Couldn’t agree more:
https://youtu.be/TrSyunTVld8?feature=shared
It’s not the camera that pushes the button (apart from recently introduced auto capture feature in highend Z cameras), but certainly, camera and lens features help to achieve photographic dreams and plans. Or the hardware in general. Like macbook or airpods - they cost me a lot, but speeds my daily work enormously. I.e. I was reluctant to buy airpods because of price, but since I started to have a lot of calls, buying airpods let me stand and walk during daily work, even presenting (macbooks m1 are really light).
Let them all retire
I started my photography journey with a Zenith camera, fully manual, analog, taking with it ten or films. At that time I dreamt of a digital camera, which at that point weren’t affordable for a student (early 2000). The first one - D40 was given to me by my brother, being in the mid 2000s a soldier in Iraq (he bought it in US cantine). 6megapixels, 3 autofocus points and 10000 frames later, I discovered that I couldn’t achieve more with that camera. In 2009 D300s was released and year later, early summer 2010 I earned enough money to buy it. One of the last shots I took with D40 - It’s time to go and England Germany 1:0 marked the first chapter in my photography journey.
With D300s I took one of my favourite pictures of all times, investing much in glass (fullframe, prime lenses), following a DX vs FX battle – to be honest I wasn’t able to buy any FF body for almost a decade. With the lens kit I had back in 2010, I landed in Mexico, after a long night of tequila taking one of my favourites, Mexico, Mexico, behind the car window, travelling from Teotihuacan. (…). The mighty 35 1.8g landed in my bag and served me so well, I was sad I forgot it when visiting Cologne in 2017. The Eis und baby I took with 50mm 1.8g (the lens that I accidentally put into my bag thinking it was 35), showed me that even without the right gear I could get I good picture. And even if the 50mm wasn’t working as a masterpiece on D300s, it became a heavy duty lens few years later.
When we decided to go to Iceland and chase northern lights in 2019, I knew that D300s will help, but I will be regreting not investing in a FF body for better low light performance… I decided to go with D850. I don’t regret it at all, since it is uptill now my main camera, with D300s being retired from daily duty. That time I invested in camera, Manfrotto tripod, memory cards, later on with harddrives since the 50MP is challenging to manage…
During total solar eclipse I packed D300s as a backup, with all glass I have. I haven’t used the cam, but I was glad and sleeping well knowing I have a backup.
While for D850 I was ready with prime selection - 24, 50, 85 - I knew by heart, that they won’t be sufficient for travels around the world in 2023, and I decided to get 70-200f2.8. Heavy glass, expensive glass that paid off with Hey Wanda taken in Sydney, February 2023. With 85 I had plenty of reach up until 2020s, when I started to notice, after trip to Iceland I would like to reach a little bit further. On the other hand, I wanted to get longer exposures of the Milky Way, so a star tracker was a must have (another tonne of gear), and to get most of the landscape photography, ND filters (well, the Urth screw filters with stepup rings freezed so much at Godafoss, and it was such difficult to change them in the harsh weather I decided to go fully magnetic with Kase and I don’t regret this investment at all). Once the 70-200 landed in my bag, 85 became a special purpose lens, serving now mostly as a backup or night shot, where this extra light might be crucial.
All that paid by own earned money, after hours spent on reviews
The camera, in right hands can help a lot in photography - and I start to think of changing the equipment if, for some reason I feel that my current setup is not able to deliver. Recently I started to think if iphone16pro will help, but I am not convinced especially with the price tag higher than Z30 and glass, and being larger than beloved and compact size of iphone13mini. I took a look at Z30 being with 24 1.7, in fact, the new lens will arrive some time next week.
The next upgrade will be Z8II or sth once it comes in 2027, for the next big total solar eclipse. At that moment every member of my family will have a camera - from iphone, through z30, d850 and Z8+, and maybe old D300s will still serve as a backup. The problem with D850 is now autofocus in kid photography, and being so big, I don’t have it all the time. It’s a great tool, handles well in my hands, even with 70-200 attached I can safely held it in one hand (going with 5000usd worth equipment all day long, but that’s another story). For now on I will test 24 1.7 on Z30 and then, we will see.