Been a while from making my own posts in Cohost. Still currently in mental crisis, but at least I have myself to look back on the photos I've taken instead of wandering into vents and fatal contemplations, etc. So here I go...

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I think the first moment I realized photography could be a thing in my life was when I got my parents' a red samsung ST65 digital camera (which was on my desk until my mom stepped into my room few months ago, shit) to use during my one month of Kuala Lumpur stay.

It was a neat camera, faithful to point-and-shoot factor. I was satisfied with most of the shots (with the unsatisfied ones coming from due to my lack of understanding in shutter speeds), as I remember it taking recognizable photos even at nighttime by just one button press. I held onto it for almost every moment during that time.

And then smartphones became (almost) a necessity. It was more than getting dazed by 'selected few' playing games, surf web, and take neat photos in a single piece of device - now everyone had to have it because of how 'affordable' they became. This led me to constantly think about the phone camera performances, and believe that once I get to hold the 8 megapixel range on iphone 4s and newer, I will be so content with my photography life.

Since with this belief, I also lost interest in photography. Only time I would even use the camera app would only be for the events, like concerts and school fairs. Even when I got my grandmother's Nikon 1 v2 with kit 10-30mm lens on my hands due to her insurmountable dislike in interchangeable lens factor, I just let it stuck in my drawer for years. (Not to mention the fatal Gangnam school life that forced the interest loss.)

It was about 2019 when I decided to pick up that Nikon 1 camera, few months in foreign international school life after a complete life breakdown in Gangnam. With some time lying around, I started taking photos of flowers, then my school friends, then airplane trips, and so on.

The Nikon 1 v2 was a powerful camera, now that I get to think about it. 1 inch sensor was good enough to produce bokehs and outfocus a lot beyond the phone cameras at the time, and the autofocusing was quick & accurate. Even when set only to auto, the lighting and colors were 80-90% accurate and I only had to occasionally adjust the exposure (something I can't imagine with my current Sony cameras). Unfortunately my knowledge in photos and camera was so shallow, and I was too taken away by the stress of 10-30mm kit lens' zoom capabilities, lack of wireless transferring, and no USB charging (all 3 factors which I would've neglected nowadays).

My daily camera was Oneplus 6. Bit of digression but it's one phone I actually loved - Alert slider, headphone jack, quick charge, color LED notification, and beefy performance. Camera wise I always had to deal with some significant color inaccuracy, but in focusing and detail it was good enough. Enough to consider my Nikon 1 v2 a camera something only for special occasions than a part of my life.

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Then Covid hit with two personal events. One, I killed my phone because it once overheated to the point of the OS locking the phone until cooldown, and I thought spraying water to that 'Water Resistant' advertised phone would cool it down faster. Two, with barely any work to do, my parents suggested me to walk around before the morning and at night instead of video games all day. At first it was more like a threat and I would just be stuck to a bench, continuing my routine of barely doing anything - but after a year of such 'suggestion' I found myself voluntarily leaving the house, and spot so many moments of beings, things, and moments I wished I had taken a picture of. And that led to my desire in getting a new camera.

Instead of much researching, I only had few things in my mind. The new camera should be small enough to fit in my pocket, have no need of interchangeable lenses, and most importantly, be able to zoom in as much as possible. I was mostly set into Sony's RX100, as I knew about it since its launch by the '1-inch sensor in a pocket camera size body' factor. I hesitated a little when I found out the HX series and its even more superzoom capabilities, but after my only research telling me "Larger sensor = Better detail", I ended up with RX100 VI - which I luckily got just under 1 mil KRW (= about $1k... back then). Other than the money I got from selling the Nikon 1 v2, it was basically my birthday gift from my parents - I guess my parents thought it would be nice to see me away from staring at my laptop all day and be more active at outside back then.

And so for the past few years the RX100 was my main camera - and one of the cores of my life. It took 20MP images from 24 to 200mm optical focal length, natural depth of field effect beyond the phones I had (and currently have), tilting screen for taking pictures at different positions without having to dramatically pose, USB charging, and fast & accurate autofocus for stressless photoshooting experience. And with all of that performance, it can still fit into my pocket. The Wifi connection feature, for some reason, refused my Galaxy Note 8 until I change to iPhone 13 mini, but other than that, it felt like a perfect camera.

Unlike the forementioned devices, the RX100 VI is still with me - much closer, in fact - being my main snapshot machine. But some new experiences, from getting to hold a different 'kind' of camera to new kind of life pressures, made me rethink about the whole concept of 'perfect camera' and threw me completely into the black hole of cameras and photography (making the part 2 the real part I guess!).