Hopes & Desires 2012 ~ ????

Well, it’s been hell of a long time since I actually “wrote” something on my blog and so today I decided to do just that.

I have been all this, however, watching trends and going “ooh!” and “aah!” over camera gear ranging from Medium format to DSLRs to Rangefinders and even the most popular Mirrorless compacts.

I have been day-dreaming and making a “wish list” (more of a goal), that I hopefully will meet, and money wasn’t the (main) deciding factor since my list was made to cater for LIFE… as long as I would live and continue shooting, I know I wouldn’t need anything else and the gear would not break on me.

Its a bold statement, but I honestly believe that if you know what you want and more importantly why you want (that specific thing), you can find contentment and peace of mind that few of us have actually been blessed with these days esp. due to the aggressive marketing of camera companies.

So anyways, the first step to how I came to recognize what I want came from knowing what kind of shooter I am and what kind of tools are required for the job. Now, this might be a tricky question since one CAN do the same job with varied tools/camera system or one may want to use something that’s an overkill and not even know it’s an overkill. For example – a macro shot of a flower (that’s intended for personal use) can be taken by a point-n-shoot or a mirrorless camera, or DSLR or even a top of the line digital medium format. What should one in this case use?! The thing that would determine is the print size. Most point-n-shoots are now well equipped with excellent optics and image quality that would suffice personal use. But you ask “What if I have the money to buy and use a medium format?!” Well, that is where I think is the “overkill” part comes to play!

Therefore, I made a list of the camera gear I will need and that I can use regularly and not be overwhelmed by deciding “which one do I use?!”. Instead of buying a couple of the same bodies (not talking about or referring to professional shooters here, but just hobbyists that splurge on equipment), I’d rather buy a single body that is the next step or better than the two I was buying and invest more on glass.

So here’s My List that includes all camera bodies and lenses – and all formats : -

POINT – & – SHOOT

Fuji X-Pro1 (w/ all the 3 lenses on offer)
Ricoh GRD IV
Minolta TC-1
Olympus Mju II
Nikon 28Ti

SINGLE LENS REFLEX

Nikon D4
(w/ these lenses)

17~35mm f/2.8D
24~70mm f/2.8D
70~200    f/2.8D
CZ Makro-Planar T* 100mm f/2

RANGEFINDERS

Minolta CLE
Hasselblad XPAN II

MEDIUM  FORMAT

( I don’t think I need it … if I do I’ll see then! )

COMPUTER SYSTEM AND ACCESSORIES

CPU/Desktop   : Mac Pro G5
Monitor            : NEC MultiSync PA271W

Printer   : Canon PRO-1
Scanner  : Epson V750-M Pro

Ext. HDD : DROBO S 2nd Gen

Equipment Storage   : XDry CS-151SS
Lighting Equipment  : PROFOTO Acute B2 600 Air S

Everything on this list is an outcome of long, long, long sleepless nights and dreaming and researching. I have not chosen just the “best of the best”, but rather tried to balance practicality, budget and quality.  I am not sure about the Medium format at this point of time. The only reason to go for medium format would be for landscapes, so an open platform would definitely be the choice, maybe the Hasselblad 503CW with film, polaroid and digital back… Choices can definitely make you go crazy!!

So far, I have managed to acquire just the Oly Mju II, and I was lucky enough to find one in a very good condition and at a very good rate. I am just being lazy and haven’t had the time to sell my stuff I already have and invest that money into the list.

I am sure I won’t be buying / acquiring all that is listed here, basically due to money concerns and also the fact that I kind of think I won’t be able to do justice to all the bodies – so why have them and just store them?! The one that I believe I most unlikely will buy is the MInolta TC-1, even though it’s a gem. Unless I sell the Olympus and just keep the TC-1 and the Nikon 28Ti as analog point & shoot.

Well, thanks for reading all of this if you did… I would be grateful if you could give me suggestions and voiced opinions!

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