Does the camera pick the photographer?

When the young Harry Potter visits Ollivander’s Wand Shop, he is told “the wand chooses the wizard”. Reading that, I wondered if something similar is true for our choice of cameras. Unlikely? Then again, camera makers do create identities for their brands to appeal to different types of photographers. So, who are these personalities that have become an essential part of each camera brand’s image, and which one is trying to pick you?

Camera companies try to give us a pattern of characteristics that resonate with our own feelings and ambitions. As we draw closer to the decision to buy a camera, we imagine ourselves holding that camera and taking that special shot.

So, what kind of people do these various camera companies create for us to bond with?

Let’s start with Canon

Canon personified is, for me, an amiable old codger, shuffling around his workshop wearing bedroom slippers, looking at the outside world with puzzled introspection. All Canon camera bodies are rounded lumps, as if the venerable old Mr. Canon has moulded each one from clay, presumably to avoid any chance of photographers encountering a sharp edge and hurting themselves. 

Mr. Canon acknowledges his younger upstart competitors with genial complacency. With a wistful gaze, he allows their innovation and technical progress to pass him by, thinking, perhaps, that these young whipper-snappers have much yet to learn.

Around the corner, we find Fujifilm

Fujifilm has an altogether more contemporary type of personality, despite launching their first camera in 1948, only 12 years after the first Canon rangefinder.

It is the hipster amongst camera companies, revelling in the art of colour through its film history and digital simulations. Commercially, it eschews the typical product strategy, offering APS-C and medium format systems, but not full frame. It has captured the heart of the street photographer community with its uber-successful X100 series, whilst their Instax range shows Fujifilm’s fun-loving side. 

But Fujifilm has a nerdy facet too – as anyone who has ever struggled to understand their labyrinthine menu systems. Fujifilm is the kind of person who will have a very particular favourite beverage at Starbucks and will be earnest in trying to save the planet whilst taking a photo of its dying moments in Kodachrome 64 shades of beautiful colour.

Alphabetically, our next stop is Hasselblad 

Hasselblad is unique among its peers, as the only brand of camera to have been taken to the moon. Mankind’s only images of our planet from the moon were captured with a Hasselblad 500EL medium-format camera, by the Apollo 11 mission in 1969.

Hasselblad is therefore a truly exceptional type of person: innovative, a perfectionist, sophisticated, and elegant. Based upon unsurpassed attention to detail and engineering excellence, our Mr. Hasselblad is not, however, bothered by transitory passions. His is a mission to be played out in the long term, with a relentless focus on quality. The Hasselblad Natural Colour Solution, with its 16-bit colour depth, coupled with the masterfully simple menu systems of cameras such as the X2D, attest to this approach.

And now we arrive at Leica

Leica, I must confess, has a special place in my heart, and so I may be a little biased in my description of Ms. Leica. 

Leica’s first camera was introduced in 1925. Since then, the company has pursued a largely singular devotion to the refinement of their rangefinder M series of cameras. Loved the world over for their simplicity, small size and image quality, Leica cameras cannot be separated from the company’s ongoing support of the photographic art, as evidenced by the growing number of galleries in its stores.

Ms. Leica is elegant, refined, and deeply thoughtful, with a quiet sense of confidence and a strong appreciation for craftsmanship and tradition. She is both a mentor and an influencer, intellectually perceptive with a strong sense of history and vision for the future. A person with whom it would be a delight to spend time.

Travelling to Japan, we arrive at Nikon

Starting life as another Leica 35mm rangefinder copyist in 1948, Nikon held a strong position in DSLRs. But after a somewhat slow start, it has introduced a range of mirrorless cameras which are winning commercial applause.

Today’s Mr. Nikon is adventurous, sporty, and technically competent. He is as likely to be found at the racetrack as in a wilderness. He is thoughtful, with a quiet sense of confidence, and a strong appreciation for craftsmanship and tradition. Athletic, rather than elegant, he has substantial commercial savvy, as shown by the launch of the retro-styled Zf, whilst consolidating the mainstream Z9, Z8, Z7 and Z6 bodies.

Further afield, we discover OM Systems

Previously Olympus, the original film camera OM-1 was one of the leading cameras of its age. Today, while, the OM-1 is a competent, weatherproof, mirrorless camera, the marketing of its small range of cameras has boxed itself into a niche of nature and wildlife.

