Dilemma in Photography Land

All things considered, I am still relatively new to photography. Even though I used a film-SLR about a century ago, I only had my first DSLR at the tail end of 2008. As the years progressed, I upgraded my kit lens, replaced my DSLR, won another, got a telephoto zoom lens, got a couple of speedlites and accumulated a plethora of lens filters, camera bags...

But now, there is a dilemma simmering in my head. And it all started with Trey Ratcliff.

In this blog post, Trey said that DSLRs are a dying breed. While in one, Scott Bourne posted his agreement.

As I've said, I am still a newbie when it comes to photography.  So, I still need to gather some stuff for the photography that I want to do. For example, I want to do some macro photography but my currents lenses cannot accomodate that. All professional photographers say that you should remove your flash from your camera because off-camera flash is the best for portraiture; and you cannot do that unless there is a way to control your flash units when they are not attached to your DSLR. (It's a good thing that my Canon 7D can control my off-camera speedlites but the infrared remote won't work outdoors...) I've still got to have light modifiers, light stands... The list goes on and on...

I even have my wish list at the ready here.

Now what about what Trey and Scott said? Well, these guys are titans in the world of photography and what they say definitely carry weight. Now, if the DSLR is a dying species, how come camera makers are still churning out the big cameras left and right? Well, companies are like that, it's in their DNA and they would want you to buy their stuff even if they know that the next phase is already here.

Now, here is the real dilemma:

I still want to do macro photography and I still want to get a real macro lens - and at 100mm, it'll also be a great portrait lens. I still want to move my speedlites off camera so that I'll be able to make beautiful portraits. So the question is, do I still want to expand my DSLR collection knowing that, five to ten years from now, DSLRs will just be used by those who absolutely need them, if at all? (Note what Scott said about fast sports and wild life photography.)

If point-and-shoot cameras can shoot something like these now...

...imagine what they can do five years hence?

And the future is here! A point-and-shoot with the size of a sensor almost as big as my 7D?!? Well, if it can be called a "point-and-shoot"...

Dilemma, dilemma, dilemma...

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Both photos shot, yes, with a Canon Powershot SX230 HS.