Samsung NX 100 †

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Haarlem, today. A camera [ is a camera ]

Min/max temperature: 13°C/22°C; humidity: 72%; precipitation: 0 mm; sea level pressure: 1023 hPa; wind: North 3.1 km/h. ; Moon: Waxing Crescent, 48% illuminated

Camera's come and go, with the speed of light. You practically can not unpack the box or a 'newer, faster, cheaper, mega-pixel promising, super latitude ' model is shouting for attention -- and if you hate photography -- but like showing off with the newest stuff, the biggest lenses, that really is all that matters. Advertising people give you the reason to feel good about your new investment  ("If you do not buy it, people will not like you anymore!") -- so you buy and feel good, at least for a couple of hours -- and it drives the market. Everybody with a bit more sensible-sense knows that is nonsense. It is not in the latest marketing craze, it is in stuff that you trust, know how to handle, feel comfortably-uncomfortable to work with. The more it breaks down -- over the course of a productive life -- the more it is held by 'wires', the more you are able to establish a 'relationship' with your gear, repair it, keep using it, have it function as an extention of your-self, making it your own, the better of you are, the more you learn, the better you get. "In der Beschränkung zeigt sich erst der Meister, Und das Gesetz nur kann uns Freiheit geben." This proces keeps repeating itself until it becomes a 'piece of cake' -- to start all over again! "Transcend and include..." That is not to say that the market of products and services is bad and corrupt -- on the contrary, it is not good nor bad per sé. Everybody knows that. The amazing thing is, a whole lot of excellent, useful stuff is designed, produced, marketed and sold. Equipment that actually is made to function, and last a little longer than the time required to walk out the store or being delivered to your door -- that has durability, sometimes even a lifetime. The art is in knowing what you need, knowing where to find it and learn to work with it, get the best out of it. Do you want to feel free to create or be a puppet of the market? It is not productive to denounce the market (it creates angry people). It is better, more healthy, to learn to recognise and use the few good things that are available, in the achievement of the goals that you have set for your self. To feel free to create! To feel free to create! As opposed to be a slave and work for stuff you really do not need and that sure as hell does not need you. This is the 'art of separating people from their money' game. Some people really need an airplane. But some people for sure do not need another new phone. Don't judge, be conscientious.

The Samsung NX 100. The lens broke a few months ago, but -- miraculously -- with scotch tape it kept functioning with an intact back-focus. More or less. With the first generation battery and delivering an impressive organic-look -- I have always loved Samsung camera's (from the Samsung NV-8 onwards) -- even their phones make better pictures than others around. The NX-100 is/was a beautiful camera with a mechanic shutter, trusty, simple and robust. Been 'everywhere' with it, under extreme circumstances: hot, cold, wet, dry, indoor and outdoor. Last week the shutter failed and since Samsung discontinued the production of this camera -- and all other of its camera's in general --  time had arrived to move on to another model, even brand (a used digital camera by a classic manufacturer, which does not start with an "S" for sure!) Here is my final salute to a marvellous modest piece of equipment.... All images on this website -- and many more -- are made with the camera pictured above -- with the exception of this image ofcourse.