Why keep older camera models???
When manufacturers are constanty bringing out new models and we are buying them, why would you keep the older model it replaced? Above are my current three most used cameras in the Fujifilm X Series (the only brand I own)! Left to right; The new X-T3, the X-Pro 2, and the X-H1. Each of these camera sits at the top of their respective model line. I also have my X-T2 and an original graphite X-T1, and a compact X-30. Why did I keep those previous cameras?
(1) They are still very usable for the kind of work I do. Why sell something that can be and still is used. If I go out and decide to work with the X-T3 as my main body, then the X-T2 is an almost identical back-up camera body. Though the X-T3 has advances, the X-T2 is still a very capable back-up or extra body!.
(2) Special uses. I love the X-Pro 2 and I love to use it for personal travel, teamed up with the three Fujicrons, (23 f 2, 35 f 2, and 50 f 2) it is a great system for travel, light and the lens are tack sharp! With the addition of a 16mm f 2.8 coming it also will cover a great range. I have been begging Fujifilm to make a 70mm f 2.5 (105mm f 2.5 equiv.!!!!) On a serious trip where you may need more reach the 55-200 fits this system very well, and is still light and very sharp! Sometimes I also just love the optical viewfinder!
(3) Used prices. I just don’t have the heart to give a way a perfectly good camera body for sub $500. I would rather give an older body to someone just starting out to help them get started.
(4) Personal attachment. The X-T2 that I have was a gift to X-Photographers, with our last names as the serial number, kinda neat, and i can’t part with that!!! My X-T1 Graphite was a gfit from a very dear friend at Fujifilm when I did a series of video interviews for Japan, at the corporate office. I still think the X-Pro 2 and original X-T1 have the best Graphite colorization, love them both. Would love to have an X-T3 in that Graphite color.
(5) Good loaners. I teach workshops and sometimes someone has a body go down or needs to borrow a camaera, so this way, I have some bodiesthat I can loan in emergencies.
(6) I just like camera bodies! Go figure!
(7) Date night camera! When Sherelene and I are traveling and we go out for the evening heaven forbid that I had a chance ot make an image, but had no camera. The little Fujifilm X-30 is a pocket size (big pocket) camera that still makes great images when you don’t want to be burdened with a bigger camera and bag.
I would love to know why you keep older models, shoot us all a note below!!!
Blessings,
the pilgrim
This entry was posted on Tuesday, January 8th, 2019 at 3:21 pm
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X-E2 with the 27 pancake is simply an amazing system. I hand that camera to my kids to use during special events. I love how creative they get using a single prime on a rather compact system.
X-Pro2, even though I have the X-H1, I oddly still prefer the X-Pro2. I think I like the rangefinder styled cameras and I really love having the choice of OVF or EVF. Another plus is that the X-Pro2 still has the highest resolution LCD screen of the X-Series cameras something that my eyes are rather sensitive to. Using the X-H1 with the 3.7 MP EVF and then switch to that miserable 1.04 MP LCD is very hard on my eyes.
I recently added a new old camera model to my collection – a Sony A7ii (hit the market 4 years ago). I’m finding the size and advantage of using non-APSC designed lens to be enjoyable to use on that camera which does have IBIS. Funny thing is this camera as old as it is has a better LCD screen than the next generation model. Using manual focus lens close to the ground with a flip screen is rather important. Plus one of the few new lenses I got for this camera is simply something that Fuji cannot match (yet) – the Voghtlander 10mm (130 degree FOV). 🙂
All sounds great and I agree on the X Pro 2!
Two of my grandchildren are teenagers now and really into photography. I love handing down cameras to them. And I love shooting with them. It’s a win-win situation.
I still have my first camera which was handed down by my dad to my brothers and eventually to me when I was 10. I treasure it.
I love your spirit!!!!!
