Wonkie - my best advice would be to find a good camera store in the area around you (Seattle has to have a few) that has been around for years and has a good selection of used cameras. You are probably looking for either a "compact" camera (with a built in lens) or a "mirrorless" camera (which would mean getting at least one lens to go with it). If it were me, I'd be looking for a camera from Fujifilm, Olympus, Panasonic, or Sony with at least 16 megapixels. If you talk to the people there about what sorts of things you paint, they can probably find you the appropriate combination of camera body and lens to take some good pics with minimal fuss.
I have an Olympus OMD e-M5 with a 12-40mm pro lens. It's nice and compact for carry and the camera and lens are both waterproof. A 12-40 lens is great for landscape and street photos (equivalent of 24-75mm zoom on an old 35mm slr). If it's set to auto and auto-focus with the focus set dead center, you can quickly pick the thing you want to have in-focus, set the focus, then get the framing you want and take the pic.
I spend a lot of time with my pics on the software side to get them to look how I want, but most of these modern cameras have a few presets you can play with to give you some pics that look more like an old school film camera. Find what pleases your eye and then set it as default and you should be good to go.
Anyone heard from JanieM? She'd probably have some good advice here, too.
2025-10-24 16:55:33
wonkie, what do you miss about the old cameras? When I bought my micro 4/3 camera before the Iceland trip, I played around with lens adapters and older lenses from the '70s. Throw the settings on manual and you barely notice that it's a modern digital camera. Doubly so when I pull up the photos in DXO photo lab and use their film stock modeling to give the pics the same light contours as a classic Fujifilm stock.
Send 'em off to an online photo processor for printing and you would barely notice the difference. The feel and the look are there.
Meanwhile, I've been converting my older mountain bike into a gravel oriented bike for when it rains and the roads are closed. I put lighter tires and some new TPU tubes on the bike and took 1.5 pounds of rotating weight and sticky rubber drag out of the equation. It's feeling fast and light. Just waiting on handlebar tape to put the new alt handlebars on to get a more drop bar like position on the ride.
Wonkie - my best advice would be to find a good camera store in the area around you (Seattle has to have a few) that has been around for years and has a good selection of used cameras. You are probably looking for either a "compact" camera (with a built in lens) or a "mirrorless" camera (which would mean getting at least one lens to go with it). If it were me, I'd be looking for a camera from Fujifilm, Olympus, Panasonic, or Sony with at least 16 megapixels. If you talk to the people there about what sorts of things you paint, they can probably find you the appropriate combination of camera body and lens to take some good pics with minimal fuss.
I have an Olympus OMD e-M5 with a 12-40mm pro lens. It's nice and compact for carry and the camera and lens are both waterproof. A 12-40 lens is great for landscape and street photos (equivalent of 24-75mm zoom on an old 35mm slr). If it's set to auto and auto-focus with the focus set dead center, you can quickly pick the thing you want to have in-focus, set the focus, then get the framing you want and take the pic.
I spend a lot of time with my pics on the software side to get them to look how I want, but most of these modern cameras have a few presets you can play with to give you some pics that look more like an old school film camera. Find what pleases your eye and then set it as default and you should be good to go.
Anyone heard from JanieM? She'd probably have some good advice here, too.
wonkie, what do you miss about the old cameras? When I bought my micro 4/3 camera before the Iceland trip, I played around with lens adapters and older lenses from the '70s. Throw the settings on manual and you barely notice that it's a modern digital camera. Doubly so when I pull up the photos in DXO photo lab and use their film stock modeling to give the pics the same light contours as a classic Fujifilm stock.
Send 'em off to an online photo processor for printing and you would barely notice the difference. The feel and the look are there.
Meanwhile, I've been converting my older mountain bike into a gravel oriented bike for when it rains and the roads are closed. I put lighter tires and some new TPU tubes on the bike and took 1.5 pounds of rotating weight and sticky rubber drag out of the equation. It's feeling fast and light. Just waiting on handlebar tape to put the new alt handlebars on to get a more drop bar like position on the ride.
Fun times.