Recently someone asked in an online forum, what was the path that brought you to the EOS R5. For some, it was the first non-phone camera they owned, for some, it was a journey back to the days for film. I spent a little time thinking and reminiscing and came up with my list of the 20 cameras that brings me to February 2021 and thought to share it here. A what WAS in my camera bag so to speak. I tried to include some of the rationale behind changes and will include samples for all of them that I can. So, let’s step back…. The year was 1978…

1. Canon AE-1 Program

From 1978 to 1982, my parents and I lived in Belgrade, Serbia (at the time it was Yugoslavia). During these 4 years in Europe, we got to travel all over the continent and see some amazing things. My first experience shooting was on my parents AE-1 Program and I got to use it a bunch even as a tween. As I recall this was the first consumer camera that could automatically adjust for exposure, previous to this, there was only fully manual cameras. Sadly, most of these shots were taken on slides and over the past 40 years, most of these slides have been lost.

2. Nikon 8008

In the 1990’s I worked for a local newspaper and got to shoot a bunch for them, both for articles and images to support advertisers in the paper. One of my favorite subjects to shoot back then was motorsports. At a whopping 3.2 shots per second, it went through a 24 roll of film quickly and certainly racked up the developing bills quick.

3. Sony Mavica MVC-fd75

My first digital camera. This beauty saved on 3.5” floppy disks and shot at a native resolution of 640x480 pixels (that’s 0.3 megapixels). What it lacked in resolution, it made up for in weight and bulk, this thing was huge!

4. Canon PowerShot S300

Next up in the run was a big jump to 2 megapixels in 2001 with the Canon PowerShot Elph S300. This one corresponded with the birth of my first child, wanting to have better shots of her. This felt like such an upgrade, between the higher resolution and the fact that it was smaller than a deck of cards. I carried this camera all over the world for a couple years (oh I wish I had an R5 for these trips) and took thousands of low resolution, mediocre shots.

5. Canon Rebel (300D)

When the kids started to get involved with youth sports and the price on the original Rebel started to come down, I made the jump to my first DSLR. It was now 2004. This first Rebel was a 6.3-megapixel shooter that would max out at 1,600 ISO and shoot at 2.5 frames per second continuous. I shot a total of 22,000 shots on this camera (life expectancy 40k) between 2004 and 2011 which is equivalent to one month of shooting in 2019-2021.

6. GoPro Hero 3 Silver

My first (and last) venture into action cameras was the Hero 3 that I got in 2013. At the time I was doing a lot of mountain and road biking and I would record much of this activity. In subsequent years I have also used this for underwater use for snorkeling using the included underwater case. This one shoots 12 megapixel stills and 1080p video. Both never failed to disappoint.

7. Canon Rebel XSi

After a hiatus of shooting where I pretty much just used my phone, in January 2015, I picked up a used XSi on Craigs List for $150 with a pair of lenses for some sports and travel related photography. This one is not much better than the old original Rebel except for the 12-megapixel resolution. It still shot around 3.5 frames per second, so it was really hit and miss for sports. What this camera did do however is reignite the photography spark in my life and was a gateway drug that created the whirlwind that was the coming years.

iPhone

I guess I will drop this footnote in here. I was an early bandwagoneer for the iPhone. I bought the original iPhone about a week after launch and have had quite a few of the subsequent models; 3G, 3GS, 4, 4S, 5, 6 plus, 7, X, 12 pro, and a pile of iPads. Across all these devices I have about 7000 shots in my lightroom catalog. While I have never and will never agree that any phone can do what a “real camera” can do, they certainly have replaced the point and shoot in my life and like they say…. The best camera you have is the one you have with you.

8. Canon EOS 1N-RS

In 2015, my stepmother gave me her film camera that she no longer used. She was a news shooter from way back and she had a 1N-RS which, for a film camera, was a monster shooting 10 frames per second and was a serious pro camera. I never loaded a can of film in it.

