All the Cameras

Last month, for National Camera Day, Jedda published a post about some of the digital cameras she’s owned. That got me thinking about my own history of camera gear. It’s a longer list than I realized at first! I’ve included everything I can think of—including a variety of film and digital cameras, from point and shoots to modern mirrorless—going as far back as I can remember. So without further ado, here is my list.

Film Cameras

	Type	Years Used	Notes
	35mm	1980s	I had NO IDEA what I was doing when my dad gave me this camera to use. It’s basically a point and shoot camera, but it frustrated me because it wasn’t an SLR. I got some interesting pics with it, but sadly most are now lost.
	APS	ca. 1995	I’m 90% sure this is the model we had. We used it a ton back in the 90s. It was cool to get “HD” and panoramic prints! I have boxes full of ‘em, and most (if not all) of the developed film cartridges. I need to try to get those things digitized!
	35mm SLR	1990s	I bought my first SLR with money from my first real job in IT. I took classes and shot a bunch of print and slide film. Most of it was junk, but I learned a lot using this camera. Once I got my first digital camera, this one fell out of favor and never got much use again.

Digital Point and Shoot Cameras

	Res	Acquired	Retired	Notes
	3.2MP	ca. 2000	?	This was my first digital camera. I took it to China in 2002 and got a lot of important and meaningful photos.
	5MP	ca. 2004	?	I bought this because I thought Nikon meant quality, but it turned out to be just a so-so little camera. It was slow to focus and did not provide much joy apart from being compact and convenient to carry around. It’s the camera I took to China in 2004.
	5MP	Jun. 2006	present	This remains one of my favorite digital cameras of all time because it was just so perfect given its time. It had decent resolution, was quick to focus, had a good zoom range, and performed great in low light. I took this one to China in 2006 and it’s still working today—though I don’t use it much.
	10MP	Aug. 2011	present	I bought this as a higher-resolution replacement for the Lumix. It is also small like the Nikon 5200. My daughter recently took it to Italy and was happy that she did because her Nikon DSLR died early in the trip and this little gem saved the day!

Digital Single Lens Reflex (SLR) Cameras

	Res	Acquired	Retired	Notes
	6MP	Apr. 2004	Mar. 2016	This was my first DSLR, which I bought to use for my “serious” photography. I traded in for the D7200.
	24MP	Mar. 2016	Jul. 2024	I used this beast of a camera for many years to get a lot a good photos of family trips and events. My daughter took it to university where she made good use of it for two years. We’ve both since gone mirrorless and I recently sold this one off with all the rest of the Nikon gear.
	12MP	Sep. 2023	present	I bought this body and a stereo lens last year so I could play around with stereoscopic photography. It works well for that, but I don’t use it for anything else.

Mirrorless

	Res	Acquired	Retired	Notes
	24MP	Nov. 2021	present	In all honesty, this is the best camera I have ever owned. I jumped on the retro bandwagon and got the silver version, and I even have a few silver lenses to go with it. I’m a mirrorless convert.
	24MP	May 2024	present	This was an impulse purchase. I wanted something smaller and more convenient to carry than the X-T4, and I was having a bit of X100 envy. It seems like the X-E4 robbed the X-E3 of some love, but I actually prefer it for several reasons. It’s no X-T4 replacement, but it‘s small, sexy, and functional. The XF27mm F/2.8 pancake lens is perfectly at home here.