I’ve just gotten a Panasonic LX3 – it’s a bit big for a pocket, but it’s nice when I don’t want to carry the K20D around. It’s supposed to the one of the best pocket cameras around, and while it’s a lot better then my F50FD, it’s still a far cry from being a dSLR replacement…

After using a film camera for many many years the smaller sensors leave me cold. It reminds of the time when they tried the smaller film size. Everyone knew the quality wasn’t really there, panned it and it quickly died out. I keep waiting for it to happen to digital and it appears that it might slowly be getting to that point. It appears that they have squeezed about all of the quality they can out of the smaller sensor. Now they are trying to sell you on newer features. I pray they have just about reached the end of the line with the smaller little baby cameras.

Time to put away the toys and get back to maximizing the quality. They have saturated the consumer market, which is really all those toy cameras are for, that crowd is happy with their little, cute cameras. I know the manufacturers, and their reviewer salesmen, hope that the people will buy the little ones and then move on up the line buying more and more expensive cameras as they move up. I would recommend, especially to beginners, that they save up and buy the most expensive camera they can, or charge it if you are impatient. I was given this advice when I started playing guitar. Buy the nicest, most expensive guitar you possibly can. That way it will always sound nice and you will be inspired to keep on practicing and playing; and as your playing improves the guitar will always be good enough.

I feel,after many years of practicing photography, that the same holds true with this craft. I bought the most expensive camera I possibly could and as my photography improved my camera always kept step. There was never any disappointment in my camera. I knew that if a shot didn’t look good it was because of me. As i learned more my camera actually encouraged me rather than discouraging me as of ten happens with lesser cameras.

So Samsung if you really want to make your mark in the photographic world make the camera I described and become a leader in the market. Oh yeah and while I’m wishing for a return to photographic sanity, sell it for $1,000 too. Hey a guy can always dream can’t he. I’m dreaming back to a time when a thousand bucks would get you a beautifully built solid camera that would last for 40 years if you maintained it properly; and a really high quality lens that was also solidly built and would decades. None of this plastic super light weight stuff that feels like it would shatter if you dropped it two feet. Ever pick up a Sigma DP 1? Good God what a joke and they wanted a thousand for it new. I picked it up, looked at the salesman and said,”Look how far we have regressed!”