garyhicken

There is no such thing as a perfect camera. That is my mantra when watching camera reviews on YouTube. There is a camera that I consider to be the closest to perfect today. But it’s based on all of the film and digital cameras I’ve had all of my life. That’s why it is important for you to trust yourself in the long run.

As a teenager I considered the Nikon F to be the best camera in the world. My view on glass was both Zeiss and Leitz made the best lenses. I never held or shot photos with any of these. This is what I picked up from reading about equipment. Today, I own a Nikon F from 1972. I shot weddings with a Contax RTSII and a Yashica FX-103 Program using Zeiss lenses. None of these cameras are on my favorite list (although I wish I never sold the FX-103 and instead sold the Contax).

I recently spent eight months looking for the right mirrorless camera to buy. The last camera I got brand new was in 2011. I haven’t bought a new camera since. For me, the camera in 2011 had all of the right specs but when I got it, I couldn’t get into it, if you know what I mean. It wasn’t comfortable in my hands and I was never satisfied with the images I got, both straight out of the camera or edited.

When I shot weddings in the mid Nineties, I always wished to see each image instantly. Today, we can but now it’s called “chimping” and is highly discouraged. I didn’t have autofocus for these weddings; I did buy a Minolta Maxxum 7000 when it came out and sold it pretty quickly. The optical viewfinders had split-prism centers to help you focus, but getting the precise focus was tough. Today, with the electronic viewfinders, we can digitally zoom in and manually focus more precisely – a whole lot better. But for me, the rangefinder is still my favorite.

The title doesn’t match what I’ve written so far, but if I want to shoot with the cameras I enjoy the most, I have to disregard all of the specs and technology, and no one would be the wiser if I didn’t tell anyone.

How many of you know how efficient are your camera sensors? What I mean is the the number of electrons released from the sensor when it receives a certain amount of photons. While camera makers fear sharing this information, it is utterly useless in the long run. I happen to know that my Nikon D70’s sensor is 22% and that my Olympus E-M1 Mark III’s is 81%. The D70 from 2004 has 6 MP resolution and the Olympus from 2020 has 20 MP resolution. The D70 is my favorite digital camera. I paid $45 for the body last year! The images I shoot are spectacular.

The eight months I spent researching all used cameras for the one I would eventually buy was based on affordability. I wanted an electronic viewfinder and the ability to adapt SLR lenses to it. For five of those eight months it would be a Fujifilm XT-2, a camera from 2013 that had only 16 MP resolution. The thing is, the camera had to be there to share the specs and people expect respectable specs. It didn’t bother me to buy a thirteen year-old camera.

But I was given a camera on Christmas Day 2025 – a Panasonic Lumix G2. This is a 12 MP camera from 2010. The G1 was the first camera sold on the market with the Micro Four-Thirds system and the first mirrorless camera. This second iteration blew me away. The camera was compact like what a 35mm camera used to be (like my Nikon F). When you think about the smaller sensor size of M4/3 cameras, keep in mind that Full-Frame sensors are the same exact size as 35mm.

This shifted me from Fujifilm almost immediately and within a few weeks I was able to adapt eleven SLR lenses to the Lumix. I spent three more months looking for the best-for-my-budget camera with the choice to move from APS-C to Micro Four-Thirds before buying the Olympus. Since then I shot a wedding with the Olympus.

The point I’m trying to make is that my mind was made up to stop worrying about the specifications and go with what would make me more comfortable. The Olympus E-M1 Mark III is a flagship camera and it took me two months to learn how to shoot. That’s not comfortable at all. The Nikon F was their flagship and it’s as easy to shoot as all of their entry-level cameras. Once I was able to program the buttons to do what I wanted, I had to remember what the buttons do now. It is my best camera today and along with my Olympus 45mm f/1.8 lens, portraits are amazing to shoot. But it will never be my favorite camera.

My favorite film camera is my Yashica Electro 35 GS. It’s the third one I’ve owned because I was dumb to sell the other two. For me, it’s the rangefinder. I like them. The magic though, is the 45mm Color-Yashinon DX f/1.7 lens. So what if the lens isn’t detachable. I had to repair the light sealing but the “pad-of-death” is still in tact for now and I’ll fix that too when it dies.

In 2005 I bought a Nikon D50. It was my favorite digital camera, but the shutter died. I replaced it with the D70. There’s something to that era of early DSLRs that aren’t even full-frame. I don’t own a full-frame camera. I will write an article to explain how to adapt to the differences people neglect when they criticize these smaller sensors.

The Nikon F I own was bought from a work colleague back in 1987. It needs some repair but I can shoot a roll of film in it. The Nikkor-H 50mm f/2 lens it came with is used today on my M4/3 cameras. Amazing 54 year-old lens. I saw the reviews on the TTArtisan 25mm f/2 lens and I bought it with the Micro Four-Thirds mount. It has good glass and is all metal, all for sixty-four dollars, but it is my all-time least favorite lens. But there is potential for this brand.

As for my choice for “most-perfect” camera, I’ll explain why in a future article. It is the Leica Q3 43. I know many will disagree but it’s based on what I know about the camera versus what I’m most comfortable shooting with. If my instincts are wrong, I’ll sell it (that’s if I could ever afford to own it). It will be my first full-frame camera (unless I’m given another one before it).

In the meantime, I’ll enjoy photography with what I have. Specs do not matter as far as I’m concerned.