The unbearable heaviness of my DSLR

Thoughts on what to do with a camera that never leaves home.

Lately I have been thinking a lot about my DSLR. You know, the big heavy thing which makes beautiful photos but never leaves the house. (In my case it doesn’t even leave the camera bag).

Since I began shooting film with smaller cameras, I have been using my “big camera” less and less.

I have a Canon 5D mark III, and I believe it’s an incredibly nice camera. Even today - more than ten years after I got it. In fact one of the reasons why I have never replaced it with a newer or smaller digital camera is, that I worry that whatever I get will be “too much”. Too much sharpness, too many features, too complicated to use etc.

I know my good old Canon so well, I know what to expect, and I know what I get from it.

Morning in Florence (The moon stayed up late), 2025. Canon 5D mark III + Sigma Art 35 mm f/1.4

When I first got this camera, I was mainly using Canon’s popular 50 mm f/1.4, but after some years I replaced it with my current lens, the Sigma Art 35 mm f/1.4.

The Sigma Art was - and is - a brilliant lens. I LOVE the photos, I have made with it. I got it mainly for work, as I was working as a documentary family photographer back then, and for that purpose it was just perfect. I have made a lot of very nice family photography with this lens.

Of course I also used it for my own photography, but when I look through my photo archive, I can see, that once I switched to the Sigma Art, I began using my DSLR less and less for personal photography, often replacing it with my iPhone. And of course the reason is obvious: The Canon 5D together with the Sigma Art becomes very heavy, which makes it hard to carry around for a full day when out and about.

Reflection in my window, 2025. Canon 5D mark III + Sigma Art 35 mm f/1.4

One year ago I decided to stop doing family photography and quit photography professionally (I may do a separate post about this decision some other time). Since then my poor DSLR has remained more or less untouched. Instead I have used my film cameras (which I love deeply) in combination with my iPhone (which I love a little less deeply).

The iPhone… I have a real love/hate relationship with my phone as a camera. It’s so easy to use for obvious reasons. And for random everyday snapshots I believe, that the quality is fine. But it happens so often, that I look at a photo of a great subject taken with the iPhone, and I realize, that if I had just made it with the DSLR, it would have been so much better.

The other morning I decided to give the DSLR one more try. I grabbed the camera and went to the city centre of Florence. I didn’t want to capture anything in particular, but I wanted to find out once and for all, if bringing this camera with me for day trips and vacations would some day become realistic.

It’s not going to happen. This time I realized, that it’s not only the weight. It’s also the size. The big lens is so uncomfortable when taking pictures in the street. I am a quite shy person, when I take photos. I prefer to be all alone while doing my thing, and if I am among other people in the street, I try to be as discreet as possible, which is not easy, when you carry a big camera and lens weighing around 1650 g.

View from my window, 2025. Canon 5D mark III + Sigma Art 35 mm f/1.4

So what to do? My first idea was to see, if I could sell my old equipment and buy a small lightweight mirrorless camera to replace the DSLR.

But I quickly realized, that the camera is so old, that it’s not worth selling. (Also I am quite attached to this camera. We have been through a lot together, and I admit that it would feel weird to separate from it).

As I wrote above, I also worry that I will end up spending a lot of money on a camera, which won’t live up to what I am used to from the old one, especially since right now my budget wouldn’t allow me to buy a very expensive camera.

Another reason for not investing in a brand new camera is, that I am not sure how much digital photography, I will be doing in the future. There is no doubt, that film is my biggest love, and I worry, that the investment won’t be worth it.

A good compromise could be to buy a new 50 mm f/1.4 (I sold my old lens some years ago) and try to use that with the 5D for vacations and other personal photography. This is something I am actually considering. But again I worry, that I won’t be able to accept the decline in quality compared to the Sigma Art.

Or maybe I should just give up digital photography (apart from the iPhone) and stick with film? Because there is another thing to consider: I no longer enjoy the editing process. I used to love editing photos, culling them, choosing the best ones and making the necessary adjustments. The digital development.

Now I have gotten so used to film, that I find the whole editing process quite boring. In January I even decided for the first time not to renew my Lightroom subscription. (I will of course need to change that, if I become serious about digital photography again).

So… if you made it to here: Let me hear what you think. Have you had similar thoughts about digital photography and DSLR cameras? What did you do? What is your current camera set up for different situations? What would you advise me to do? I would love to hear your opinion!