An apology to cameras with small sensors
This originally appeared as part of my weekly Prime Lenses Newsletter. You can sign up for a weekly update here.
The New Shock of the Old
In 1980 the BBC aired a series about modern art hosted by Australian art critic Robert Hughes. Called The Shock of the New it described the shock of the massive changes that came to Art through the 20th century. We studied these artists when I was at school and this series and accompanying book came up a lot. It just came to mind as I am processing my own shock at something old that feels new.
As I write this I’m in a hotel I was travelling to today. We’re here for the weekend to celebrate my 45th birthday. A 6 hour journey that should have been 3, it was the first time I’ve been in standstill traffic for years. We were coming to the end of our third podcast when I absentmindedly opened the glovebox and to my delight found a camera. So although we were stuck, it was sunny, we were in the middle of nowhere in Scotland, and I had a camera.
This little Fuji X10 was gifted to us by friends who sent it for the kids to use, and use it they have! My youngest adores this camera which is why it is so splendidly decorated. So while the sun shone and folks started to amble about, I got out the car, snapped a couple of frames and tinkered with settings. I looked at what I’d taken, tinkered some more, did some searches online to see if it could shoot RAW, went back in, tinkered, snapped, reviewed, and then opened the boot to grab my memory card reader from my bag before liveblogging to Threads.
To my amazement, this 12 year old, 12 megapixel camera with a tiny sensor and zoom lens was making pictures of astonishing quality that made images from my iPhone 15 Pro Max look like they were shot using a potato that hates contrast. I didn’t make any amazing compositions, but the camera was clearly ready even if I wasn’t. All this 24 hours after a brief threads dalliance with the notion of a Leica D-Lux 8.
So here I am, running around with a full frame M11, a 50mm Summicron, my dream setup, and this old hand-me-down is delighting with super close focus, compact size, lightweight files, a zoom coupled viewfinder and it even has a flash!
And the best part? There’s no pressure. I don’t have to worry whether I’m making art, living up what Barnak and Bressonwould have wanted. I can just take a photo of the bedcovers because I like the light or a burger because I’m hungry. I’ve missed that since I stopped shooting with the GRIII.
As much as I’d love a D-Lux, I think I’m going to need to ask the littlest guy if I can occasionally borrow his perfectly pocketable travel companion. For motorcycle and bicycle trips when an M is overkill I think it could be perfect.
Wren it’s time to write
I wrote the other week about seeking out more tactile and fun ways of making notes. Well, the pen I’ve been doing that with and that I’ve fallen in love with is worth a mention. It’s called the Lumos and is made by Tom’s Studio. This is not a paid endorsement in any way, I just really like their pens and think that a bunch of the pen heads who I know read the newsletter may like them too. I have a couple of Lumos pens and I fully intend to buy ink and nibs for the rest of my life, safe in the knowledge that I’m not contributing to plastic pen waste. Thanks for answering my silly questions, Tom! They’ve just launched a new more affordable pen called The Wren. It looks lovely.
