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When a certain time elapses in ones life or career, be it 5 years, 10 or 15, it acts as a reminder to pause and reflect on the time passed and what has transpired within these milestone time periods.
For me, 2026 is one of those milestones; 25 years as a photographer. I have reflected on many aspects of what has transpired during this time period, often going back and looking at some of my earlier work (believe me, you don’t want to see it).
My Capture One library is organized into years, with each represented by a separate folder. It’s very organized and relativity easy to find specific content, as long as I know what year the photo was taken. After my most recent headshot assignment, my library has a total of 321,041 photos.
One interesting fact that I wanted to answer for myself (and hopefully you will find interesting also) is out of all those photos, what cameras had I used the most. Below are my top 3 used cameras so far:
In third place: The Nikon D4s with a 19,172 shutter count.
The D4s was the camera I was using during the height of my wedding photography days. It was a great camera in terms of image rendition. Although the shutter was a little on the loud side, this Nikon DSLR flagship with 16 megapixels and EXPEED 4 processor was dependable and my clients were always pleased with the results (at least that’s what most of them said). The shutter count is a little low since I upgraded to the D5 shortly after purchasing the D4s.
Nikon D4s with the NIKKOR 24-120mm f/4G ED VR lens
In second place: The Nikon Z6II with a 46,821 shutter count.
The Nikon Z6II is perhaps my favorite camera out of Nikon’s Z series camera bodies. It’s small, light and the images that come out of it always impresses me. It has great low light noise levels and lots of latitude in post production. It was my main event photography camera prior to taking delivery of the first place one. It’s even great in the studio as the portrait below shows.
Nikon Z6II with the NIKKOR Z 24-70mm f/4 S lens.
In first place: The Nikon Z8 with a 53,300 shutter count.
What can I say that hasn’t already been mentioned about this renaissance of a camera. It has become my default event photography camera and for good reason: Excellent image rendition, good autofocus, low noise levels (important when I’m in low light levels as I often am when shooting events), and the best attribute of the Z8, a totally silent shutter.
Nikon Z8 with the NIKKOR Z 50mm f/1.8 S lens
The silent shutter comes in handy when spraying and praying during podium speeches to get that perfect moment as the this photo shows below.
Nikon Z8 with the NIKKOR Z 70-180mm f/2.8 lens
Well, there you have it, my top 3 used camera bodies in the past 25 years. Let me know in the comments below what your top used camera bodies are (no sign-in required to leave a comment).
When a certain time elapses in ones life or career, be it 5 years, 10 or 15, it acts as a reminder to pause and reflect on the time passed and what has transpired within these milestone time periods.
For me, 2026 is one of those milestones; 25 years as a photographer. I have reflected on many aspects of what has transpired during this time period, often going back and looking at some of my earlier work.