What Will Be Your “Exit” Camera?

Walking path in Letchworth State Park, NY.  (click to enlarge)
OM-1 Mark II; 12-100mm f/4 Pro lens @ 24mm; 1/250th sec. @ f/8; ISO 3200

Interesting question but what does it mean?

This post is primarily targeted to those of you who are older photographers such as myself.  I’ve been photographing passionately as well as off and on professionally since 1971 and I have now reached the wonderful older (not old) age of 72.  I will be 73 the not long after the first of the year.  (I'm not complaining)  Fortunately, I have no aches or pains, sleep the entire night through and only suffer from typical minor “old people’s” maladies.  In other words, nothing serious enough to make a difference in my lifestyle.  I consider myself very fortunate.  That said, I've rounded third base in the baseball game of life and am now heading toward home plate.  But, I'm walking very slowly—even crawling—to get there as slowly as possible!  No rush. :-)

What that all means is that I have a lot more time behind me than before me.  Photographically speaking, at some point down the road I may become unable to get out and photograph as I do now or I might even lose my passion for photography at the level its been for 53 years.  It's possible.

I don’t plan on ever giving up photography.  However, I quite often I think about and wonder what I’ll call my “exit“ camera kit will be.  If I do give up the level and intensity of photography as I now and have been practicing it, what camera and lenses will be the last that I would plan on buying—exiting the camera buying market?

That brings up questions in my mind.  I have to ask myself what will most likely be the ‘trigger’ that causes me scale back my photographic activities? What does ‘scale back’ mean in a practical sense and how will I scale back? What gear do I think I will want to own and use after I scale back?  After all, I’m not planning on dying nor ever giving up photography altogether so I will continue to practice my photographic passion most likely until my demise.  But how and what gear will I prefer to use?

After a lot of thought, I am of two minds.  First, at that point in time I think that a Micro4/3 kit with 2 to 4 lenses could be my future camera system.  As we all know Micro4/3 gear is small, relatively lightweight and is capable of producing high quality images.  A Micro4/3 kit is certainly of the size and weight that still would allow me to carry it comfortably.  Right now my thoughts run to having an OM camera, a 12-100mm f/4 Pro lens, an 8-25mm f/4 Pro lens and either a 20mm f/1.4 lens or a 17mm f/1.8 lens. (The 17mm lens is smaller and lighter than the 20mm lens.)  On my recent 10-day fall road trip, I only took the 12-100 and 8-25 lenses and I found no need for anything else.  To that, especially if I can’t go outdoors as much due to medical or other reasons, I would add the 60mm f/2.8 macro lens so I could photograph indoor close-up and macro subjects.  That would be the kit which I would plan to use for the rest of my ‘golden’ years. 

Second, going with a completely different thought process with gear, would be to have a combination of a fixed lens cameras such as a Ricoh GRIII(x) and a small fixed zoom lens camera such as a Sony RX100 VII.  Again, if I was restricted to being indoors, I would want a camera that has a decent macro function.  This kit would be much more restrictive but much easier to throw into a small sling bag and take with me everywhere I go.  The Ricoh cameras have APS-C sensors and very sharp lenses, are well made with quite a few desirable features.  The Sony camera is more versatile with the Sony having a 24-200mm full frame equivalent lens but a 1" sensor.  That said, from all reports, it is capable of creating high quality image files. 

Luckily, that decision point has not yet arrived so I don't have to choose.  Also, in the upcoming years, other cameras may be introduced that would allow a greater choice.  Who knows, maybe by then our mobile phone cameras may even be of such quality that a top tier one would also fit the bill.  It would just depend upon my circumstances at the time.

Since I rarely ever need to enlarge a print greater than A3 or 12” X 18”, either kit would be capable of handling that.  Add in the ability to sharpen, reduce noise and upscale a file using software if necessary, sensor size for all practical purposes, becomes a moot issue.  I think I could be perfectly happy with either kit.  

Have you given any thought to what your exit camera will be? If you are older, as am I, what do you think could serve you as you as your ‘exit camera’ as you curtail the amount of photographic activities you now practice? Would you want to keep your current kit, pare it down to only a lens or two or go completely with a smaller kit?  A mobile phone?  I’m curious to hear from you.

Of course, the caveat to all this is that I also lose my affinity for using different types of gear. As many of you know, I have three complete photographic kits and I enjoy using all three kits.  So all of these thoughts about an exit camera have to reflect some sort of reduction in my desire to use different gear.  So far, not there yet.

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

Thanks for looking. Enjoy!  

Dennis A. Mook  

All content on this blog is © 2013-2024 Dennis A. Mook. All Rights Reserved. Feel free to point to this blog from your website with full attribution. Permission may be granted for commercial use. Please contact Mr. Mook to discuss permission to reproduce the blog posts and/or images.