I won my first ever eBay auction today. I must say, it was quite thrilling. I've never bought or sold anything on the site before. Not sure why.
The auction was for a Ricoh GR Digital IV with only a few thousand frames on it. I've had my eye on the GR cameras since before I bought the Rolei Prego Micron in 2002. In fact, I purchased the Rollei after determining the Ricoh GR1v was too expensive for me at the time. The Ricoh GR line has always intrigued me and I'm super excited to finally be getting one. I've sold and am selling some gear I no longer use to fund the purchase. It's all part of a restructuring of my approach to photography, a tune up of sorts. I sold a Canon 5D mkII recently and two prime lenses as well, the 35/2.0 and the 50/1.4. I never managed to get the 28/2.8 but always intended to as 28/35/50 provide the FOV I find most interesting to shoot in. I guess my smartphone filled the wide slot. I believe the iPhone 6 Plus has a 29mm equivalent lens. I'll still use the phone camera no doubt, but now have a dedicated machine for each focal length. I'm planning on using my wife Bridget's old Nikon D40 with a 35/2.0 to handle portrait and bokeh stuff as well as providing that nice old school normal perspective. There's something really exciting about moving into older gear. The 5D was amazing, don't get me wrong, but I just wasn't using it as it was too much camera to lug around with me everywhere. It made me feel guilty just sitting there unused, so I decided to just move on and switch it up. I've pretty much always shot with point and shoot style cameras (usually not the finest ones either) as that was generally what I felt I could afford. I loved them nonetheless and they helped me develop as a photographer. I suppose it's a natural progression; moving up to a big DSLR. They are amazing tools and can be fun to use in their own right. I'm glad I owned one. Perhaps I'll come back around some day and purchase another. Right now though I'm thrilled to explore my new setup. Each camera offers a unique experience in terms of image quality, perspective, and the limitations they impose.
Here are a few of the pieces on the web that resonated with me and helped push me in my current direction: