An open letter to Canon and Nikon (and all the other camera manufacturers)
An invitation to listen more the photographers
Dear Canon and Nikon,
in light of your announcement to discontinue the entire DSLR sector I am writing this letter to you.
First of all, let me introduce myself, I am an Italian photojournalist based in Mexico. In all these years I have had the opportunity to work with cameras of almost all brands. I started digital with Nikon DSLRs (D40 and D60) and I owned: Panasonic Lumix LX3, Olympus E-P1, Canon G12, Samsung NX200, Samsung NX20, Panasonic Lumix GF2, Leica X2, Ricoh GRD IV, Fujifilm X20, Fujifilm X100S, Fujifilm XE2, Fujifilm XA3, Fujifilm XPro2, Fujifilm XT10, Pentax K100, Canon Rebel T3, Canon Rebel T7, Canon M200.
I was ambassador for Samsung NX, witnessing the development of one of the first mirrorless series and also its downfall. I have been an ambassador for Fujifilm for 6 years, contributing to his fame growth especially for the target of street photographers.
In 2010 I was among the first photographers to completely switch to mirrorless systems, abandoning DSLRs. But in the last two years I have returned to using DSLRs, in open contrast to what the market suggests. Due to my previous experience in direct contact with brand executives I am not a fool: I know very well that this has been the will for some time, even for Canon and Nikon who were the last, almost reluctant, to take the big step towards the mirrorless segment.
And I am not the one to say stop. This is absolutely not the reason for my letter. With humility but also with awareness, however, I only ask you to consider the point of view of a photographer who thinks he is speaking on behalf of many enthusiasts and above all real users of cameras. We have seen how in recent years there has been a decline in the photography market. Smartphones have established themselves in everyday use also, if not above all, for photography.
And we are talking about a market I would dare to say incomprehensible, almost shizophrenic. There are those who now consider photographing only with mobile phones. Then there are even those who still enjoy using film cameras and among these, listen, listen, those who use film cameras and for digital ONLY their mobile phone.
Now I certainly won't be the one to tell you the difference between physical and digital photography, but for those who understand it, they know that there is an objective reality which is the physical one and which cannot be changed: I am referring to the yield of lenses built in a certain way and the microscopic ones of a mobile phone. A difference that certainly will not be important for those who are not very well versed in photography, but which is of vital importance for those who make photography something much more important than uploading to a social network. Not to mention the tactile pleasure of taking pictures with real cameras. I believe that the success of Leica and Fujifilm (in part also Panasonic and Sony) during these years is to be related precisely to this reality. Our reality of photographers who still love cameras with which we can work as our fathers and grandparents did.
So what am I asking with this letter?
In the last year as I said I re-discovered the pleasure to photograph and framing through an optical viewfinder. I know: the optical viewfinder of a (D)SLR would would make it unnecessary to cancel, which has already been decided, the DSLR sector and I am not pretending that. I just think that providing with an optical viewer for certain type of cameras instead of the electronic one (or at least hybrid like for the X100 series of fujifilm) is a step in favor of many photographers. The optical viewer is not the only request on this letter, of course. In fact it is the less important part. With my M200 or more in general I am a photographer able to take my photos shooting from the hip, so you know I am not completely a dinosaur.
My main suggest is that you remove in most of your cameras the mode dial and, in its place, you back to propose the shutter speed dial. Many fujifilm cameras are made in this way and a fantastic example comes from Nikon with its Z fc. So my entire point goes in one way: to make cameras that are pretty different from smartphones. Clearly if you produce cameras that are focused on menus, you are blinking the eye to smartphone users, but your market should be the photographers. Also the ones in need to know how should be made photography. Think about photography schools. Think about the fact that by photographing esposing in manual you understand for real how to photograph. So now you know, I am not asking nothing exceptional or nothing that already doesn’t exist. It exists and we have so good examples.
To sum up, I think sharing the salient features that a camera should have for me:
CAMERA BODY
It can be in titanium, other metal or plastic (this changes clearly the cost)
Shutter Speed dial going to replace mode dial. ISO dial when is possible. Exposure compensation dial can be even simply in a wheel.
LENSES
Lenses should be made like those of film era: distance scale, manual focus and aperture scale.
I am all in with technology advance: I love the focus peak feature that most of the cameras now have.
VIEWFINDER
Clearly when is possible. For more compact cameras like my Canon M200 is not important. BUT…a hotshoe should be built on. The hotshoe is useful not only for an external viewfinder but also for a flash unit or microphones.
I still think is possible to produce cameras with great build quality. We have the example how a small manufacturer like 7Artisans makes manual lenses in metal with the distance scale.
To conclude, dear Canon and Nikon,
and any other brand reading this, I ask you only to think to real photography. Don't force us to perpetually look at an LCD screen and give us cameras that are real cameras. I am sure that the sales would know a new golden era.
