Southern Upland Way Photography: From Film To Digital, From DSLR To Mirrorless

Sony NEX-5

Searching through images for my piece on the fortieth anniversary of the Southern Upland Way I realized that my two walks of this trail in 2003 and 2011 came at times when my photographic approach and gear were changing in major ways.

Ricoh RDC-5000

In 2003 my main camera was a film SLR, the Canon EOS 300, but I’d started dabbling with digital cameras. As well as the EOS 300 with 24-70 zoom lens I took the Ricoh RDC-5000 compact digital camera, which I’d first used on the Arizona Trail in 2000, on the Southern Upland Way. The Canon was for images suitable for print publication and for slide shows, the Ricoh for online use. The latter had a tiny 2.3 megapixel sensor and a 38-86mm full frame equivalent zoom lens. It ran on four AA batteries, which didn’t last long, and wasn’t that light at 315g without the batteries. At the time the images were just about acceptable for online use though often blotchy and with an artificial digital look. Any current smartphone is far superior.

Ricoh RDC-5000

I haven’t yet scanned any of the hundreds of transparencies I took with the Canon on the Southern Upland Way so I only have the Ricoh ones to post here and I only took 35 with it, making it rather a deadweight to carry.

Ricoh RDC-5000

Whilst not very happy with the digital images I realised that digital was the way forward and I was on the lookout for a reasonable affordable camera that could produce pictures I would be happy to send to an editor for publication. The next year, 2004, Canon produced one, the 6.3 megapixel EOS 300D DSLR with an APS-C size sensor. It was £1000, not cheap but far less than other DSLRs. I bought one and by the end of 2005 I had stopped using film.

Canon 450D 

Jump to 2011 and my time with DSLRs was coming to an end. The previous year I had taken my Canon DSLR, now the 12.2 megapixel EOS 450D, with a 14 megapixel Sigma DP1 digital compact with APS-C sensor as backup, on the Pacific Northwest Trail. Rain quickly destroyed the Sigma so I came home in need of another camera. The first mirrorless cameras with APS-C sensors and interchangeable lenses were just appearing and after handling a few I bought a 14.2 megapixel Sony NEX-5, delighted at how light and compact it was compared to a DSLR.  

Sony NEX-5

The Sony was intended as backup to the Canon and on the Southern Upland Way I took just one lens with it, an 18-55mm zoom. I took three lenses with the Canon. However I quickly preferred the Sony and ended up taking most of my images with it, 743 in total, and just 186 with the Canon. Now the latter had become a bit of a deadweight. My time with DSLRs was ending. By early 2012 I’d bought a second Sony mirrorless camera, the 24 megapixel NEX-7, and stopped using the EOS 450D.

Sony NEX-5

Since then I have stayed with Sony APS-C mirrorless cameras and currently use a6600 and a6700 ones, though occasionally the Nex-7, which I still have.  I only bought these cameras last year. I wrote about them here.

All photos taken on the Southern Upland Way, the Ricoh ones in 2003, the Sony and Canon ones in 2011.