I don’t just shoot with older cameras. I also use a Fujifilm X-T5 for travel and a Canon EOS R8 for video and product photography. I also review many of the latest cameras, so I have plenty of context for comparing the performance of older used models. For regular everyday stills photography, I think so little has changed or advanced over the past ten years that most beginners and enthusiasts, even many professionals, will be perfectly happy with most of the mid-high-end cameras from the past decade.
Main Content
Reviews
Fujifilm X-T1 review in 2024, with sample images
Verdict 4.3 stars The Fujifilm X-T1 is a terrific low-cost used choice that makes a great camera for photography students and enthusiasts today. Its traditional external exposure controls are perfect for re-discovering the lost art of exposure, and its excellent build quality and handling make it a very satisfying camera to use.
Tamron 20-40mm F2.8 Di III VXD review: a unique standard zoom alternative
Verdict: 4.5 stars The Tamron 20-40mm F2.8 Di III VXD might sound like an odd sort of crossover lens somewhere between a wide-angle zoom and a kit lens, but with a 2x zoom range that sounds distinctly limiting. However, that 2x zoom range offers more framing and perspective variation than you might expect, the constant f/2.8 maximum aperture is excellent at this price and the handling is smooth, light and sweet. I like it a lot.
Opinion
The Ricoh GR III looks expensive, limited and dated, so why would you want one?
By now the whole world knows about the Fujifilm X100 VI and its hipster following, but who knows about the Ricoh GR III? In many ways this camera is even more extraordinary, but while the images it captures are just as impressive, the image it presents is not. It looks old-fashioned, limited and expensive. So why does a small core of enthusiasts still rave about it?
Has the jump to 40MP really worked for Fujifilm?
Does there come a point when lens optics can no longer keep up with sensor resolution, and has Fujifilm’s 40MP sensor reached that point. Optical properties are not as scalable as you might imagine. You might be able to miniaturize sensors apparently ad infinitum, but lenses have very definite limits to their resolving power and their resistance to diffraction.
Previous articles
My top 10 best used cameras to buy today: and I’ve owned all of them
This is not an exhaustive list! There are still lots of older cameras I will try to get hold of when good ones become available and funds permit. This list is of cameras I own right now or have owned, and which I think are particularly interesting buys. I happen to think that some of the best cameras have already been made, and that the new cameras now being released are not necessarily better than the ones we already had and which have now passed into history.
Nikon D610 review in 2024: Nikon’s forgotten classic
Nikon D610 verdict: 4.6 stars The Nikon D610 is from what I consider the golden era of Nikons DSLRs. As a camera for regular stills photography it’s as good as any modern 24-megapixel full frame camera for image quality and offers a completely different – and refreshing – shooting experience. Its video features are pretty primitive, as you would expect, but that aside, this is a superbly made camera that is heavy, yes, but handles brilliantly. It’s also cruelly undervalued, even forgotten, as a used buy.
Fujifilm X30 review in 2024
Verdict: 4 stars I honestly consider this to be one of the best cameras Fujifilm has made. Is 12MP enough? That depends on you. I think that it probably is, and if you accept that then the X30 is not just a stunning little travel camera for its time, it still is today. Its specs are good, its design and handling are superb and while Fujifilm might have decided it wasn’t a camera people wanted any more, the used prices say otherwise! I will never sell mine.
Canon EOS 50D review in 2024: excellent design, exceptional value
Verdict: 4.1 stars The Canon EOS 50D was launched way back in 2008, so its sensor specifications are some way behind a modern camera’s, and yet its 15.1MP resolution is still perfectly usable today for any kind of online imagery and even mid-large size wall prints. This is a camera for stills photography not video, as you would expect from this era, but perhaps the biggest surprise is this camera’s design, build quality and finish, which you just don’t see in the enthusiast sector today.