Hello and thank you for the article,
I don’t really see the point in buying the new models of cameras. Neither regarding sustainability, nor the use of ressources nor the build or image quality. Except you are a nerd. I do still shoot photos with medium format analog Mamiyas as well as Plaubel, Canon Fd or Leica M-models and I do use the Nikon D3 and D3x together with Fuji Xpro1 and the lenses that do the job and give me the creative playground I need. And like. I do not like this sterile impression and shallowness often transported by supersensors from super-cameras highly recommended by some reviews. They are justified for technical superb sometimes boring but more detailed than the human eye would normally see documentary pictures. So for example people now use artificial grain and vignette in lightroom where I can use an adequat lens and film… 😉 strange times we live in… they look for the analog stile with new camera models and lenses, where the lenses now are so big and heavy that the concept of smaller cameras is leading to absurdity…
Each one as they like, the most important thing is to shoot photos … that’s what I am going to do later!
Always “good light”
Jens
jensaddis
Great point, shoot the light! I love it!!!!
That was a great article and made me think… When an older brother died several years ago he left a gift. I bought the Nikon D800E. It is a great camera for landscape and portraiture.And, I still love it today! I have bought a few cameras since his passing. When my mom died a few years ago I got the X-T2. These will be two cameras that I will hold on to as I will think of them when shooting and how they made it possible. Thank You!
Great memories tied to great cameras is a good thing, or as my teaching partner Jack Graham would say, “Yes Sir!”
Basically it comes down to me being too lazy to sell old gear. I did recently pass along my X-T2 and battery grip to my nephew so he would have a dslr style camera with a flexible lcd to use along with his X-Pro2. To satisfy the need for a small “pocket” camera, I have an X-T20 (as well as an X-T10). And as Lynn Rogers said, I also have grandchildren who are teenagers and so I have cameras to loan them.
Always a good thing to do, anything given comes back in so many ways, giving is good!
Hi Bill,
I am holding on to my XT1 for an infrared conversion. Good to hang on to older bodies for specialized mods like IR.
Just curious, what’s the hand grip on the XT3 in the photo? And how do you like it?
Thanks, Ron
I got it off of Amazon, cheap Chinese deal, works pretty well while I wait for something better!
A year or so ago I traded in three tubs of old gear and still have plenty around. The money I got is there for new gear when it makes sense. My top shelf now has the X-T2 (great but seldom used), two X-T20 bodies and one X-E3. The X-T20 is a capable camera but serious quality issues (one was replaced by Fuji as a lemon) and so small and adequate that the X-T2 seems unnecessary most of the time. I like the X-T2 with the 100-400 and will take it to Ding Darling (or what’s left of it) this weekend. The X-T20 is too small for that lens and the X-T2 focuses better with it. I have a couple of X-E2 and X-E1 bodies around and maybe once a year pull them out for maybe a foreign trip where I worry about damage or theft. I have too much Fuji glass as it is. I am not looking at adding anything unless I can justify it and the X-T3 doesn’t seem to be justifiable for my needs. Eventually Fuji will get video and focusing right in the smaller and more affordable packages. I also have not been all that impressed with Fujifilm USA service. My only wish is that I could get my Canon 500 f/4L to work like a charm on a Fuji body…lol! I have it and some other L glass still around but it gets used once a year at most and I don’t have the heart to get rid of it. I am more focused now in the “declining” (or “wisdom”) years (depending on the day) on going places and shooting rather than worrying about gear so I have found downsizing a bit liberating. I will consider more Fuji glass when and if they downsize considerably — the 100-400 is bigger and heavier than the Canon version! I haven’t used a camera bag in years — it all fits in a carryon. So if and when Fuji comes up with some really, really compelling I’ll consider jumping in but meanwhile my dollars and life span are better spent going places and using the gear I already have to the max (just came back from my sixth trip to Iceland in the past year).
Oh–and I have a new “honorable mention” for hamburgers. Not a place but a burger. I was at JFK last night and during the layover they came around with free samples of The Impossible Burger — a veggie burger that looks and tastes like real beef! (Maybe better!) Good enough that I had one at home tonight.
Good info!