Since watching Star Wars (possibly The Empire Strikes Back) as a wee little baby I had always been interested in photography, cinematography, and the moving image. Cameras, therefore, have been a large part of my life since the very beginning. Following is a history of my cameras (and me) throughout the years.
In my youth (pre-high school) I had used the Kodak 104 Instamatic, a little plastic point and shoot 110 film camera. It changed my life, and I would not use an SLR camera until high school. In 1994 I was introduced to 35mm single lens reflex cameras with the Pentax K-1000, an inexpensive amateur device that required no batteries unless you wanted to take advantage of the exposure meter in the viewfinder. The K-1000 was assigned to me in journalism class during my sophomore year in high school.
The next year, I was asked to take over the photography department while the journalism supervisor dealt with the reporters. I was then responsible for teaching use of the cameras, dark room technique and basic photography etiquette to my peers and upperclassmen students alike. And I was good at it. The kids learned a lot and their photographs got better as the semester trolled along.
My senior year, the school upgraded to the Canon EOS Rebel. Gone were the days of K-mount fully manual, heavy metal cameras. Now, you could have a fully automatic experience with little photographic insight in a plastic, lightweight camera with an on board flash. These new auto focus cameras needed batteries and the consumer-class zoom kit lenses weren’t as sharp, fast or precise as the Pentax’s 50mm primes, but the Rebel did auto forward the film.
After graduation, I signed up for a Discover Card on my way out of an English class my first semester of college. One of the first things I ever purchased on a credit card was a Canon Rebel XS-II kit along with a Canon case from Best Buy. The setup worked fine for several years until one day the curtain stopped working. I never sent it in for repair and because of my hectic work schedule, I silently walked away from photography.
In 2002, after shooting some short films and getting my schedule in order, I decided to pick up a Canon PowerShot G3. I figured digital was the way to go for an uninterested consumer like myself and that’s because years ago I swore that I’d never go digital anyway. But that was also when I swore I’d never leave photography.
The G3 worked great as I started to feel the pull back to photography. In 2003, I figured I would stay digital and move up toward the SLRs again: this time I got the Canon 300D Digital Rebel. The Rebel worked great until I dropped it after one of my first model shoots (in fact, I think it was my second model shoot ever) in 2004. The damage to my Rebel was an excuse to upgrade to the Canon EOS 20D.
Four years later, the 20D has been so good to me, I hadn’t been concerned with upgrading camera bodies at all. Focusing instead on purchasing lenses such as the Canon EF 50mm f/1.8-II normal prime lens, as well as investing in a few affordable Canon L-series lenses. Because a camera body is just a light-tight box with a hole in it. Image quality and control is all about the glass in front of the body. I purchased a Canon EF 17-40mm f/4L USM normal/wide zoom lens, and a Canon EF 70-200mm f/2.8L USM telephoto zoom lens.
In 2008 I decided to apply what I had learned about photography up to that point back into 35mm film. One of those “if only I knew then what I know now” things. I went old school and won at eBay auction the Canon FD-mount Canon AT-1 and a fast Canon FD-mount prime lenses. I also purchased a Canon PowerShot SD1100 IS as I began to value smaller cameras that could fit in my pocket and take anywhere. This was also the year I purchased a Sekonic light meter and began to properly expose myself to, well, proper exposure. The AT-1 is sitting on a shelf, while the SD1100 eventually was submerged in water and never recovered. 2008 is also the year I began to try my luck at videography and cinematography.
After working on a few short films in 2008 and 2009 I realized that cinematography made me very happy. So, in March 2010 I purchased a Canon EOS Rebel T2i for the purpose of honing my video and cinema skills, as well as to supplement my indefatigable 20D. The 20D eventually began to eat my CF cards and died in the middle of a commercial jewelry photo shoot. Luckily, I had the T2i as a backup and so decided it was time to retire the 20D after six years of professional use. I wound up shooting quite a lot of short films, music videos, and television commercials, with my faithful T2i over the years, even as the rubber bits began to peel off due to the heat, salt water, and sand, and other rough elements I constantly exposed it to. April 2016 my little T2i died on a dry rental. I still haven’t gotten it back from whomever still has it.
