To talk about future, the past has to pass first, here is my history.

Influenced by my dad, I have been in the camera game for a while. I am not a real photographer, but I’ve always kept a semi-professional camera around. I started from a Pentax ME Super:

Pentax ME Super is a pretty good representation of the film era. Aperture priority metering, manual shutter, etc. It gave me a crash course of photography. You have to be sure of every shutter release because, unlike what people had been saying, film ain’t cheap, especially for a young kid like me. I couldn’t really afford (or justify the cost to my parents) to have the film processed and printed, so I learnt to process black and white slides myself. I bought a cheapo russian projector and view my processed film this way.

IT WAS WAY TOO HIP FOR THE MODERN DAY ME THOUGH:

Then I had enough of the crap about film. I was always guessing, always paying for the stupid lab… so I moved to Pentax K-10D, it was the only DSLR that I can afford on the used market (I think this was 2012, so yeah, I ain’t rich)

I kept my film lense for the camera, since I can’t afford to purchase a digital lens. Pentax digital cameras worked really well with their old lenses. I was able to shoot with manual focusing and aperture priority pretty easily, even as a beginner digital photographer.

After which, I found a part-time job in my college and was able to afford the proper equipment, a Pentax K-5 with a couple of proper digital lenses.

I owned K-5 for a while. It is a great camera and even today’s camera is not that better than it, a lot of good photos were taken with the setup.
During the K-5 ownership I stopped to see too much of an improvement in my photos. Slowly, the hunt of photo op becomes more of a issue than actually taking the photo properly. K-5 and the DSLR setup’s weight became a huge problem. Heavy equipment simply makes my trip less enjoyable as an unprofessional photographer. Taking photos is only a small part of traveling for me. So I gradually stopped taking my cameras for trips. And the camera starts to collect dust.

But there is hope, the hope is from SONY, my next camera is the Sony Alpha α6000

I don’t see much of a functional difference between the Sony and K-5, the Sony is simply lighter and smaller. Takeing it on a trip is a breeze, and the Sony sensor is simply impressive.

Again, quite some time has passed and then, I GOT A JOB! The poor student is gone and I get to buy pretty much any camera I want if I try to spend some time to save. In the meantime, Pentax made the famous K-1, so I bought one. That marks my first ever Full-frame camera.

I also got a proper lens to go along with it, the FA 31 Limited. (Obviously I have other lenses too, this one is just too pretty)

Full-frame cameras are just simply better than APS-C cameras because of the color rendering, low ISO noise, and beautiful bokeh. Most importantly, the separation of the object and background, even at distance.

click to zoom for the separation effect
click to zoom for the separation effect

But, it still has the same problem as the K-5. It is simply too heavy and too bulky.

Why not the Sony A7 series you ask? Because even though the camera body is small, the lenses are huge and heavy, making the concept useless in my eyes.

The weight and bulk kept troubling my mind during my ownership of K-1. With the improvements of smartphone cameras I often “forget” to bring the K-1, going on a trip with just my smartphone. I sometimes would think that it would be nice if a certain photo is taken with the K-1. But I quickly forget it because it just doesn’t seem worth it to me to bring the whole setup for this one photo op.

Things can get even worse… The new dual/quad camera smartphones basically make APS-C cameras useless. I personally believe bokeh is the only advantage of a APS-C camera over a high quality smartphone and digital bokeh killed that one thing. With a little digital processing, compression, I don’t think you can tell much of a difference… For example, one of the a6000 photos is actually taken with an iPhone X… Sorry I tricked you.

I can still argue that full frame cameras have a place in the modern days because of the low light ability, natural color rendering, and object separation. Digital processing is still noticeable in some places, a good lens and good sensor still beat it.

Well there is hope for Cameras, the hope is from SONY, again, so I sold my K-1 and got my next camera. The Sony RX1R

It is basically a combination of a Sony A7 with an excellent Zeiss Lens. It is very small and light, I would happily bring it on a trip and use it for the few photo ops that I would like to see in a better image quality.

THAT BEING SAID… I have only used it on 1 trip since I bought it, a 7-day-long trip. Because after all, the camera is an extra thing to worry about, an extra item to carry, something that doesn’t comfortably sit in a pocket. The camera on the smartphone is just too convenient and too addictive. Sometimes, even the need to transfer photos from the camera to the smartphone becomes a justification for not using the camera.

But I would probably keep the camera, it is non intrusive enough, but it would be one of the first things I would sell if I ever need money.

So… what is the future then? Well, There is no future.

Smartphone cameras will replace semi-pro digital cameras. Sorry, I wasted your time. LOL.

Okay, seriously, I thought a compact camera with good zooming ability, like the Sony RX100VI, will become the next camera I buy. But then, Huawei made the P30 Pro with 50X Zoom…

So yeah, no future