A Crumudgens View of Cameras

I was thinking recently that I have a crumidgens view of what a proper camera is and what it is not.  I was raised in the era of 35mm SLRS.  Cameras with interchangeable lenses, that viewed through the lens that the photo was being taken with.  In my minds eye, that is the form of a real camera. My current kit is two Nikon D5500 DSLRS and seven Nikkor lenses. I seldom leave the house without one of them in my hand.   

I watched a YouTube video recently of things to not pack for your next cruise (I am taking a cruise this year) and at the top of the list was a real camera.  The presenter was urging "just use your phone." This triggered my curmudgeon view of cameras.  

Then I started recalling the curmudgeon's of  50 years ago, the experienced photographers in the 1970's who had a different view of what a real camera was.  The old guard of my youth, urged that if you didn't know how to use a 4 by 5 view camera, at least a Speed Graphic, you really didn't know how to take a photograph.  My Canon F-1 35mm SLR, with an internal meter and tiny film was not a real camera for this generation of crumudens.  It was a toy. 

My views on a proper camera are just as out of date, as the view that if it was not a 4 by 5 sheet film camera it was not a real camera.  

My favorite is a comfort zone.  I like the interchangeable lenses, but the same or even better can be done today with electronics and amazing micro lenses.  I prefer the DSLR to a mirrorless, I like seeing that the lens sees, because that is what I was raised/trained with.  A mirrorless would show me what the sensor was capable of recording, a more accurate view of the image that will be on my monitor when I get home and download the files.  

At this point I am invested in what I am using.  Most likely I will continue to use this system as long as they last, odds are the cameras and lenses will outlive me.  In a few years, I will be the curmudgeon using old gear out of habit.  I just need to not grump at those who have moved forward.