I'm sure many of us, depending on what era we got into photography, have all been loyal to a camera brand in our lifetime. Sometimes you stick with the brand because that manufacturer made the first camera you ever bought. Perhaps you stuck with that brand because you knew all the controls and menus, etc.
Or you kept with the same camera maker because you liked what lenses they made, or even you liked that brand's ethos and how it understood its customers.
This is all well and good. I until recently have been shooting Nikon cameras for over 20 years – but what do you do when your favorite brand falls behind or doesn't make something that you want – call it your "dream camera setup." Do you switch systems, or pray that one day your chosen brand jumps on the bandwagon?
Sometimes wishful thinking is a good thing, but other times it could be stopping you from owning your dream camera!
I shot with various Nikon cameras over the years when I worked as a professional sports photographer, these cameras traveled the world with me, and I'd like to think no other camera could have done a better job for me at that time, but as time moves on so does technology – and so do your interests.
I felt like I had done enough in the sports world and just wanted to focus on enjoying my photography again, and while my wonderful Nikons were more than up to the job of discovering street/documentary photography, they weren't my first choice.
You see I, like many fell in love with the Leica brand when the flagship at the time was the Leica M10-R, it was the first time I ever held and even saw a Leica in person, while before they were just what every master of photographer used in the YouTube video I'd been watching.
Safe to say I loved the brand, and the company ethos, and it brought me closer to enjoying photography again, but one thing that was holding me back on making the plunge... I already knew Nikon cameras inside and out, every button, every sub-menu. I felt I was foolish drooling over another brand when I'd invested, at that point most of my life in the Nikon ethos.
But after 20+ years I knew deep down that my loyalty to Nikon was making me miss out on my dream camera, so I made the difficult decision to sell all my Nikon equipment and go "all-in" on the Leica brand. It was a risk that paid off for me, and today I could not be happier, but parting with Nikon was a struggle.
I even write this now with a little sadness. Many reading this might think I'm just being too sentimental and that a camera is a tool and if that tool isn't doing its job, well, you get a tool that does that job better.
I think most photographers have a different mindset. I think they truly believe in their gear and the brand behind it, and when they want to switch it is almost as if you're telling a family member you do not want to be with them anymore. Perhaps that's a bit dramatic, but you get my point!
It took me 5 years to pluck up the courage and buy a camera from Leica, it took another 2 years to convince myself that the Nikon equipment sitting in my office gathering dust wasn't needed "just in case".
Today I really enjoy using the Leica system, and I love the whole ethos of the company, and my dream camera, I use it every day, and it puts a smile on my face every time I use it and I wish my brand loyalty didn't hold me back for so long.