June 2013 I was finally able to purchase the Blackmagic Cinema Camera 2.5K EF (BMCC), paid in full by a commercial job for a furniture store client. The camera worked flawlessly on its trial run, however the hard drive I saved the footage to did not. I lost most of the footage, pissed off the client, experienced the positive side of having a paper trail (contracts, release forms, etc), and learned a valuable lesson in backup redundancy.
January 2016 I was able to purchase my first 135-format digital camera, the Canon EOS 6D. An upgrade from the soon-to-be-DOA T2i, the 6D became my primary photography camera until I decided to use it to also replace the BMCC to shoot documentaries and other video work I really needed a proper video camera for as the BMCC was too damn clumsy to work with.
I finally got that proper video camera in May 2016 when I purchased the Panasonic AG-DVX200 from a vendor in Dallas, TX. The DVX200 has served the 90% of my client work: videography. Because DVX200 also sported a logarithmic profile, I decided to also use the camera on jobs where I might normally have preferred the BMCC and its superior ProRes codecs or CinemaDNG raw, such as television commercials and short films. But, the DVX200 was much simpler to work with, despite its limited 8-bit 4:2:0 codec that was only about as good as the T2i ever was. DVX200 continues to serve me for video work, but I knew I would need a special camera for that other 10% of my work: cinema.
July 2017 I took to the skies with the DJI Mavic Pro and began to pursue legitimacy as a commercial UAS remote pilot.
Taking on a job as a state college marketing department’s photographer (read: button smasher), I began to lose my love for the art. I decided I needed a focused, deceptively simple, but most of all fun, camera only to be used for stills in an effort to rekindle the passion. That camera, to me, was somewhere in Fuji’s X100-series. Over the years I had been thinking about the X100 cameras, and as I began to grow tired of what used to be my biggest passion in life, I decided to take the plunge on the most up-to-date, most mature, and most fully realized version of the series. So, in August 2017, I purchased my Fujifilm X100F. It’s the kind of camera I can take with me anywhere, it communicates with my iPhone and I can make pretty photos with it in just about any situation. The film simulations are adorable. It’s fast, nimble, and challenges me to be a better photographer and artist in every respect. I adore my X100F.
February 2018 was finally the time to get that special cinema camera. After years of careful consideration, I decided to purchase the Sony PXW-FS7M2 from a vendor in Austin, TX. A mature, improved FS7, the Mark 2 is pretty much everything I ever wanted in a specialized cinema camera, as well as in a general purpose video camera. The locking lever E-mount and electronic variable ND filtration were the paramount reasons for considering the FS7M2 over the original – and slightly less expensive – FS7. Combined with a lovely CineEI mode and a certain set of LUTs, I am convinced I own now a miniature Arri Amira. So far I have only used it a little bit (just bought it a few weeks ago) but it is proving to be my most favorite camera I’ve ever owned. I can’t wait to see what the future has in store.
June 16, 2019 – Purchased a GoPro Fusion 360 at Best Buy in Brownsville, Texas.
December 7, 2019 – Purchased a Canon EOS 6D Mark II at Best Buy in Brownsville, Texas, along with a Canon EF 50mm f/1.4 USM, Canon EF 85mm f/1.8 USM, and Canon Speedlite 430EX III-RT external flash.
April 10, 2021 – Purchased a Sony a6400 at Precision Camera in Austin, Texas, after a Mother’s Day photo session.
October 7, 2022 – Purchased a RED Komodo through B&H Photo’s website. I was able to pull the trigger on this after careful consideration since the camera’s announcement, and upon being paid for working on the feature film M30 Oxy as DP. As of November 21 I have filmed pickups for Big Trip’s Phoenix, shot a commercial for Intrigue Boutique, and the music video for Ainsley Costello’s Cherry On Top. Because of it’s size, ease of use and customization, and easy ProRes workflow with Final Cut Pro, the Komodo has quickly become my most favorite camera I’ve ever owned.
This article was originally titled “My Photo Cameras: A History” and written July 5, 2008, before I became a cinematographer.
