Photographic Gear – Learn to use what you have

Photographic Gear – let’s have a think, shall we?

>>> If you’re not using what you have, you won’t use what you think you need to buy. <<<

It’s not my quote – I’ll credit Ken Duncan with the original which I have paraphrased. I’ll expand on it though. ‘If I had a big lens I’d take more photos’. ‘If I had a nice camera I’d love to get out and about around [insert hometown] and take some great pictures.’

A long (long!) time ago me and my mates were ‘getting into’ photography and we each bought a body, a 50mm lens, and maybe one more lens. That was your starter kit at that time. One of the so called ‘cool kids’ went a bought a body, and three or four extra lenses before admitting, after a couple of months of taking nothing, ‘I can’t really find anything to take pictures of’.

More recently I had a friend who was always borrowing other people’s DSLR cameras. He loved taking photos when he borrowed the photographic gear kit. ‘It made him a better photographer’. When he finally got his own, it seemed to de-energise him and I cannot recall him taking many more photos afterwards.

Hmm – do you like photography or are you into cameras?

If you’re not using what you have, you won’t use what you think you need to buy. Think of it as a challenge. You might need to get creative – so don’t get annoyed.

If you have an entry-level DLSR, what are it’s failings in your view?

• Image size? I’m a landscape photographer, so most entry-level cameras these days are able to take images that can be blown up to say a 24 inch print. A 24 inch print is quite expensive once you have got it framed. How often have you recently trotted off to your friendly framers to drop a few hundred on a really big print??
• Burst rate? How many frames a second do you need? For waves breaking I’d say five frames a second max?
• What else? Len sharpness? Again, are you going to print big? I know a lot of photographers who don’t print their work at all…

If you have slower lenses, what does that mean to you? F4, not F2.8 or F2.0. Doing landscape photography, it’s all about shooting at F8 or F11 where the lens is sharpest. A faster lens of F2.8 or faster will inevitably be heavier in your bag. Sometimes much heavier. For when you walk long distances – you know, that’s what landscape photographers do…

Exceptions

• Do you want to make extra money? (and are you good enough?) – then go for it and invest in your Photographic Gear Tools of the Trade
• Are you mad-keen on, say, Astro, and wish to get an astro-modified camera body for the extra colours of the spectrum that are revealed
• If you really are interested in photos of flies heads, or ants feet, you might need to spend 🙂

In conclusion

• Start printing your work now. See how big you print. How often do you print.
• Set yourself a challenge with each lens you have. Use the zoom, use the wide angle.

And finally, if your target market is Instagram, how about using your phone instead?

Haha – as you can see there is no real conclusion but I hope I have made you think. I hope all my articles make you think, rather than just agree. Right now I am considering a maybe purchase of a 100-400mm zoom. But enough of my challenges – it’s now over to you!

Andrew Barnes – the Sydney North Shore Photographer. (without all the Photographic Gear trappings)

Edit – I’m still considering that new zoom. Not bought yet!

Next Edit – still a nope!

2024 Edit – still no big zoom!