The Ideal Camera Kit?

[Mike Farley]

I reckon anyone following Mike Johnston's suggestions would end up spending around £10k or so if buying new. Still, it is always fun to speculate even if your personal choice is different. Yes, photography can be a costly hobby, but it does not need to be that expensive. Relatively modestly priced gear can still turn in good results.

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[Compsec]

Agreed. Talent will always outshine equipment

[Mike Farley]

Mike Johnston has written a follow up post in which he argues that the digital revolution was a bubble, now more or less burst, which ran counter to the previous market for camera equipment. Where the majority once used Instamatic cameras and the like, they now have their smartphones and little need for anything more sophisticated. The slow down in camera sales indicates that the position is reverting to what pertained in the 1990s. Digital imaging is ubiquitous, but as serious photographers we are on the periphery. Where we always were.

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For me, the real revolution is the ease with which people can share images nowadays. Mainstream digital capture coincided with the introduction of other technologies. That included mainstream data communication with faster speeds, not just on fixed landlines but handheld devices as well. Remember the UK 3G auction in 2000 which unexpectedly netted the government billions?

2005 was a pivotal year for digital imaging. In 2004, most cameras sold used film. By 2006, it was almost impossible to buy a new film camera. Everything changed in the space of just 18 months. The earliest smartphones, with cameras, were just starting to appear before Apple shook everything up with the iPhone in 2007. Facebook had been founded in 2004 and we all know where that went. Other social media companies can trace their origins to a similar period. As a boy, I read science fiction where authors imagined fantastical worlds with amazing inventions. Not everything has come to pass, of course, but little did I realise back then how much of it I would see in my lifetime.