March 11th is #NationalWorshipOfToolsDay. This is a day to go out into the garage, the tool shed, the storage closet, or wherever it is you keep your tools—and cameras. You can clean them, reorganize them, make something new (images) with them or maybe buy a new one
Today’s Post by Joe Farace
And if you can’t be with the one you love honey. Love the one you’re with—Stephen Stills
Given the steep deprecation of used camera values and the rapidly rising prices of new ones, upgrading for incremental improvements doesn’t seem attractive.—David Thorpe
One of the things I’ve been trying to do with new blog posts during 2025is to provide as much information, including metric equivalents, as possible about how I made a specific image. I put this information in a section of the post labeled How I Made This Photograph. When writing these snippets it sometimes prompts e-mail from readers, often asking the same question that I want to address in today’s post: “Why are you using such old equipment?” OK, here goes:
How I Made the Photograph: One of my favorite tips for photographers who are traveling is to make a different kind of photograph each day. When I’m- home I take a walk around a nearby lake during the day and always take a camera with me because I never know what I’ll encounter on my walk. When I’m traveling, I take a similar walk at night because scenes, like this one at a mall near my hotel in Albuquerque, look completely different at night than it does during the day.
This handheld image at a shopping mall was made with an Olympus E-5 with a Zuiko Digital 12-60mm f/2.8-4.0mm lens and a Manual mode exposure of 1/50 at f/2.8 and ISO 2500. At that ISO, the noise was fine and controlled. The image was shot in the camera’s Live View so I could select an appropriate color balance in real time. It turned out to be the E-5’s Underwater setting.
Here’s a few Reasons
- The first reason I’m using cameras such as my Canon EOS 60D, instead of something newer, is that I can’t afford a 90D or, heaven forbid, any of those R-series cameras. I also own an EOS M6 Mark II that I’ve used for almost all of the videos on my YouTube channel. I’m not employed, sponsored or part of any camera company’s ambassador programs. Consequently I pay for my cameras just like you do. Nobody gives me free equipment just so that I’ll write nice things about their cameras.
- Secondly, I don’t think purchasing a brand new camera will make much difference in the kind of photography that I make. Maybe I’m wrong but there are exceptions, especially, when it come to film cameras, like the Widelux, that I would like to own.
- Thirdly, it seems like more people ask this question whenever I mention using Canon gear. For the record I have been selling off some of my Canon gear to focus more on shooting with my Panasonic and Olympus Micro Four-thirds and Canon and Contax 35mm film cameras.
Old Gear? I don’t mind that my beloved Olympus Pen F was discontinued in 2019 for the same reason that I don’t care that any of my film cameras are no longer being manufactured. I love shooting and owning those cameras. I wish I could say the same about my Canon EOS DSLR’s but the truth is that they no longer “spark joy” for me.
More and more whenever I write the “How I made this photograph” sections of these blog posts and mention images made with Canon EOS equipment, I find myself saying “this discontinued blah-blah lens.” Yet these lenses continue to work just fine. I keep thinking about getting an adapter that lets me to mount Canon EF and EF-S lenses onto the M6 Mark II but every time I get ready to reach for my credit card, a little voice in my head says, “don’t do it.” Even I don’t know what the heck that means.
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