Intro
This is a summary of all units I have owned as a photographer. In 16 years behind the camera with over 14 different units my units have nearly 32.43 service years combined. Factoring in wear tear and demise they have on average a service life of 2.32 years. During this time I have only lost 2 units in the line of duty, due to incidents, the rest of the retirements were due to age, mechanical failure or deteriorating performance. As cameras improve and I acquire more units, my goal is to raise this number closer to 5. My current requirements is to have at least 3 active DSLR units on the roster at any time. I currently have 4 and expect to add a 5th next year. Some photos I took with the cameras will appear here.
Camera #1. HP Photosmart 435 43x series (2004-2005)
The first was the worst. This was a cheap 3.1mp box camera with no optical zoom and only digital zoom as an option. Meaning you really had no useful zoom. It would be the first unit I used that ever sparked my interest in digital photography though. In early stages I was OK with the low quality but as I noticed there was better out there my thirst for better would rise. In my freshman year in high school I would carry this unit in my pocket on bike trips. As it got older electrical shorts and other things breaking with the cheaply designed camera plagued me until it eventually expired. This camera was my first and the most frustrating camera I ever worked with. Not too much longer hp did the right thing and stuck to computers getting out the camera business.
Camera #2 Minolta DiMAGE Z6 (2006-2006)
This is perhaps the shortest lived camera I had it only made it through one week. A tripod failure caused to to break. The pros of this model is it was an easy upgrade over my previous HP, the cons however were it was probably one of the most fragile units I ever used.
Camera #3 Minolta DiMAGE Z6 (2006-2006)
Because a poorly manufactured tripod caused the demise of #2 I exchanged it for this unit. Same model but had a much longer life of 10 months with me. However, fragility caught up with it with one fall breaking the LCD viewing screen in September then an unknown incident destroying it as I prepared to photograph the Midland Valley Powder Puff football game for the yearbook staff. I currently still posses the remains of this unit in my attic.
Camera #4 Fujifilm Finepixs (2007-2014)
This camera was not a DSLR but it was the toughness I needed to handle demands of Yearbook Staff. For now it's my longest serving unit too. From the second half of my Sophmore year in HS up until after my college graduation this camera was ether primary or secondary unit. I won Midland Valley's Spirit of the Mustang award with my work from this camera. It had 5.1 mp and a pretty impressive manual mode for a non-DSLR. I was taking images with it that were beyond the limits people would expect. The camera survived every bicycle accident I had in high school without many physical nicks. After high school and acquiring #5, it would often be my road unit on bike trips, to protect my DSLR from hazards. In 2014 my dad used it on a vacation and that was the last known use. The image quality started to tail off from age, and because it required XD memory cards instead of the standard SD, had no continuous shutter setting, plus became a fleet oddball she was shelved. This unit was impressive though in the fact that despite all it's limits it outlasted and nearly competed with some of my higher quality units. It didn't beat them but put up a good fight. Right now the units whereabouts are unknown, as a house guest my dad was dating at the time who turned out to be a clepto may have stolen it.
Camera #5 Nikon D3000 (2010-2014)
This was it I would be playing with the big boys the MPs were 10 and this had continuous shutter and my night time photography game just took a quantum leap forward. This unit was my first DSLR camera, and would be my primary unit during my time at USC Aiken Pacer Times. It accounted for many good images, but in late 2013 it malfunctioned on a rainy outing at a women's soccer game. The Malfunction didn't retire it but was spelling the end of the unit slowly. it was pushed into the back-up role and used primarily on bicycle trips, but finally expired in late 2014. With 3 new acquisitions the loss was not too hard of one. I gave the remains to a friend who uses the same model camera for parts.
Camera #6 Nikon D3200 (2013-2019)
This unit had a very long career with me and is special to me as it's the last gift I ever got from my now deceased mom and is responsible for a lot of publishing I achieved. The infamous lightning photo from September 2014 being just one example. The 24mp was a huge upgrade over my D3000. But that was not the only thing. The ISO sensitivity capabilities had far improved over Camera #5. The unit remained my primary unit until September 2014 but not because of what you may think, In that year I was buying several units that were even better, so that would bump camera 6 down to lowest priority very early in it's career and my road unit for bicycle trips and higher risk events that I didn't need a more expensive unit for. This probably helped prolong it's career. In 2019 it started showing signs that age was getting to it. An error popped up on the screen I couldn't fix. The camera was very obsolete compared to other units and to repair it would cost just as much as to replace it. But because it was the last thing my mom bought me the body has been kept and will sit on a future display case.
