I swapped my phone for a camera and rediscovered the world. Literally!

2026-09-17 16:42

A few days ago, I invented a new game for photographing the world around me using a camera. The rules are simple. Automatic mode is banned for exposure, shutter speed, and ISO. I can't use the touch display to adjust anything either. Everything has to be set using the camera's buttons, while I look through the viewfinder to frame the shot.

📷 The pictures in this post are a small set from this experiment. I hope you enjoy them while you read.

The camera is a Canon EOS M50 that I bought a few years ago to record my YouTube videos. It's rarely used to photograph the world around me. And here's the worst part: most of the times it left my studio, I immediately switched the dial to automatic mode. In other words, I had never practiced shooting in manual mode with it.

The recent problem I had with my Pixel's camera was definitely a strong inspiration for this game. What I didn't imagine was how much I would enjoy all of this.

I started by spending a few days asking AI which buttons to use to do everything I already knew how to do using the touch screen. Then I practiced for a while at home, and once I felt comfortable, I went out to test it all in the real world. Following the rules of the game, of course!

On the first day, it lasted for only two hours or so, but it was entirely intentional. Several photos came out horrible and the ones that were good had nothing to do with the result I was aiming for.

Before every shot, I had to press several buttons and change various settings, without taking my eye off the viewfinder. By the way, using the viewfinder keeps the camera pressed against your head, creating one more point of support, which helps avoid blurry photos. And that's especially important since I'm not using automatic mode.

It's remarkable how the excess of convenience from our phones and other technologies has made us lose a series of skills. Even in a short, no-pressure photo session, I was mentally exhausted. The upside is that, little by little, I relaxed and realized that this was something to be done slowly, with intention. Something to be enjoyed.

A few days later, I'm already feeling much more comfortable with the button positions and have completely forgotten the touch display even exists. And most important of all: photography is no longer about capturing anything for any reason like we do with our phones. It has become something intentional and magical.

As I grew more comfortable with the camera, I started adjusting the controls so the photo would look closer to reality. To do that, I alternated between looking through the viewfinder and lifting my head to check the light and the colors of real things.

That was when I noticed one of the most fascinating details in this experience. The colors of the world change constantly throughout the day. There's an immense difference in tones from one moment to the next.

Obviously, there's no way for a photo to be 100% faithful to reality. Even though there's no phone algorithm touching the pictures, my Canon is a digital camera too. And even if it weren't, the lens, the film, the chemicals used in development, among other variables, would create their own version of what we're seeing.

But our phones seem to be creating some kind of parallel reality that always follows the same pattern. It's like a visually enhanced version of the world that's easy to notice when comparing the pictures I've been capturing with the Canon to my photos from the last few years. Those pictures contain a very similar set of colors, regardless of the moment and place where the photos were taken.

And along with all of this, there was also an unexpected surprise. My phone has been staying in my pocket for much longer. Instead of getting distracted by its screen, I started noticing an enormous amount of detail in the world around me. The excess of convenience that technology has brought us has made us lose a series of skills that used to let us perceive things naturally, just by looking at what's around us. Now, I'm gradually relearning part of that.

PS. The last two photos were taken when I was starting to practice manual focus.