Why Do You Buy The Newest, Latest, Camera?

Hello everyone,

As some of us eagerly anticipate the new arrivals from Fuji & other camera manufacturers this Fall. I was wondering what exactly it is, that motivates you to buy the newest & latest camera?

Is it because your current camera is in need of replacing, or that perhaps you’re simply looking to upgrade to a new camera..that has more features you’re looking for & simply weren‘t available when you bought your current one? Perhaps it‘s that you‘ve a few more dollars now in your budget for that new camera?

I’m as interested as anyone else here in the new arrivals expected to debut soon, although I’m not at this point certain if I need to replace my S7000? It’s currently working fine & I get amazing results from it. I’ve taken probably close to 500K+ shots to date with it. However I’m not exactly convinced that having the S7000 “upgrade” will make me feel any more creative or artistic. In fact I still shoot film at least 35-45% of the time. Don’t get me wrong I love & obviously use both formats.

I’m just curious essentially what your motivations are, when it comes to buying the latest camera?

Stay cool everyone it’s a scorcher here today, in this dragonfly summer.
-Bearz

I for one am holding myself back.....just like when I just bought my F601z. I'm more or lessed used to my S5500 now, but am getting annoyed buy the noise in the JPEG mode. The alternative is RAW, but that is just soooo time confusing and annoys me in the sense of that I want too much perfection when I start editing. The alternative is a camera which performs similar but with less noise. Furthermore, if Fuji actually listens to its customers for a change and work out some of the frequently mentioned "easy to solve" things like moving the raw option from the setup menu to the F button, the camera can be even more user-friendly, adding to the experience. Fuji seems to listen "somewhat", but it spreads small "improvements" over years, nobody knows why.

So basicly, improved image quality and increased picture-taking ease\functionality. The question is however, if one should buy each upgrade instantly or whether one should skip an upgrade and go for the model after that. For example, the F10 seems to be a test for the new Fuji system, it is accepted well, so now they're going to bring out new cams with the same system. The s5k owners really like their cam, but the S5.5k seemed just slightly improved, etc.

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http://www.student.tue.nl/t/m.p.a.geers

bearzimages said:

Hello everyone,

As some of us eagerly anticipate the new arrivals from Fuji & other
camera manufacturers this Fall. I was wondering what exactly it is,
that motivates you to buy the newest & latest camera?

Click to expand...

I'm as guilty as anyone when it comes to purchasing cameras ... particularly since moving to digital. I honestly can't give you a simple straight-forward answer to why so many of us buy new digital cameras and own multiple cameras that do basically the same thing.

Why do so many people here in the US buy SUVs? Most people who own SUVs don't have an army of kids to transport and the closest thing most people do to "off roading" is hitting the curb when they go through the drivethru at Burger King.

Why do people buy 20GB, 40GB and sooner or later 100GB iPods for music ... when even many SERIOUS music listeners don't have more than 5GB of music in their entire music collection?

Why do people buy surround sound speaker systems with huge wattage for their home theater systems when 99 percent of people never turn up the volume enough to require that kind of power?

I can't tell you want motivates me, but every time I see a new camera on the market that looks like it has the features and performance I want I get the urge to pull out my credit card and make a purchase.

Many years ago, when I worked in a photographic shop in Oxford (UK), my hobby was photography and I lived and breathed EVERYTHING about cameras and printing, etc. Technically I could produced the very sharpest, crispest black&white pictures possible and to help achieve this technical excellence I was always chasing higher spec and better quality.

I could sell the cameras on their technical benefits, until I finally learned the lesson that the image CONTENT is what people really see. Sure it can be sharp and with colour, have good saturation, etc. BUT if the content was lacking no amount of technical excellence could make up for that.

Get a good camera but avoid "the best". Concentrate on picture content. Some of the very best pictures ever taken are on merely "good" cameras.

Anything else, for the men, is usually male jewellery.

My digital camera is now very good, it's an F10 and I have a better chance with some pix now because of the ISO1600 setting.

Cheers,

Chris F.

As the massive bulk of posts on these forums are from males, it's got something to do with that and 'envy' I'll say no more and continue to play with my toys!

Hi Bearz,

to answer your question simply, is buying a new version of a camera model going to make you a better photographer .NO, you just can't learn advanced lighting technique,compostition etc just because you have new piece of kit

But If that upgrade gives you a better,clearer output at liitle extra cost ,hey why not upgrade. Digital is changing very fast,especially the consumer cams.The sensor technology is the driving factor behind it.

