Monday, December 30, 2024

Overload: The Problem with Full-Frame Cameras

Launching a fishing boat through the surf. Madras City Beach, India.    

I used to think nothing of carrying a bag loaded with 25 or 30 pounds of cameras and lenses.

I don't think much of it now, either. 

I can't believe I went to India, South Korea, and Singapore in 1992 carrying a bag with three 35mm Olympus OM film cameras and four lenses, another case containing a (heavy) Pentax 6x7 camera and some flash units, and a bunch of film for both cameras. But I was young and vigorous then -- just a 54 year old kid.

And maybe a little bit stupid. Although I and my client were happy with the pictures, I could probably have done a better job with less equipment to juggle. But I went on being a packhorse for a long time, eventually moving to digital photography and still heavier cameras.

The tipping point for me came in 2010, when I hauled two Canon bodies and a basic set of three pro zooms and a 50mm macro lens on a trip to Israel and Jordan. 

 Sweating my load on the long walk into Petra, the ancient city carved out of rock, I chanced to meet a man who was carrying only a micro 4/3s Olympus EP-2 body with the 14-42mm kit lens and a VF-2 viewfinder. We talked for a few minutes, then I asked if I could hold his camera. What a revelation it was to think that I could have made almost every picture on my trip with that tiny rig.

I had been reading about micro 4/3s, so when I got home, I ordered an E-PL1, then later, a pair of E-M5s and some lenses. 

In 2017 I made the break complete, selling all my Canon stuff, and later, most of my m4/3s equipment and buying Fuji X-system bodies and lenses. I was surprised to find that a Fuji X-T20 is actually a little smaller than an Oly E-M5.

However, the size of the camera bodies is not really the issue. The problem is the size and weight of lenses for full-frame cameras. Sony A-series full-frame bodies are about the same size as my APS-C format Fuji X-T3, but when you add a working kit of lenses, the weight saved by the lighter body doesn't make much difference to the overall load. For almost anything you might need to do with a camera these days, full-frame bodies and lenses are simply overload.

Visit my online gallery at https://davejenkins.pixels.com/  

Signed copies of my book Backroads and Byways of Georgia are available. The price is $22.95 plus $3.95 shipping. My PayPal address is djphoto@vol.com (which is also my email). Or you can mail a check to 8943 Wesley Place, Knoxville, TN 37922. Include your address and tell me how you would like your book inscribed.

Photography and text copyright 2024 David B.Jenkins.

I post Monday, Wednesday, and Friday unless life gets in the way.

Soli Gloria Deo -- For the glory of God alone.

Tags:   photography   digital photography  Olympus E-M5 camera    Olympus OM1 camera     Fuji X-T20 camera   film photography    Canon digital cameras    micro 4/3s    APS-C     Fuji X-T3     Pentax 6x7 film camera     Olympus E-PL1 Olympus EP-2

2 comments:

  1. Truth. I love my Nikon Df, but don't shoot it nearly as much as I thought I would because the thing is so danged big, and only gets bigger when you attach a zoom lens.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Sorry to be slow responding to your comment, Jim. Beside the size and weight, I think the Df promised a lot in the way of manual controls that it doesn't deliver.

    ReplyDelete