Transition

It's been close to a year since I purchased my new Sony, and it's surprisingly become my go to camera, and I never thought that would be the case.

I was recently online, trawling through different camera suppliers looking to buy film for the incoming Autumn season. I wasn't surprised to find really high prices, and a distinct lack of stock across the board. In the past I was a Fujifilm Velvia purist, I love this film for my landscape photography and wouldn't use anything else unless I was really stuck. But I can't buy it anymore, I can't find any stock that isn't ridiculously priced on eBay. I initially saw that as a real shame, the end of an era so to speak.

When I bought the Sony last year, we were about to head overseas for six weeks. I saw this as a great opportunity for photography but the last thing I wanted to try and do was carry my large bulky film cameras. Regardless of size and weight, I also could not find film that wasn't priced so high that it was simply not possible to justify.

The Sony made sense for a large overseas trip, but what I have found with this camera since returning home has really surprised me, and in some ways has changed my photography.

MY PURE FILM DAYS

It wasn't unusual, in fact it was even intentional for me in the past to use my panoramic film camera with a fixed wide angle lens for all of my photography work around Australia. I know this rig inside out and really trust it and the process. It's big, bulky, heavy and almost bullet proof. I like the way it is slow, completely manual, costly and how it requires me to be sharp to get it right. Somehow within my mind, some of those traits created value and uniqueness. The quality of the results is truly remarkable, with large print creation in excess of three meters wide possible. Back in those days I made using just film part of my brand, and it helped to set my work apart, I like to think. But one thought was always rolling around in the back of my mind, what if I can't buy film anymore, what would that mean and when might it happen. I have always carried digital cameras, but only for behind the scenes photographs. I never felt the quality was high enough with what I owned. If I was out in a great location, standing in front of something really special, I wanted to have the big panoramic film camera in front of me, to capture the highest quality I possibly could. There was an inherent level of comfort in this approach.

I like to think that I have captured some truly special photographs over the years on film. But if I really reflect now, I would hate to calculate what I have spent on buying and processing it. I would guess that out of say 12 to 20 film photographs, on average one of them might be up to the standard I set for my photographs. I have boxes and boxes of photographs that will never see the light of day. This excessive cost and waist started to weigh in on the conversation as I started to really think through my process. It came to a head when I realised that maybe film was actually holding me back, rather than excelling me forward or creating a point of difference.

In Karijini with the pano.

A CAUTIOUS TRANSITION

I can remember when the Sony arrived at my house in its beautiful packaging. I wondered what I had just done. It was a large monetary outlay, and for various reasons I wasn't ready to unbox what I saw as a new chapter. I felt somehow as if I was betraying my film cameras but in reality, I wasn't quite ready to move on, I had a bit more contemplating and processing to do. It's funny how we become attached to things and tools. I had spent many years with the panoramic camera in particular. It created all of the photographs I sold when I ran my gallery for six years, those photographs were the foundation I had built my photography business on. It was a big part of my history and journey.

I initially thought that the Sony would be an addition to my photography kit, like I might use film some times and digital at other times, but the continued cost and lack of supply of film really stunted that thought process, among a few other aspects. The first real usage of the Sony was over in Scotland and then through France, Italy and Greece. I was amazed at the ease of use, the portability, the flexibility and results from this camera which was less than half the size of my film set ups. I started being more creative also, because I stopped having to worry about film and its limitations. Before I knew it I was well versed in the Sony's operating system and knew the camera well. I started thinking less about controlling the camera and more about the light, the composition and the result. After the learning curve, I was back in the same space I found myself with film. There was one evening in Scotland that stands out. We’d traveled to photograph a castle sitting in the middle of a loch, and after we arrived and I set up the sky opened up with one of those powerful sunsets. As I photographed this scene, I wasn’t weighing up film versus digital, or worrying about wasting a frame, I was just responding to the light. It wasn’t until later that night, looking back through the images, that I realised I hadn’t even considered using anything else.

I found that I could apply the same thought and process through the Sony as I did with my film cameras and actually really enjoyed the process with less risk and perhaps more fun. We arrived home after six weeks and as I cycled through and processed my files I enjoyed the benefits of how instant the process was but at the same time felt something lacking. Much less anticipation, much less risk and far more dynamic range to play with.

ON HOME SOIL

The more I travel now, the more I leave my film cameras at home, a scenario I hadn’t ever imagined. In September of 2025, I did an overnight trip to capture a late season snowfall at the very end of Winter here in Australia. I took all of my cameras, but only reached for the Sony. The biggest difference was walking out of the mountains knowing, with certainty, that I had created some really rewarding photographs. That instant feedback was something I wasn’t used to. Now, about six months on, i have seen a change in my photography. For example, I no longer use Neutral Density filters, I carry a smaller tripod, and sometimes I capture landscapes hand‑held. These are all new things for me, new freedoms that the Sony has opened up, freedoms I didn’t realise I’d been missing.