In film we used same slr cameras for years.I still own an Olympus OM10 for more than a decade.All I need to do is to put a later generation film and presto you get the picture.Eventhough your photo technique might be at the same level you can get a better output , say from a pro quality fim available now than something from 20 years ago. In digital that 20 years is 1-2years( I mean the sensor improvements)

In 2002 Fuji introduced S5000 which i did buy, produced questionable quality pictures,It was noisy, had excessive proceeing artifacts. I became tired after a year and have now replaced it with S5500 with a higher capacity Card and Battery for less than £100. Am I happy ,you bet I am.

Now after two years Fuji has got a sensor from F10 which is amazingly low noise for a small sensor,excellent processing which gives the S7000 run for the money( just see the samples at dpreview) Why would not anyone want to upgrade to the S7000's successor if it had the same sensor.You will not be a better photographer but your 10 X8 prints will be more sharper,clearer with less artifacts. I am not a pro but like to make some enlargements time to time( just for fun & pleasure) more megapixels mean bigger enlargements or giving more cropability.( assuming the noise levels stays the same.

Some other factors like 28mm wide angle vs 35 in the 7000 will make a lot of difference in indoor shots,and scenic outdoors. some little software enhancements like I mentioned in my other thread will make it a pleasure to use the camera. I for once do not like the increase in DOF of the digicams. But I do not have the means to go out and buy a DSLR system with good lenses,So for this moment I will stick with digicams and prosumers, and proceed one step at a time untill I can afford a DSLR.

And a final thing,most of us here are techno enthusiasts as well ,who love to try the new thing on the market, which is no sin IMO.

--
Sanjay

http://www.sanjualf.fotopic.net

I have found this forum to be a little different from many of the others in that the forum members have stayed with sometimes 3 - 5 year old cameras waiting for a new one that allowed them to do the things they really wanted to do. There are MANY S602 users here and that is about a 4 year old camera, also a few 4900Z users.
Ted

I dont know why they do.They think they are getting some thing better i guess.I still have a few 2800 zooms around and i see and take better and sharper photos with this camera then any other new fuji even the s7000,Well not the pro 3.

tdkd13 said:

I have found this forum to be a little different from many of the
others in that the forum members have stayed with sometimes 3 - 5
year old cameras waiting for a new one that allowed them to do the
things they really wanted to do. There are MANY S602 users here and
that is about a 4 year old camera, also a few 4900Z users.
Ted

Click to expand...

I may come under fire here,but the many 602Z users didn't update because they didn't think the S7000 was a worthy update to that Legend.
(That's my humble opinion as well)

It's sad that the likes of Morris and shudder had to turn up to nikon for their upgrades.Fuji didn't have anything on their arsenal other than the Slooooow ,expensive S3
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Sanjay

http://www.sanjualf.fotopic.net

Paul said:

Paul said:

I dont know why they do.They think they are getting some thing
better i guess.I still have a few 2800 zooms around and i see and
take better and sharper photos with this camera then any other new

fuji even the s7000,Well not the pro 3.Not to mention the razor sharp 8x10 prints i get either !

Click to expand...

Click to expand...

I agree there with you Paul, I have yet to see the colour response and tonality from the Fuji since the 2800/602
Seeing the samples from 2800 was the reason that lured me into the Fuji camp
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Sanjay

http://www.sanjualf.fotopic.net

I shot this scene last year with my S5000. I did really like it and made a 12X5 print and the artefacts leaped infront of me.I wish I had the S5500 or a better cam at that time

The price I paid for S5000 in 2004 £ 300
The price I paid for my S5500 last month £ 190

Is there any rationale why one should not upgrade if one can get better quality output, better featured camera for a cheaper price.



crop from 12X5 100%



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Sanjay

http://www.sanjualf.fotopic.net

You can view just some of the photo work i do with fuji 2800 here.
http://www.webaperture.com/gallery/gallery.php3?act=mb&mid=paul

Those shots are sure sharp......2800 is a nice cam , got any more shots for us...cheers...paul
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In these moments the same people always had lizard features and the same people always looked human. They never switched. He also began to observe that those around him who appeared lizard-like in his altered state always seemed to react the same to movies, television programmes, etc. We used to laugh and say 'here come the lizards,' he told me.

For a long time I have had a list of features of the ideal camera in my mind
and I buy cameras as they represent an approach to that ideal. Here is the
list.
1. Should be small and lightweight
2. Should be unobtrusive.
3. Should have a fast lense and a wide range of shutter speeds.
4. Should make enlargements up to at least A3 possible.
5. Should have a wide range of ISO speeds.
6. Should make handholding down to slow speeds possible.
7. Should have good auto focus and auto exposure.
8. Should have a good, accurate viewfinder.
This list is not in order of importance and no existing camera offers all
of these features but we are getting closer. My latest purchase is an F10
which in many ways fails to reach the above goals but the sensor is a
real advance in digiital photography.

