Belated birthday wishes

When I was seventeen I started work for the grand salary of thirteen pounds a month. Feeble recompense, even in those days; but somehow I managed to save some cash and eventually bought my first camera, a Russian-made Zenit-E for the sum of seventeen pounds. It was an agricultural monster of an SLR, with a mirror that would make the room (and the photo) shake every time you pressed the shutter. But it was mine and I had paid for it and many rolls of film passed through its sprockets until it died and was melted down to make a tractor.

After that, I had Canon SLRs for most of my adult life. Come the digital revolution I bought a Canon 300D and then a move to a 30D when I retired. Then everything got a little out of hand.

I used to enjoy shooting sports, and soon people started offering me money to shoot sports in various locations. As the money came in I started to upgrade my gear, and by 2009 I was up to a Canon 1D and a load of lenses. A trip to shoot a round of the Indian Rally Championship found me checking in for my flight with fifteen kilos of camera and (some of my) lenses in a rucksack. Fortunately, nobody bothered to check the weight of my carry-on baggage, they just assumed that I always walked as if I had a sack of coal on my back. Holiday trips with she who must be obeyed found me hauling similar weights around the place; just ridiculous.

Then, in December 2009, I bought this:

A Panasonic GF1 with a 20mm F1.7 lens. The camera and lens cost me half of what a decent Canon lens would cost. It weighed nearly nothing and would fit in your pocket if you didn’t mind the bulge. And what a performer. Fun to use with images that delighted me. After a lifetime of flappy-mirror SLRs, this was an epiphany. Cameras didn’t need to be big to be good.

By mid-2010 I had kept the big Canon and one lens for my income-generating sports shooting, but the rest of my Canon lenses had been sold. I would like to say that the money I made from selling them was wisely invested; but of course it went on buying more lenses for the GF1. Now when I went on trips, I still carried a camera and bunch of lenses, but they all fitted in a small bag and were light enough to carry around all day.

I now have three cameras. The Canon 1D which is an efficient machine at knocking out beautiful, lucrative sports shots. The Fuji X100 which is an occasionally frustrating beast, but it compensates by excellent image quality even at high ISO. And finally the GF1. It’s battered and scratched, but every time I pick it up I want to go and take photos. It’s by far the most enjoyable camera I have ever owned. If I was going on a trip and only allowed one camera, the GF1 would be it. The way it fits in your hand, how all the controls are easily available, it just feels exactly how a camera should feel. If you own a GF1 you will know what I mean.

So I would like to wish my GF1 belated birthday wishes. Thank you for two years of fun and thousands of images. I love you.

P.S. Regretfully, you are soon to be replaced.

Comments 🔗

2012-01-04 | Barry says

Doesn’t look battered and scratched to me. Perhaps you were refering to yourself, rather than the GF1. I bought a Pentax when I was a spotty youth, and when it eventually fell apart, rather like myself, I bought a new one. Heavy and fully non-automatic, it still produced some great snaps, with the aid of a lense I bought out of the Radiuo Times. That might have been the best thing I ever bought. Sad, really. I’ve only just semi-retired the gear, after about 40 years. Amazing. When I started work I got paid 11 pounds, eight after tax, and gave me mum a fiver of that. And the three pounds I had left was still more than adequate. Now it might buy a pint of beer. Also amazing.

2012-01-04 | Spike says

The mess on the front is now covered with a $14 leatherette skin. The back looks like it has been sandpapered and if you don’t know what the buttons are for you are lost because the lettering has long since gone. Still knocks out the photos though. Three pounds tax on eleven pounds income, that sounds steep. Are we talking monthly or weekly wages here?

2012-01-05 | Barry says

That was monthly, and a long time ago. But three pounds tax does sound high, now you mention it. Included national insurance as well.

2012-01-05 | Ad says

I little bird (well, Harry actually) tells me you are getting a GX1. I’m looking forward to your review of it. I have a big birthday coming up in a couple of months…