Stacked with some undoubtedly nifty visual tricks such as “Live Composite”, OM cameras are particularly good at their highly targeted niche sectors. However, its failure to resurrect the much-loved PEN F camera to compete with the success of the Fujifilm X100 series and the retro Nikon Zf, suggests that OM Systems may be trading on past glories and failing to take the fight to its competitors. 

Ms. OM Systems is devoted to the outdoor world, endlessly patient to await the moment in nature but, I suspect, rather down-hearted at the company’s lack-lustre rate of new product introduction since the sale of its business in 2020 – 4 years ago!

Led by the alphabet, we visit Panasonic

Personally, I find Panasonic to be relatively enigmatic – maybe even schizophrenic.  The products of its camera division include entry-level cameras, micro-four thirds-based bodies and lenses and products related to the L-Mount alliance. MFT cameras certainly have their place but, given the convergence of body size and retail price with the latest generation of full-frame systems. I wonder how long the R&D cost of all these sectors will be supported before the parent company insists upon a less diverse strategy.

Nonetheless, when we meet Mr. Lumix, we will discover him to be an independent thinker, unafraid of ‘ploughing his own furrow’, innovative and practical. Capable of balancing the competing demands of stills and video shooters to make cameras that appeal to a wide swathe of our photographic community.

And now we come to Pentax / Ricoh

Mr Pentax is one of a kind. Steadfastly resisting the headlong dive into mirrorless systems, he continued to craft DSLRs and even went so far as to make a monochrome DSLR. That, I submit, is a prime example of niche marketing par excellence. It relentlessly maintains a compass setting aimed at the past. Its other brand, Ricoh, produces some of the very few truly pocketable cameras that can compete with the God-tier Fujifilm X100 for the hearts and minds of street photographers. It also produced a monochrome version of the GR III.¹

Mr. Pentax has some laudable personal qualities. He is resolute, innovative, and practical. He is the kind of person that you could depend upon to extend a helping hand when the going gets tough. Overall, an admirable sort of fellow.

Finally, we reach SONY

The home of the technocrat. The camera range loved by nerds, who feast upon technical excellence and marketing panache. If there is an innovation to be wished for, you can bet your bottom dollar that Sony will, eventually, make it possible on their cameras. SONY’s open licencing policy enables the SONY camera user to choose from a veritable plethora of lenses from a wide variety of manufacturers.  

However, for me, their unyielding focus on bleeding-edge innovation is at the cost of any semblance of soul. In evidence, I submit the sound of the shutter on the A7CR which is an unholy cacophony – simply because SONY does not care that it could be made more quiet – because doing so would add cost but not functionality. I also submit, in evidence, the SONY menu system. Even in its latest, improved form, it has enabled an independent author to publish a book of over 800 pages, explaining how to set up the camera for use. No camera should require that level of study to master its operation.

For me, the prospect of spending time with Ms. SONY, would be as welcome as going through the looking glass into the realm of Tron; that 1982 sci-fi film. Cold, two-dimensional and more than slightly inhuman. Ms. Sony would be at a genius level of intellect when discussing sensors or market segmentation but, talking photography, I feel we would have precious little common ground. With all respect, of course, your mileage may vary.

In conclusion

I hope this has provided you with food for thought. We are fortunate indeed to have such choices available from our camera families. If camera companies do reflect human characteristics, it seems logical that we should find a match to our own ideas and hopes. After all, “birds of feather, flock together”.

For me, I rejoice in the diversity and celebrate the differences in our choosing.

Let us join to wish that, whatever camera we use, 2025 is the year in which we get that once in a lifetime picture that we will remember forever.

Did you realise? Of course, you did! I created all the above images using AI. My prompts were precise, and it all worked quite well. This is not to say it wouldn’t have been better if I’d spent a month searching for suitable subjects, finding the cameras and producing quality illustrations. But what do you think? Is there a place for AI in generating illustrations for an article when there is no copyright-free material to work with? Have your say in the comments section below.

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1. Ooops… See the comments section. I got this one wrong. I was really thinking of the 40mm GRIIIx and somehow wrote the wrong thing. Of course, there has never been a monochrome GRIII (at least, yet). The editors also apologise for missing this! ↩︎