A personal take on an age-old question - What is the BEST CAMERA in the world, and why.
I remember it like it was yesterday.
No, not really, but it was one of those memorable life experiences that you never forget. A keystone moment that marks the very beginning of some paradigm shift in your life.
I was walking past a camera store with my parents, when this little beauty caught my eye. Maybe it was the oversized flash that reflected the light just so; or the red shutter button that conjured up visions of some life-changing event each time you pressed it.
Or perhaps it was the fact that it cost $19.99, and I was allowed to spend up to $20 that day, as I had been good all week.
My original plan was to buy myself some comic books from the newsagency next door, but a voice inside my head told me that this was more important, and those Archie comics were still going to be there next week.
So I did what any tweenager would do - I begged my mum if I could please buy the camera instead.
My dad tried to explain to me that an investment into a camera was just the beginning of a long and costly journey. The other expenses were going to be the ongoing need for film, as well as processing, photo albums, batteries, camera bags and so on.
But I didn't care. I tried to justify these expenses as something that I would ask for, as part of my designated sum of weekly pocket money. I also promised that I will forever be good, and will learn to take the awesomest photos ever, and document everything, and never get bored of doing so.
I think it was the newly kindled passion in my eyes that finally persuaded my parents to part with the cash. However, a small part of me thinks that they were secretly happy that I was finally passionate about something other than comic books and video games. I mean, how many times can Mario save that princess before it gets boring?
Cutting a long introduction short, I got the camera, along with a complementary roll of film, a cheap carry case, and a discount voucher for processing - as long as I went back to the same pharmacy - and then we went home.
Two weeks, and a roll of crappy photographs later, and I was absolutely hooked.
Yes, the photos that I took were pure rubbish, but boy did I enjoy pressing that red shutter button to capture them.
I took that little brick with me everywhere I went. Even if there was nothing in particular to photograph, and I didn't have any film. I simply enjoyed the act of looking at the world through a viewfinder.
At some point that year, my parents and I visited my mum's great uncle who was a retired professional photographer. He grew up in Poland during the war, and had an amazing collection of wartime, and post-war photographs which he had shot for various publications of the era.
For some reason, it wasn't until I was in possession of my little black brick that I suddenly became very interested in browsing through his extensive collection of photo albums.
In fact, every time we went to visit, he had some new photographic tidbit to share with me, and I loved every minute of it.
During one particular visit, while my mum was making coffee in the kitchen, uncle went into his room, and a few minutes later emerged with a large, heavy suitcase. It was from a time before airlines realised they could monetise your luggage by charging you for being overweight. However, it was clear that this suitcase had not seen the underside of a plane in over three decades.
He brought it to the middle of the lounge, placed it flat on the floor, and asked me to open it - very carefully
As an eleven year-old, I vividly recall this moment feeling like something from an Indiana Jones film.
As I began to slowly lift the lid of the case, the smell of old leather and aftershave hit my nose and began to etch itself into my mind. It is a smell that I will never forget, as it will forever be associated with the most stunning collection of classic cameras and lenses that I had ever seen in person.
Inside the case was a pristine Hasselblad 5ooC, an original Mamiya 645, and what I learned was my uncle's greatest treasure; his Canon AE-1 and a small collection of FD lenses.
I don't know whether it was because the Hasselblad and Mamiya were so large and cumbersome, or whether the Canon felt like it was from the future, but my heart was forever imprinted with the way this beautiful camera felt in my hands. Its weight, the perfect amount of resistance on the dials, the amazing viewfinder, and the fact that this was the very first time that I ever got to experience what it was like to manually focus what I saw through that viewfinder.
Needless to say, this little kid was in love.
Uncle never brought out the suitcase again, so I never got to relive that subliminal moment, but once was enough to make me forge lifelong memories which have stayed with me to this day.
Had my uncle's suitcase contained a Pentax camera, or a Fujifilm, or a Nikon, or some other brand that was popular at the time, I would have probably become a fan of that brand. Instead, however, I will always have a soft spot in my heart for Canon, Hasselblad, Mamiya, and Hanimex, in that order, as they were my first - and come on, you never forget your first.
So, what is the best camera in the world, or the best camera brand in the world?
If you listen to the advice of the internet, please know that some of it comes from paid influencers who are there to disrupt the market and try to sell a product to you.
Some of the 'advice' comes from insecure internet trolls who have probably never actually shot any photos worth sharing.
Some more of it comes from people who just like to argue online because it's warm in their basement and arguing makes them feel superior.
And finally, some of it comes from reputable sources who can judge and review a camera objectively, based on its features and its current place in the world of available cameras at the time.
However, unless you are a working professional with a specific hardware need for the job, nobody will ever be able to tell you what is the best camera FOR YOU.
Only you will know that, since buying a camera is something that you do from the heart. It is a purchase that you make based on emotion first, and what the camera can do, being a distant second.
All cameras these days do pretty much the same things and do them well. Heck, they all do basically the same things that my uncle's 50 year-old Mamiya does, just in a different format and with a different set of limitations.
Next time you're shopping for a camera, pick the one that makes you feel something. The one that brings up the right memories. The brand that has a tribe of followers whose voice you respect and like. The one that hits all the right emotional notes and makes you smile whenever you hold it in your hand.
Once you've done that, go out and shoot the living hell out of it.
Because at the end of the day, until you get better, and get good, you will always think that it’s the camera that takes great pictures, whereas in reality it’s all about you.
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Happy shooting!
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