p.1 #1 · Roger Cicala wants to buy a camera system and is still blogging about it
Oh my, never thought I would be posting here anytime soon. But the contents of this post deserve to be shared amongst all the gear forums. Roger of LensRentals has interesting blog articles:-
p.1 #3 · Roger Cicala wants to buy a camera system and is still blogging about it
I think the first line of part 1 covered it fairly well:
Note: I’m going to bore people for a week or two while I decide on a new camera system for myself.
p.1 #4 · Roger Cicala wants to buy a camera system and is still blogging about it
vsg28 wrote:
Very interesting read and one I think should be read by every photographer, not just a Canon one.
Far from interesting. It's disturbing to me that someone in the business of serving photographers would display such a weird, curvy path to gear selection and, at the same time, would put on public view how well he's doing financially by revealing what he's willing to spend.
It also seems to me that his near-neurotic search is at odds with the widely accepted view that photo gear ... ANY gear ... is just a tool. He appears to me to be putting way too much emphasis on his very wide choices than on what he wants to shoot and then going after the gear that will enable him to shoot it.
I just don't get the reasons for the public display, surely the most extravagant I've ever seen in this forums.
p.1 #7 · Roger Cicala wants to buy a camera system and is still blogging about it
I don't think it's as bad as indicated above. First off, I don't know why this indicates anything in particular about his finances, except that he's probably not living on food stamps. Is everyone here who reveals the gear they use putting their finances on display? We all have different priorities, and someone willing to spend $10k on gear might be making $250k/year but doesn't want to spend much, or $50k/year but places a high emphasis on photography.
Also, keep in mind the source. This is a guy who is very used to analyzing, testing and evaluating. It's part of his business. So while for your average consumer, this might be overkill, evaluations or comparisons like this are second nature to someone whose business partly consists of these kind of comparisons.
In my opinion, it's a little like the thought process for, say, a Car & Driver Magazine writer who might have an exhaustive, documented and thorough selection process for picking his family's sedan where that might be overdoing it for me.
In any event, I found it interesting enough to scan and it made me at least consider a few things I had not before. For instance, a cheaper lens with a higher resolution body might produce equivalent resolution to a sharper lens on a lower resolution body. Just my $0.02.
p.1 #10 · Roger Cicala wants to buy a camera system and is still blogging about it
Welcome to the proletariat, Roger! We have never known the luxury of some company buying (or loaning) cameras and lenses for us. Well, okay, I did get one as a gift. A Petri f1.9 Color Corrected Super. It's a nice little rangefinder that still works.
p.1 #11 · Roger Cicala wants to buy a camera system and is still blogging about it
binary visions wrote:
I don't think it's as bad as indicated above. First off, I don't know why this indicates anything in particular about his finances, except that he's probably not living on food stamps. Is everyone here who reveals the gear they use putting their finances on display? We all have different priorities, and someone willing to spend $10k on gear might be making $250k/year but doesn't want to spend much, or $50k/year but places a high emphasis on photography.
Also, keep in mind the source. This is a guy who is very used to analyzing, testing and evaluating. It's part of his business. So while for your average consumer, this might be overkill, evaluations or comparisons like this are second nature to someone whose business partly consists of these kind of comparisons.
In my opinion, it's a little like the thought process for, say, a Car & Driver Magazine writer who might have an exhaustive, documented and thorough selection process for picking his family's sedan where that might be overdoing it for me.
In any event, I found it interesting enough to scan and it made me at least consider a few things I had not before. For instance, a cheaper lens with a higher resolution body might produce equivalent resolution to a sharper lens on a lower resolution body. Just my $0.02....Show more →
+1
I am little surprised at the comments about finances and cost of gear. This is not top-end gear being tested (the 1D X is not even in consideration, nor is medium format). It would seem to make sense that someone who owns a camera rental store would have access to more equipment for personal use than the rest of us.
If you are of the "gear is just a tool" camp, then just pass this by and go to the next post. I personally find it interesting to see objective data presented in an area where we usually only have anecdote and opinion, and I would encourage Roger to continue.
p.1 #12 · Roger Cicala wants to buy a camera system and is still blogging about it
For some people Roger's posts are very helpful. At least for those people that are tempted to change the system... it's a very costly decision and such as analysis shows if really deserves it.
I also do not agree that he's shocking the audience by showing how much he's going to spend on his system. For both pro and hobbyists photography is expensive... and at least half of the members in this forums are showing in the signature more $$$ invested in gear than $10k. Last but not the least Roger put all this info on his blog at lensrentals... there is no reason for him to be shy about the gear he considers for his personal use. Would you expect Michael Dell to use a cheap old Celeron laptop to not aggressively display his income?
p.1 #13 · Roger Cicala wants to buy a camera system and is still blogging about it
His site cites lots of DXO stuff. He should know the answer by now. Lots of words no conclusion. As much as I loathe DXO at least they pick something. Well at least lensrental stats will spike up on Google Stats for this month then.
p.1 #14 · Roger Cicala wants to buy a camera system and is still blogging about it
The irony of course is which system is best depends greatly on what you prefer and what your needs are more then absolutes these days. I think you could make an argument for canon, nikon, sony or m4/3 (panasonic or olympus) pretty easily for most people.
I personally picked Nikon due to performance/price ratio because I was sick of being bleed dry by canon's "what can we leave out of this model?" philosophy. That being said I don't think in the vast majority of situations my choice of canon vs equivalent lenses/gear on another manufacturer would of made much of a difference.
Is interesting to see how expensive m4/3 can get though in terms of lens cost.
p.1 #15 · Roger Cicala wants to buy a camera system and is still blogging about it
M Lucca wrote:
His site cites lots of DXO stuff. He should know the answer by now. Lots of words no conclusion. As much as I loathe DXO at least they pick something. Well at least lensrental stats will spike up on Google Stats for this month then.
p.1 #17 · Roger Cicala wants to buy a camera system and is still blogging about it
I enjoy Roger's writing. I found some very interesting thoughts and results in his analysis, and his train of thought seems logical to me. In particular, I'll note that he's very specific about ergonomics, handling, and other subjective factors being the most important part of the decision process... he just admits openly that he's a geek and he's doing all the measurebating first. Seems to me like a man who knows himself, but his process seems entirely cogent and reasonable to me.
As for the cost, those of us lugging around a single D800 body with a 500/4 already have more invested in our gear than Roger's proposed $12K to $13K for his whole system. So does any reasonable wedding shooter with two bodies and a few lenses. Yes, it's a fair amount of money... but pretentious and snobbish? I don't think so.
Lastly, I'm not a fanboy, but Nikon is my preferred system for the important reasons (handling, noise, ergonomics, and fewer trips to the service center among others) so I was quite pleased to see how well the Nikon brand did in his tests.