Camera #7 Nikon D5300 (2014-2014)
2nd shortest lived unit in my group, but it's performance encouraged me to buy more of this model. I loved it's at the time beastly high ISO settings. The camera was a beast and was my primary unit until, one fateful November night I am train shooting, the new tripod I had allows the stage to slide in to the base. I didn't know the base was not secured though. The camera would fall off the tripod 10 feet into a nearby stream, devastating the unit. I would use the Best Buy Geek protection to replace it at almost no cost to me. See Camera #9.
Camera 8 Nikon D7100 (2014-Present)
The oldest active unit still running on my roster today. Camera 8's biggest feature I love is it's ability to run 1/8000th shutter-speed. This is very useful in daytime sports. It's highest ISO however is only 6400 compared to other units. Often on outings like baseball games I'll start with Camera 8 and stick with it until the sunsets too much to be able to use a shutter speed higher than 1/4000th. I'll switch to one of my 5500s or my 5300 for any night time action photography. It saw lots of use up until last year, now I only use it when I need a shutter speed higher than 1/4000th mostly as it remains my only unit capable of doing so. Considering it's age and the fact it's showing signs of decline, it's highly likely I retire the unit next year in favor of a Nikon D7200 or even D7500. Money will determine that when it comes time.
Camera #9 Nikon D5300 "Old Red" (2014-2019)
When the ill-fated Camera 7 bit the dust much too early, I got this camera from my warranty plan. The operator on the phone said there were no D5300s in stock at time and I could downgrade to a D5200 or wait. I love the model because of ISO and I opted to wait, but my stipulation was that it could be a red one instead of the usual black. I got my wish! This unit was well known for drawing attention with it's red paint. Caught plenty of good shots with it as well. It filled the void left by Camera 7 for years. But once Camera 6 retired I acquired unit 10 and it was later pushed into the road unit role for more higher risk operations in 2019. Unfortunately it wouldn't last in that role very long as the shutter finally blew out. The unit was retired and sold on ebay for parts.
Camera 10 Nikon D5500 (2019-present)
I had not bought a camera in 5 years but because I wanted to save money I bought this one used and I fell in love with the D5500 model acquired another one in 2020. The high ISO and light weight made it a must have for me. Camera 10 however has the dubious distinction of being a bad luck unit right now. The flash which is slated to be replaced soon broke off while I was hugging a friend. Of all bizarre ways to damage a unit who ever would've ever thought hugging would do it. The unit is currently on loan to a friend and being used for video podcast and it's expected to return with a new popup flash.
Camera #11 Uniden Iwhitness dashcam (2019-present)
This deviates from my usual practice but every camera gets a number, and this camera was a result of needing liability evidence in case something happens involving my vehicle. It's probably not going to be the only dashcam I acquire as there are better options out there. However, it helps to have a camera on at all times when driving as I've learned from watching other's experiences and my own as a Lyft driver, when I was bogusly accused of being drunk while operating on the platform. The acquisition of this and other dash-cams will be an occurrence as I took that one bogus accusation so seriously that eventually it will be implemented that every corner of my car will be under surveillance in the future to thwart any occurrence of this repeating itself and discredit any attempts at telling lies or for court reasons involving any accidents. Simply put this camera is more for protection than fun. The incident I cited only happened once but one lie was one too many for my liking.
Camera #12 Nikon D5300 (2019-Present)
Bought off ebay and used currently as my high risk road camera. Pretty decent unit still but will likley be the last D5300 I buy as I am shifiting more toward D5500s and D7200s.
Camera #13 1998 RCA DSP3 Camcorder (2020-present)
You probably wanna laugh right now because this unit is so obsolete. I bought the VHS unit off ebay because it reminded me of the one I grew up with as a child. Yes, I plan on seriously using this but for throwback purposes. I also use it for VHS to digital conversions to save old home videos.
Camera #14 Nikon D5500 (2020-present)
Currently my newest unit and not yet much to write about it as it has seen the least amount of action.
