This morning Sony announced their latest camera, the 61 megapixel a7r V. Bargain priced, body only, $3,899. I was chuckling this morning when I remembered that my first serious camera was the Mamiya/Sekor 500TL which I purchased in 1972 for $109. It took me most of the summer mowing lawns to be able to afford that camera. That included a lens, by the way.

A deeper thought about this. The price for this new Sony camera seems absurd to me, but does so because of my economic status in life. If I were wealthier, with enough money I can imagine that a $3,900 camera might not seem so unreasonable. So just for fun, I asked myself if money were no object would I be interested in this camera? Said another way, during our Goldendale Safari.....

" Would I have made any different photographs than I did?

" See any sort of measurable improvement over the images I actually did capture?

" Did I shoot anything that I wish had been captured in 61 megapixels?

" Did I not shoot anything because I knew I didn't have enough megapixels to make it work?

" Did I shoot anything that failed but would have succeeded with Sony's better auto focus system?

" Do I have any images from that trip that are so noisy shot at higher ISO that I wish I had shot with a full frame camera?

" Did I lose any opportunities because of the limitations of Panasonic's flippy screen as compared to the new, six-way Sony flippy screen?

" Do I foresee making 40-in prints from anything I shot in Goldendale that I might be disappointed in because I don't have enough megapixels for a print that size?

" Will I sell any fewer prints because I shot them with a 20 megapixel camera? (What is fewer than "0"?)

Or.......

" Would I be restricted with a new Sony system because I wouldn't have a dual camera setup like I currently do? We'll, I suppose I could have a dual camera system for 2X $3,899!

" Would I find the extra weight in the lenses to be cumbersome and overly fatiguing?

What a fun mental exercise! By my calculations, I've just saved myself roughly $25,000. With that savings, I could now justify buying that 100 to 400 mm zoom for my Panasonic system!