Will You Buy The Latest And Greatest Camera?

An old barn I stumbled upon during my wanderings.
Fujifilm X-T4; 16-55mm f/2.8 lens @ 21mm; 1/250th sec. @ f/5.6; ISO 1250

Last week, Sony introduced a new camera, the A1.  Wow!  What a camera!  The combined specs on this camera are better than any other digital camera of which I'm familiar.  It truly is a force of technology.  Sony, for now, seems to have set a new high bar with this camera.  A new flagship.  A new camera to make us drool with desire!  

Here are some of the specs and features it has:

50mp back side illuminated CMOS sensor

8K video

ISO from 50-102,400

In-Body-Image-Stabilization (5.5 stops)

Dual Bionz XR image processors

11 kinds of Autofocus including eye/face/animal/bird detection

759 Focus Points

9.4mp EVF @ a refresh rate of 240 hz

Shoots 30 frames per second with autofocusing and tracking

5 metering modes

Pixel Shift combining 16 images producing a 199mp image

1/400th sec flash sync with the mechanical shutter

1/32,000th second shutter speed with the electronic shutter

Wireless and Bluetooth connections

Only at a price of...wait for it....$6500 US

...and it goes on and on

What do you think?  Pretty amazing.  You know what?  I'll never buy one.  I'll never even consider one.  Why?  Very simply, I don't need a camera with those specs, I don't anticipate ever needing a camera with those specs and basically, although a whiz-bang fantastically featured camera, it is of no interest to me whatsoever.  I'll bet for the vast majority of you, it is of no interest either.  That's not to say that for a while you won't fawn over the specifications.  I'll go farther and opine that 95-98% or more of the photographers out there will never consider buying it.  Why?

Many of us photographers have reached the so-called tipping point where we are happy with our current camera's image quality and features as well as our user experience.  We are pretty darn happy with the camera or cameras we now own.  This means our camera buying habits have changed.  For many of us, including myself, in the past we would consider buying the newest model camera (of our favorite brand or another brand if it was deemed attractive enough to switch systems) after introduction as we wanted to keep current, have the best technology and most versatility available and, in a way, have some bragging rights.  Again, for many of us, that has changed.  There no longer is a need to have the latest, greatest and best cameras available.  The current and even last few generations of cameras provide excellent image quality, are packed with more features than we would typically use and satisfy us in how it feels in our hands as well as the images we produce.  We no longer need to buy new cameras regularly and, and for some, ever again.  By repeatedly and continually playing this 'one upsmanship' game the photographic industry has created a business model that is slowly putting themselves out of business.   Its not just the smart phones that impact sales, its the industry itself that is its own worst enemy.

The camera companies would do well to talk with as many of us currently satisfied photographers as possible, as we now represent the majority, to better understand exactly what new features, body size, price point, additional lenses and accessories, etc., i.e., what it would take for us to actually purchase a new camera.  

Also, they need to stop listening to the YouTubers, reviewers, critics, bloggers and writers who keep telling them that more is better.  Frankly, it is not!  More is more expensive but it doesn't necessarily get you better images.  The YouTubers and the rest are not the friends of the camera companies.  Fundamentally, they are only looking out for themselves in driving traffic to their sites to maximize the amount of money they can make.  They push for more, more, more.  That costs money in the way of research, development, engineering, manufacture, marketing and distribution.  That push to encourage camera companies to add more pixels, more features, faster focusing, more FPS, more focus points, 8K video, etc. is doing them a disservice.  For what the companies must charge, coupled with the smaller and smaller number of sales, the current philosophy of camera craft is sending them right into bankruptcy.  

I watch a YouTube guy by the name of Matt Irwin.  He is a pro out of Australia.  Primary he shoots Nikons.  I found his current video interesting as he addresses the continued trend in producing very high end cameras with incredible specs, such as the newly released Sony A1.  He tries to make the case that these kinds of cameras are really for ‘bragging rights’ as 95% of photographers, while they may 'oooo' and 'ahhh' over its specs, never will nor ever have the intention to actually buy one.  He ponders how long this sort of thing—camera companies continually to try to outdo each other—can go on.  He wonders if, in the future, some companies will begin to develop the philosophy that they don’t need bragging rights and will concentrate on developing excellent cameras, but not necessarily the greatest, amazingly featured, cutting edge cameras.  They will make cameras that most of us can afford, feel good to use and which give us the features most of us will use and have image quality that no one can legitimately complain about.  Will camera companies make a business decision to let Sony or whomever else have bragging rights while they concentrate more on the ‘useful’ features that most photographs actually need and want?  Interesting take.  I’m probably in agreement with him but I need to think about it for a while.

Often times in the past I have written that you really shouldn't go out and buy a new camera unless it will improve your photography, allow you to experiment with new techniques or provide features that you need for the kinds of photography you do (or want to do).  However, sometimes it is nice, if you can, to just buy something because you 'want' it but do not necessarily need it.  I've done that on more than one occasion.  I'm not sure I'll do that much in the future and it might be those who 'want' rather than 'need' will be the ones who purchase those latest, greatest and best cameras out there—mainly for bragging rights.

Join me over at my website, https://www.dennismook.com.  

Thanks for looking. Enjoy!  

Dennis A. Mook  

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