It’s a very good time to be camera gearhead. For me, digital reached a watershed in 2008 with the digital F100, the D700 [1]. I suspect that I’ll be using this camera until it breaks. Even a couple months ago, at the end of its life, it was still listed as one of the ten most desirable cameras on the planet.
But in the last few months, the camera gearhead has gotten the Sony NEX-7, the Olympus OM-D, the Fuji X-Pro1, the Pentax K-01, and the 36MP Nikon D800 (for the same price as the D700 when it came out!). Even the Nikon V1 looks pretty good. That’s aside from the desirable but unaffordable 645D, Hassys, P1s, Leicas, and CaNikon flagships. Small, big, lots of pixels, lots of ISO. Every single one of them desirable for one reason or another, and each comparable in capabilities and IQ to the multi-$k cameras of just a few years before.
Things will keep getting better of course, barring zombie apocalypse or global meltdown, but honestly there’s not much sense in waiting to get something anymore. Everything is good enough.
So now the trick is to find the one you want, and go take a good picture. No excuses about the camera anymore [2].
[1] For which I warmly congratulate myself for buying on sale, $700 off, four years before it was discontinued [3], and also having that be my first DSLR. Making a good purchasing decision like that feels much like bringing down a mammoth to a Neanderthal adolescent as first kill, I imagine. That’s sad.
[2] Yeah, I’m jonesin’ for a D700 alternative [4]. Requirements: Really good IQ. Small enough to carry backcountry climbing, and daily in the Chrome bikepack. Cheap enough that I won’t cry (much) if it gets dropped or mackerel-slapped.
[3] That’s a lifetime in gadget years. How many other four-year-old electronic gadgets are you still using with no regrets, in fact, immense satisfaction?
[4] While it’s a really wonderful axe, with a decent lens on it, that’s $5k in your hand — way into the “sobbing uncontrollably” category. It weighs four pounds. It’s huge. It’s still the go-to cam when you want the shot (esp. with the 70-200mm or 28-300mm), but it’s not a daily driver for me.