9. Canon EOS 6D

By November 2015, Melissa and I had decided to turn the hobby into a side hustle. I made a big jump from the XSi to buy the original EOS 6D. I was now up to 20 megapixels and shooting at a speed of 4.5 frames per second. This is the camera that kicked off Sean Murphy Studios. I used this to shoot our first senior portraits, lots of sports, I started shooting for our local daily paper with this one as well. I put around 80,000 shots on this camera before I continued the upgrade train.

10. Canon EOS 7D

In April 2016, in an effort to step up sporting events, I picked up a used 7D. At 8 frames per second, I was able to get better sports action shots and with 18 megapixels, it was pretty decent for newspaper and online sporting events.

11. Canon EOS 7D MK II

Fast forward to September 2016, the side-hustle was becoming a serious business. We got hired to shoot for an Indy car team for their race at Watkins Glen and this was the excuse to make another move. I sold off the 7D and picked up a new 7D Mark II for the upgrade of 20 megapixels and now 10 frames per second as well as better low light performance and better dynamic range. This became our main sports camera for the next few years until it was dethroned by the R6 in 2020. It sits in our stable still, to this day, as a backup body for wedding days, but really is just collecting dust.

12-14. Canon EOS 5D MK IV

By November of that first year of business we had done well enough to make the jump to the 5D series. I kept the 6D as a backup body and picked up our first 5D Mark IV. The 5D4 is a 30-megapixel body that shoots 7 frames per second and has great image quality and high ISO performance. Another big factor, dual card slots. Now when shooting, I could have a built in back up of every image as I go as they are recorded to two cards at once. This was the green light to start taking on weddings. I picked up a second 5D4 in May of 2018 and a third in November 2018 so we could have 3 running at once while shooting weddings (I shoot with a double rig and Melissa uses a single).

15. Canon Rebel T6

In 2017, as we started to shoot weddings, I grabbed a T6 to use for our photo booth. We decided the following year that the effort vs pay-off of the photobooth was not worth it to our business model, so we stopped offering it and unloaded this body (and kit lens).

16. Sony A6000

In November 2019 we were headed to the southern Caribbean on a cruise and we had several snorkeling events scheduled. After years of disappointment with the GoPro’s snorkeling performance, it was time for an upgrade. I looked at options for underwater housings for the 5D4 and even tried one of the DicaPak bag type housings but was not happy with the results so we made the call, based on the expense of a dive housing for the 5D series, to get the Sony. I picked up the A6000 which at 24 megapixels, is decent, and has nice image quality. Add a Sea Frogs housing with a WEIHE Aluminum Diving Handle, you end up with a very capable underwater rig.

17. Canon EOS 5DS

Late in 2019, I was pushing into the commercial photography world more and more and I was wanting to get something with higher megapixels to round out our capabilities. There were rumors of a 45-megapixel body coming in 2020 but I was not clear if that was a good option (whoops), and so I picked up a used 5DS on a trip to B&H. In store, they would not let me connect to it to check shutter count and claimed that that could not determine it, so I risked it and got it as it looked like brand new. Once I was able to check it, the body has less than 6000 clicks. Win. I did end up selling this in early 2021, after having an R5, for nearly what I paid for it.

18-20. Canon EOS R5 and R6

So now we land in 2020 and Canon releases the EOS R5 and R6 (I am putting these two together in one line because of their similarities). Mirrorless, 45 and 20 megapixels respectively, eye detection autofocus, in body image stabilization, up to 20 frames per second continuous, AMAZING image quality. I preordered an R5 but like so many people, I was on back order for months. I then grabbed an R6 when it was available and fell in love. The 5D4s never got another click after I made the switch. We now use one R5 and two R6 bodies on a wedding day, use the R6 for sports, volume school and sports, and for much of our wildlife shooting. The R5 is the main body for portraits, commercial work, and travel/landscape photography. I really don’t believe I will ever buy another DSLR now that I have made this switch to mirrorless.

My Cameras from 1987 to 2021, a Brief History