Photography Gear and a Guest Rant With a Purpose

Need new gear? My vote is to go steampunk! **

Intro by Skip Cohen

Last week, my good buddy Scott Bourne posted the rant below on Facebook, focused on helping new photographers make better choices about their gear. Like virtually any specialty, the imaging world is filled with "experts." And while there are a lot of great educators/influencers out there, I'm always amazed at how many new artists fall for the "clickbait" Scott wrote about.

Many years ago, Vincent Laforet spoke at Skip's Summer School. I remember him talking about when he first started and the challenge of capturing the images he wanted when his cash, and in turn, his gear was so limited. "You know what you do when you don't have a lens long enough...you move in closer!"
 
Thirty years ago, when I was at Hasselblad, a photographer came up to us at our booth at Photo East and asked for a list of everything Denis Reggie shot with. We gave him the list and he went immediately to B&H there on the show floor and bought almost all of it. The following year, at the same show, he came by the booth and dropped a few dozen 5x5 proofs on the counter and said, "I bought everything Denis Reggie uses, and my images don't look any better with Hasselblad than they did with my old gear!"  He'd shot everything f8 @ 1/125!

Here's my point - before you get sucked into buying new gear, which you may well need, take the time to review your skill set. Put your money into your education and building the operational side of your business. And if you need something exotic and expensive, rent it first! 

Here's one more story: Joe Buissink tells a great story about spending too much money on a tilt/shift lens when he first started. He was convinced it's what he needed to make his work look different. Instead, his purchase tied up capital he could have used for better ways to build his business. Plus, he barely used it and sold it a year or two later for a loss!

​A big thanks to Scott for permission to share his rant! Scott should be on your radar - click on his link above and follow him on Facebook. He's always got something worth sharing.

**A.I. images from Adobe Stock

---

by Scott Bourne

​I can think of no greater waste of time than watching the #photography "influencers" talking about their gear. I am sad that new photographers get duped by these people and fall for their click bait.

• No matter what camera/lens you use, they will convince you it's not good enough and what you REALLY need is the gear THEY (get paid to promote.)
• Use any camera you like. In the last five years I think I've encountered one bad camera and one bad lens and both were niche products that most of you will never have heard of.
• Your camera is good enough!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Here are some additional thoughts...

• Don't be bullied by the Full Frame Mafia. Use Micro Four Thirds or APS-C if that works for you.
• Don't fall into the cult known as "The Religion Of Low Light Performance Pixel Peepers." They will convince you that even the slightest spec of digital noise ANYWHERE in your picture is baaaaad.
• Lastly, don't be tricked into thinking you need an f/1.2 lens for every single shot so you can have perfect BOKEH BALLS. That is a fad. It will pass.

This is all nonsense and it's all the nonsense you will find on YouTube. No doubt there are some thoughtful, talented people who want to help you there but even then - you're better off just practicing with your camera.

All you need to do to improve is this. Just read your camera manual, learn how to operate the camera properly and go make as many photos as you can.

You will be twice the photographer any of the YOUTUBE "influencers" are within a year's time.

​Rant over...