I've said it a few times before, but my logic on why Fuji doesn't offer a better lineup of DSLR cameras is because Fuji isn't selling a lens system. The S3 is a Nikon body and lens and I am not even sure why Fuji even bothered with producing that series of cameras, unless it was simply to prove the performance of their sensor designs.

I too upgraded to a D70 a few months ago, I have owned, and still own a few Nikon film bodies and a few lenses so the D70 seemed like a logical step.

Your comment about many people not upgrading to the S7000 because it wasn't a major advancement from the S602 is exactly why I mentioned it. The original post seemed to imply that people upgraded cameras to the newest models regardless of their need to have additional features or their desire to do different things with photography that their current camera couldn't do. 602 owners saw that the 7000 had some additional features, but the functionality was very similar so why upgrade.
Ted

Hello Chris

Thank you for your reply. I agree absolutely with you & for me, it’s indeed all “About Image Quality” I’m as guilty as anyone else around here, I own at least a dozen cameras…both film & digital. Lately however & until recently, I was really looking foreword to buying the new Fuji S9500. I was out on a shoot today & something changed? I decided that I didn’t really need to buy it & certainly not immediately as it’s stocked on the shelves.

I’ve always said you can make amazing images with an oatmeal box. After all some of the early pioneer photographer’s images, are much better in both creativity & feeling than any digital images I’ve seen to date.

Anyways it was a wonderful freeing experience, a detachment from want…. to no longer feel the driven need to buy the latest camera. Which is not to say that in the near future, I won’t upgrade …but I definitely don’t feel the need to be waiting at best buy when the delivery truck pulls up. I’m also the type of person who likes Merchant-Ivory Films, instead of Spielberg.

Which of course lead me to wonder exactly, why others were possessed or motivated; to buy the latest camera model???

Cheers
-Bearz

--

Photographers deal in things which are continually vanishing and when they have vanished there is no contrivance on earth which can make them come back again.
Henri Cartier-Bresson

tdkd13 said:

it wasn't a major advancement from the S602 is exactly why I
mentioned it. The original post seemed to imply that people
upgraded cameras to the newest models regardless of their need to
have additional features or their desire to do different things
with photography that their current camera couldn't do. 602 owners
saw that the 7000 had some additional features, but the
functionality was very similar so why upgrade.
Ted

Click to expand...

Hello Ted,

It seems that the capability to shoot pretty decent 12mp F & N images, was a major & obvious advancement from the 602? In fact for me it’s exactly one of the major reasons that I first purchased my S7000. 8x10’s simply don’t cut it for me & with the proper light there’s very little noise in images of 18x20 or 20x24.

What precisely about the 602 did people find so fabulous? Because I did consider it, but decided against it because of it’s limited & poor image resolution. Maybe the majority were only emotionally attached to it possibly?

-Bearz

--

Photographers deal in things which are continually vanishing and when they have vanished there is no contrivance on earth which can make them come back again.
Henri Cartier-Bresson

Hello Sanjay,

I definitely see what you mean about the artifacting from that S5500, in an otherwise very attractive photograph. (I rather like the impressionistic quality about it)

I must say that I simply don't get such artifacting from my S7000, even when the images are printed at 18x24 or even 20x24. Even so, I'm not of the belief that photographs need to look or feel "Hyper Real" or Altra Sharp" & that's not a look I personally strive to create.

However if the S7000 had artifacting such as what you're getting from the S5500, I would've never bought my S7000. The S7000 was & is a phenomenal optical machine especially considering the amazing & clear prints one can achieve. If I was limited to only 8x10's the thing would be useless to me.

-Bearz

--

Photographers deal in things which are continually vanishing and when they have vanished there is no contrivance on earth which can make them come back again.
Henri Cartier-Bresson

Most people dont print that large, and most 602 users purchased their cameras long before the 7000 was introduced so we didnt have to decide between 3 and 6 megapixel camera (6 and 12 interpolated). When the 7000 came out it didnt seem like a big enough step up to warrant replacing the S602. The 602 went to f/11 while the 7000 stopped at f/8, the 602 was a little faster in burst mode. The 7000 had more resolution and a better EVF and RAW mode. For me the only draw of the 7000 was the RAW mode but I really just missed an optical viewfinder and NO EVF was sufficient. The 7000 just wouldn't advance my shooting style one bit over the 602 so I decided to wait until I could justify spending the money on a DSLR. Nothing wrong with the 7000 or the 602 for that matter. Many 6900 users felt the same way when the 602 came out, was nice but not a big enough leap to justify replacing a camera that worked fine.
Ted