Why I’m Still Using an 8-Year-Old Camera (You Should Too)
Every Monday, I clean my tech hardware. It’s not glamorous, but I look forward to it. This week, somewhere between wiping dust off my laptop and polishing my camera, I felt a wave of pride worth sharing.
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I started with my MacBook Air M1. The corners are dented and one key no longer works, but it still runs beautifully. I can edit photos on the best photo editing software and even do light video editing without trouble.
Next was my Fujifilm X-T3. It’s in better shape than the laptop but carries the marks of long travel and plenty of use.
As I worked, I thought about their ages. The MacBook is five years old. The X-T3 is almost ten. In today’s rapid upgrade cycle, I should have replaced them years ago, even though they still work perfectly well.
I also gave my Viltrox 23mm f/1.4 lens a quick clean. It’s not as old, but it is a $200 third-party alternative to the $999 Fujifilm version.
The pride I felt wasn’t about having spotless gear. It was about not giving in to the push to buy something new for the sake of it. Camera companies release updates faster than most of us can keep up with, and it’s easy to start seeing flaws in what you already own just to justify an upgrade.
Plenty of great cameras end up gathering dust because of this. It’s wasteful for both photographers and the planet.
Last week, I took a photo I love on an eight-year-old camera with that $200 lens. Would I love it more if I had used a newer, more expensive setup? No.
Better photos come from showing up and putting in the work, not from replacing your gear before it truly reaches the end of its life.
So if you ever catch yourself thinking your camera isn’t the latest and greatest, remember that’s just marketing talking. The real win is getting everything you can out of what you already have. And if you can take pride in that, even better.
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