I’ve spent a lot of time thinking about cameras and photography as is apparent if you’ve read any of my recent postings. I so wanted to be able to leave my heavy, awkward DSLR camera behind. I wanted to switch to my easy to transport iPhone. I wanted to love this switch and to feel good about the images I shot.
Can’t do it.
What I’ve finally come to accept is that each of my photographic devices (my Sony A55, my underwater Olympus Tough, my iPhone, and my iPad) has a purpose: a different purpose. Just as we would not expect an expert in home repair to be able to replace an expert in car repair, we shouldn’t expect a camera with one strength to be able to replace a camera with a different strength. And each of my cameras has its own strength.
My Olympus is wonderful fun when we go snorkeling or whale sighting. It’s great if one is going to visit Niagara Falls and ride the Mist of the Waves. It’s a decent camera for photographing lots of things – but it’s not an expert at photographing birds in flight.
My iPhone is portable. That’s its strength. It’s always with me and can capture the shots I would have missed. The day I left my “real” camera back on the ship and encountered iguanas wandering down the street, I would have been thrilled to have had my iPhone along. It’s a good camera for close up pics of the flower brought in by a grandchild. It’s a good camera for recording that amazing meal at the restaurant. But it’s strength is not in capturing lovely vistas or creatures in motion.
My iPad too has some strengths. They are not the same strengths that my iPhone has because it’s not something I carry along with me. But if I want to take a quick shot and show it to someone, it’s great. The size of the image makes it perfect for the here and now.
My Sony isn’t portable and it’s not waterproof and one can’t use it to enjoy the pics as soon as they are shot. But oh my, it does have its strengths. I can photograph birds in flight. I can record the tiniest dragonfly up in the tree. I can catch that great garden as we fly by in a bus. I can import my RAW files into my computer and work magic in Lightroom. I can do so much that brings me joy.
My Sony also has something none of the others has. It is equipped with an eye piece. With that small window, I am able to block out distractions around me and concentrate on what my camera is revealing. In some ways that’s not always an advantage since it means that my husband has to “have my back” making sure I don’t get run over when I’m not paying attention. But to take the kind of pictures I want, I need to be able to focus on just that. It’s how I process the scene. Without an eye piece I’m more likely to see more than I should. I need to be able to “climb into my camera” and ignore the world.
So as much as I’d like to travel lighter, it’s not going to happen. I’ve traveled many miles already with the Sony and it will go a few more. I’m not going to ignore its strengths in favor of convenience.
Susan E L Lake 
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