For many years I owned a Canon EOS 10D camera. And I have to say that I never really developed a relationship with her. I found her too technical, too bulky, with far too many buttons that I didn’t understand how to use. So she lived her life mainly on a shelf. Until some months ago.
Over the last months I realised that my photography is lacking one component. With my current cameras and lenses I can’t get closer to my objects. I am not able to shoot details. And I can’t compress images to enhance the effect of my objects. And I currently don’t have the money for a tele lens. :-)
So I remembered my old Canon camera with her 70-300mm f4.5-5.6 tele zoom lens that I had bought some time ago. And I took her from the shelf, checked if the batteries were still working (and to my surprise they were) and took some test shots. And I liked what I was seeing. So I took her with me to some photo shootings and I started using her more regularly. And i have to say that I love the effect of the tele lens. These pictures are very special to me.
And of course is this camera technically completely outdated. 6 MP sensor. Every point and shoot has more nowadays. And ISO doesn’t go higher than 1600 and if I use it at that level the camera creates incredible noise. But converting the pictures to b&w and using the noise as a stylistic element doesn’t let it appear too distracting. I can even crop pictures a little. And as long as I am not trying to print them I am fine. And after having used other cameras in the past few years that have similar technical features (that feel exactly the same redundant as the ones on my Canon) I didn’t find her too daunting anymore. And I use her regularly and I thoroughly enjoy the effect of pictures shot with a tele lens.
And maybe one day when I have saved enough money I will afford a Leica M camera. For simplicity. And peace of mind.