.

Smartphone cameras are going to completely kill off prosumer cameras for the masses. Now, pros of course are still going to need professional equipment, but even that is going to shift in the direction of mirrorless I think. (Glad I jumped aboard that ship several years ago).

So, what to do? I hate having superfluous stuff laying around. I’m very utilitarian by nature and I can’t function around clutter. Do I really need multiple cameras and lenses? Technology changes so frequently. It almost seems silly these days to invest heavily in extra equipment that won’t see much use and will be completely outdated in a year or two.

I may do something drastic, like sell off the remainder of my digital gear. The X100F sort of reignited my love of photography and it is such a joy to shoot with…it may be all the camera I need.