After photographing with a wide variety of film cameras over 30 years or so it was time to invest in the growing trend of digital photography. Most of us started testing the waters of digital photography with amateur models from a variety of vendors. My first "professional" digital SLR was the Fujifilm S2 Pro.

Fujifilm s2 pro The FinePix S2 Pro was based on a Nikon body so all of my lenses would still function. That was probably the most important reason for choosing this camera. Another factor was the fact that Fuji was years ahead of Nikon in their chip and software development at the time. The FinePix cameras actually used  hexagon shaped pixels which gave them much smoother color transitions which were a big problem for these low resolution chips. It didn't take long to upgrade to the newer S3 Pro when it came out.

Fujifilm s3 pro To be honest, I can't remember what significant improvement the S3 offered but a couple of years later it got replaced by the FinePix S5 Pro which offered a dramatic improvement in resolution and image quality.

Fujifilm s5 pro

The S5 was the first DSLR that really offered better images than the film cameras of the time. After this purchase it was rare to find me shooting film unless there was a specific need by the client. This was also the final chapter in the DSLR line for Fuji. I have always wondered why they left this part of the market because they had a lead in the technology and a clearly superior product for portrait and wedding photographers.

One of the downsides to digital cameras is that they don't last as long as film cameras. There's a lot more going on in there and a lot more stuff to fail. Also, we always want more pixels and better dynamic range along with the other bells and whistles. After several years my trusty S5 Pro got replaced by a shiny, new Nikon D700.

Nikon d700 The D700 offered some image enhancements for landscape photography and a bit higher resolution over the Fuji. It's build quality was also superior, offering better protection against dust and moisture. I loved the ergonomics of the D700 and was quick to lust after its 36 megapixel replacement the Nikon D800.

After reading a bunch of reviews for the D800 I came to the conclusion that I would need to replace my desktop computer to take advantage (or even load) these much-larger files. Not being able to find the perfect computer for imaging, I decided to build my own. I spent a lot of time doing the research and questioning others who were building dedicated Photoshop computers before I took the plunge. After finally deciding on all the components the order was placed and a few weeks later all the parts arrived. About 6 hours later I had a new whiz-bang computer and could think about ordering the Nikon D800.

Nikon_D800_front The Nikon D800 is my current workhorse. It provides huge files which make large prints and canvases a breeze. The panoramas I create with stitching these images are monsters but more important is the fact that the image quality and sharpness is greater than even my medium format images. I frequently create 30" x 40" family portraits and panoramas extending 100" or so. They look fantastic! The dynamic range is superb enabling me to pull details out of the shadows that other photographers have to use HDR techniques to achieve. I love this camera!

Finally, for kicks and giggles I added a rangefinder Fujifilm X 100s a few years ago. This is a great, small, light camera for street photography and vacations. It's my "point and shoot" of choice. It offers superb image quality and sharpness and has an actual optical viewfinder which kind of brings me full-circle back to the Nikon S2 where I started.

fujifilm s100x