- Great photography is created by the mind that perceives the image, the eye that composes the picture, and the experience working the exposure triangle—not the rig.
- It’s taken me a dozen cameras and several thousand dollars of gear to lead me back to my roots.
- My first cameras were the high school journalism department’s Graflex Speed Graphic with a 120 film back and a Yashika twin-lens, also in 120. We rolled our own B&W film back then.
- To this day I can’t add a bit of vinegar to a salad without the pungent odor evoking happy memories of a tray of acidic stop bath reflecting beneath the safety lamps of the dim-lit darkroom.
- I still think the Pentax Pen-F might have been the perfect everyday camera, but my Pen-F is long gone--the VI is a great substitute.
- For a long time, I’ve been making do with the iPhone for everyday shooting--and hating it. It’s not a satisfying experience. In my view, a real camera has a viewfinder & knobs.
- I miss working the exposure triangle using real tactile controls--clicky, knobs and rings.
- I miss the privacy and concentration of composing a shot in the temple of the darkened viewfinder, which, unlike the iPhone, happens to be glare-free.
I am weary of being a vacation pack mule, hauling and tracking lenses, filters, batteries, and memory cards for every outing, and then safeguarding my burden at every airport, restaurant, and event we attend.
- At 40 mp, the sensor is huge for my needs. It is so huge that the digital telephoto cropping to 20 mp is still big enough and good enough for my daily purposes.
- I am over throwing away my days editing RAW images. I’m not a professional (I’ve only had one professional shoot in my life, and it took me 2 years after that wedding to stop drinking). So with the VI, I’ll select a pleasing recipe, maybe add a bit of emotion with a Cenibloom 5% filter, and then I’ve done as much editing as I need for the photograph I want to get.
- The truth about RAW editing is that my color vision is so iffy that I spend a tremendous amount of time second-guessing myself anyway. I’m never sure if I’ve ever improved a RAW image by editing it.
- Once I reject the life-sucking burden of RAW editing, I have all the more reason to just go out and shoot. Just like back in the days of film, if I bungle a shot, then I miss that shot. Simply throw the picture away and better luck next time. (At least with digital I didn’t have to buy film and pay to process the duds.)
- So now that's here, I’m slipping that VI in my pocket and going shooting…or not. The VI is with me if I want it, not at home in my pile of camera junk like my DSLR rig.
