I just found this little gem of a camera in my desk drawers. I think this was my first digital camera!

I remember it was purchased using frequent flyer points back in the early 2000's. Only 3Mp and battery life of about an hour (seriously batteries would just drain so quickly!). Image quality was not very good (none of my 5.5k photos on Flickr were taken with this little device). But it has a compact shape and unlike most cheap cameras, it had metal alloy construction.

The kids got to play with it when they were young and now it's just gathering dust in my drawer. I guess this image is a farewell and immortalisation as it barely works now after a quick test.

Tags:   Oregon Scientific digital camera digital vintage electronics

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My trusty Canon AE-1 Program camera taken with my Pentax Z1 loaded with expired film. The expired films in the AE-1 and the Z1 were processed together and were both in the cameras for at least 3 years. I've uploaded a few images from the AE-1 film recently.

Tags:   film Canon AE-1P expired film SLR camera

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An old Olympus AF-1 Twin compact film camera from the 1990's. Great little camera.

Tags:   Olympus AF-1 Twin film camera film compact compact camera

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My trusty old Canon AE-1 Program film camera with vintage FD 55mm f1.2 lens. It's had a film in it for about a year now - I really need to finish it and get it processed.

Tags:   Canon vintage FD AE1P film old Sigma 12-24mm 5DSR

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Following from my Canon DSLR series, here's (some of) the evolution of the 5 series of full-frame DSLR cameras.

Canon has an interesting numbering system for its cameras. Single digit numbers are reserved for the top of the line models - the lower the number, the more 'professional' or advanced the camera theoretically is.

In this image we've got the 5D, 5D Mark II, 5D Mark III, and 5DsR. Missing is the original '5' 35mm film SLR, the 5D Mark IV, and the 5Ds models.

The Canon 5D (often referred to as '5D Classic' or '5D mark 1', but is technically just '5D') was Canon's first full frame digital camera that fitted into a 'standard' DSLR package (ie. not a 1D sized monster, because the 1DS was Canon's first full frame digital camera), made between 2005 and 2008. It has 12.8Mp and is an absolute gem to use. It was my first full frame digital camera and I still enjoy using it today. A real purist Canon camera - no video, but all the right controls in all the right places for taking great photos. I really love the sensor in the 5D - it has an almost film-like quality. My 5D album is here:
www.flickr.com/photos/keithmidson/albums/72157679040012264

The 5D Mark II was produced between 2008 and 2012. It had an 21.1 Mp sensor and video recording capability. It was seen as revolutionary for its video capability and was often used for movie and television production as a highly portable product. The autorfocus system had the same 9 focus points as the 5D but a faster processor.
My 5DmkII album is here:
www.flickr.com/photos/keithmidson/albums/72157712155832651

The 5D Mark III was produced between 2012 and 2016. I've had mine since 2013 and it's been my faithful workhorse ever since. In fact almost all of my photos uploaded to Flickr were taken by my 5D3. It's scratched, dented and worn in places. It hasn't missed a beat in all that time. It has a slightly larger Mp sensor (22.3Mp) than the 5D2 and a massive 61 autofocus points. The ISO range is also phenomenal - 50 to 25600! This camera eats low light.

The 5DSR was released in 2015 with a massive 50.6Mp sensor. It was the highest Mp full-frame DSLR available at the time and there's a rumour that the resolution is even better than real life, with the ability to see individual atoms if you zoom in on the RAW image... The 'R' version has the optical low-pass filter removed to increase resolution further. This is an interesting beast to use - any motion blur seems to be amplified in the final image, but if you get everything right in a shot, the image quality and resolution is nothing short of extraordinary. The ISO range is lower than the 5D3 (max 12800) and the processing speed can be slow due to the huge image file sizes produced. So this is not a daily camera by any means.
My 5DsR album is here:
www.flickr.com/photos/keithmidson/albums/72157709284727553

And what camera should you use to photograph such a high-end line up of 5's? A Sigma DP2 Merrill of course ... not a Canon, not a full frame and not even a DSLR, but a compact camera with a super-sharp fixed lens (45mm full-frame equivalent focal length) and a massive 46Mp Foveon sensor, almost rivalling the 5DsR!

Tags:   Canon 5D 5DmkIII 5DmkII 5DSR cameras camera full frame Sigma DP2M Merrill

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