My first SLR was a Canon AV1, an aperture Priority camera with a very basic swing needle meter. But I cut my portrait and landscape with this camera. I chose Canon so that I could borrow some of my father's lenses, who was also Canon and a few FD mount lenses.
Later when I had some money, I could take photography a lot more seriously. I bought a Canon A1 and my father's AE-1 Program. This served me a long time and I still have these cameras in storage. I don't use them due to their failing shutters and I don't do film any more.
From there, auto focus came in and my next camera was the big format changer...the EF mount. The EOS 650 was an amazing camera with a lot of features over an above the amazing landmark AF system. The amazing thing about this system (although it was a little slow to market compareed with Minolta and Nikon) was that canon got so much right first time. All the other camera marques took several goes to get it right, Canon...right straight out of the door.
My next camera was the EOS 33 with eye control. A very nice a well featured camera. I still use this if I need film...which I haven't for many years. Digital SLR was demi-god expensive and most digital cameras were digicams and really lacked the features and depth of field that the 35mm couls offer.
My first DSLR was the Canon 300D. It served me a year and cost a lot for what it was. I loved the ability to instantly review my photos and adjust iso between shots...but soon discovered that photo archive, storage and post production were serious time and cost liabilities. I bought this with a Sigma 12-24mm! The only crazy wide available for a crop at the time.
Next up was what I considered to be another game changer camera, the Canon 20D. 5fps, lots of AF points and a big jump in MP. The camera was very nice handling too. But I found the crop good in some situations, but I really missed the depth of field of what was ow termed "full frame". I bought my 20D literally the day it was launched and PX'd my 300D for it.
Then came a long the Canon 5D...another game changer camera and I was one of the first in my region to stump up the eye watering cash for one. Finally, a full frame DSLR that I could just about afford. An amazing sensor wrapped in a very mediocre camera. But that forced me to really think my photography and work hard with it's AF, meter and lack of features. Although it wasn't that far behind the 20D in some areas, which I sold in PX. This was about the time I started semi-professional photography. Weddings, portrait and landscapes mostly, I wasn't active in marketing at the time...I was drawn into the field and found myself being asked to cover events.
Next up, I strangely missed the crop sensor for long shots and bought a 40D to supplement. The two cameras worked my line up and I used them both at weddings, the 5D did DOF and wide work and my 40D covered the long end (worked great with a 200mm lens) and most of my lens line up was primes except for the wide end.
I loved Live view and could see that it was another game changer for landscape work...I just needed a 5D series with it.
Which eventually came along in the very slow to market 5DII. It felt like empires had come and gone in the time it took for Canon to replace the 5D. I wasn't interested in the movie functions but as a camera...it was a huge step in image quality and iso ability. I didn't need the extra MP but it was nice to have. The extra 1 fps was a boon too. It was a vastly better camera and I traded my 40D for a 5DII and a year later I traded my 5D for a 2nd mkII. By them my wedding work was really taking off, I even got a wedding in St Paul's Cathedral!
I picked up a 7D, which had a stunning AF (for it's day) and I started to dabble with birds and other wild life photography. It was an amazing camera wrapped around a very mediocre sensor. The iso noise at 400iso wasn't that great compared to the 5DII's at the time. But the handling, ergonomics, AF, metering and fps were streets ahead of the 5DII. But I sold this along with a lot of lenses and other kit I'd accrewed to fund a mint SH ef 400mm f2.8 LIS.
Then the most versatile camera that Canon have ever produced came out, the legendary 5DIII. It was more of a camera that I could ever have wished for. It's AF was co-developed with the 1Dx, it's design was more like a 7D than a 5D and it had more FPS than before. Sure the MP count was practically the same as the 5DII, but for my wedding work, the last thing I needed was massive files. An initial 2000 images at 22mp was quite enough for each wedding thank you. What a camera! I loved it so much I bought two copies and I still run them today along with a 5DII which I use for rough conditions or coastal work. I've taken it on numerous bird workshops and it's performed exceptionally well. In my opinion, getting the shot is more important than how many MP it has. As long as it's well composed, well timed, well metered and well executed...22mp is more than ample.
So it's been a long and fantastic journey. I'm looking forwards to looking at the 5D4. So I'll see what that's got to offer when it's here. But at the moment, my pair of 5DIII's are still knocking it out of the park.
