On my last trip to Hong Kong I bought a new camera, the Canon G10. That in itself wouldn't have been so very interesting, were it not I already have the Canon G9. And I even have my old G5 still lying around. Why on earth am I so excited about this? What drives anyone to spend a significant amount of money on something which is going to give them something they more or less already have?

Imagine the following situation in the lobby of a Hong Kong hotel, with David and SJ:

D/SJ: "So what's the difference?"

Me: "Dunno, nothing much really. Slightly higher resolution?"

D/SJ: "And what else?"

Me: "Uhhh... it's a little faster? And I believe it's also slightly bigger than the old one."

D/SJ: "That's it?"

Me: "Well, it still has that amazing retro leather case, just like the old model."

D/SJ: "And you're paying HK$ 4,000 for this?"

Me: "Of course"

D/SJ: "You're crazy"

So have I indeed lost ability to think rationally and lost my mind? At first I certainly thought so, as the urge to purchase this thing was absolutely overwhelming. It was only when I put my old G9 up for sale and read the first responses that I realized what could be happening. These responses were equally obsessive as my own, these were all people who knew exactly which brand/model they wanted and nothing was going to stop them.

I urged for this new camera, not regardless of the fact it is virtually the same as the old model... but because it is virtually identical.

Years ago, the G5 had re-invigorated my love for photography, which I had lost for a long time. It was an amazing little device which had everything a fanatic amateur photographer needs. It was also one of the first high-end cameras to really leverage the possibilities of the digital era, shedding all the historical nonsense most premium digital SLR's still boast today (like a mirror, prism and an LCD screen). Later on, the G9 added further improvements while remaining true to the essence I'd fallen for. Now the G10 does the same. For example, where the G9 was breakthrough in face-recognition, the G10 has improved this feature further by now also recognizing faces 'en profil'. The menu has been re-arranged a little and some buttons have moved around. Rather than adding tonnes of new features, the great ones have simply been made even better.

It seems I've taken a fan-like attitude to this camera, not dissimilar to football fans who line up every year to buy the new team outfit, even though they already have the two previous decades hanging in their closet.

All this time I thought I had some sophistication, but I'm as much an emotional sucker as anyone.

© 2009 Costas Papaikonomou

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