Skip to main content

Reflection

L1000075L (Leica D-lux 5)

Since the GXG blog started off in 2008, things have been changing fast in the camera market. GXG is meant to, for one thing, share news and views on the serious compact cameras, which in 2008 referred to cameras fitted with 1/1.7" sensor like the GX, GRD, LX, G, P and then the EX and the resurrected S series.  

With the advent of the MFT cameras, the camera makers rolled in on the act and the spheres of influence in the camera market  gradually shifted.  The markets has morphed into a greater number of sub-markets: P&Ss, which is dying in the face of the increasingly sophisticated camera functions of smart phones; back-up serious cameras for enthusiasts; the mirror-less; besides the DSLRs and higher-end cameras. 

In the original playing field of serious compacts, Ricoh's once niche market gave further ground to the other players but has hopefully managed to partly regain with the GXR system, notably the M-mount modules. Samsung paced at great speed along its roadmap of mirror-less cameras with an array of cheaper but less satisfactory models; not any impressive move from Samsung yet. Fujifilm caught the market off guard with the X series in endearing retro design recently. Sigma has been humbly following behind with as few models as can be.  The big C and N guys jumped on the bandwagon at last with measured steps and respectably a sensor type of their own class which effectively avoids the overlapping of the mirror-less models and the DSLRs.

This trend has given grist for the mills of camera gossips in the last three years.   New cameras are always exciting and deserve some discussions. But it seems that those discussions have been titled towards the cameras per se and some very technical bits which probably have no ramifications on how to shot a photo. Regrettably, this trend will go on for the years to come. When I started learning photography, people were more concerned about how to take good pictures; what flash photography is; how to expose a scene and so on. Cameras were nothing but a box.  Films were fondly discussed for which brands and types were suited for which specific photography topics. Now, look around the Internet and almost all "photography" sites.  The talk and rumours of new cameras are galore. The hit rate and heart beat rate will shoot up upon the launch of a camera, which has become in a regular cycle of weeks. Move to any online sales sites and hear the bitter screaming for money in exchange for some 24 months old cameras. Just tonight, I met with a young man who is selling his GF2 and the viewfinder.  GF2 was launched just 12 months ago! I wondered if he learnt enough what the camera could do.

Cameras have certainly preponderated over photography.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

A Real Hero

(Grip On Reality: This photo was taken on my way to work.  I was walking past trucks parking on a cul-de-sac when the ropes caught my attention.  The light was right, the colour was right and the criss-crossing pattern was perfect and I held up my GX200.  People passing by checked me out and wondered what could be made out of such a boring scene.  To me, the fun in photography is that the photographer makes something interesting out of what is not obvious to most at the scene.  The ropes tied in knots somehow reminded people I know who are in the grip of the recession) You must have also known a friend or two, or even yourself, being baffled by the spiral downturn of the economy.   Bank went bankrupt and the rich was faced with a shrinking wealth.  A friend of mine has just had his salary cut by over 10% and some of his colleagues started to be shed. But, wait. Was this done really for the sake of continuing the business? Or is there a factor or greed in it?  I wonder whether the

New Low Prices

The window shopping some hours ago has almost provoked my AgIDS illness.  Just in case you’re in Hong Kong or are coming here, and have the money to burn (All in HK$/ body only): GX200 = $3,280 GRD2 = $3,380 LX3 = $3,180 G10 = $3,280 Prices are available form a gear shop on the 1st floor of the Mongkok Computer Centre.   Besides these new low prices, I found that Wing Shing Photo (55-57Sai Yeung Choi St., MK Tel: 2396 6886/ 91-95 Fa Yuen St., MK  Tel: 2396 6885) is offering a Sony A700 + Carl Zeiss Lens package for HK$9,980 (hopefully, a bargain will make it some hundreds cheaper).

Eye Contact

(Leica D-lux 5) The digital era may make it easier to end up with fave shots. Even lousy photos may be turned likable after a few clicks in the post-processing workflow. But if digital advancement or amendments have any bearing on the cultivation of personal style, no photographers will need to discover his or her own photographer’s eye. Undoutedly, this is out of the question. Only with a trained photographer’s eye can we give a thinking gaze and capture an eternal moment, in our unique style. Style is the soul of a great photo. A few posts have been written in GXG to touch on the topic of photographer’s eye. Instead of finding an answer, which would require academic discussions, the posts are intended to give my general reflections and spark interests in moving towards further exploration of the topic.  The posts can be viewed after the links: 1) Photographer's Eye: Storytelling 2) Photographer's Eye: Little Show of Observing 3) Photographer's Eye: Sight-Worthy 4