MarkBarbieri
Semi-retired
- Joined
- Aug 20, 2006
- Messages
- 6,172
With the recent announcements of the 60D and the D7000, there is a lot of talk of upgrading in the air. Even when there aren't new models out, you read a lot about people upgrading their camera gear. I'd like to make a plug for upgrading the photography tool that most benefits from improvement - the person behind the camera.
You often read posts from people asking what camera someone is using because they would like to get pictures like that. Inevitably, someone responds that it is the photograph, not the camera. The reality, of course, is that it is some of both. Ansel Adams couldnt get good shots inside the Haunted Mansion with a five year old cell phone camera. There just isnt enough light for such a camera, not to mention that hes dead and he cant use any cameras anymore, though he would sort of fit in with the theme of the ride.
One of the biggest problems with upgrading gear is that you very quickly hit very diminishing returns. There is a quantum leap between a typical point and shoot and an entry level DSLR because of the sensor size. Aside from that, you are mostly twiddling around the edges when you upgrade.
Take the current Canon APS-C lineup as an example. The Rebel T2i, 60D, and 7D all share essentially the same sensor. If you put the same lens on all three and set the focus, aperture, shutter speed, and ISO the same, youll get virtually identical images from all three. So why do people spend the extra money on a 7D over a Rebel? For things like a better AF system, a more durable body, faster frame rates, and lots of stuff like that. For most shots, none of that matters. Its for those few shots at the margin where the difference becomes important.
Spending your first $500-$700 on a DSLR gets you into the game. Upping the ante to a $1,500, $2,500, or even $8,000 camera makes a difference, but not nearly as much as that first $500 did. Thats diminishing returns. Each additional dollar you spend gets you smaller and smaller improvements in your pictures.
The same holds true for lenses. You can buy a 75-300mm f/5.6 for about $200. You can buy a better one for about $500. You can buy a 300mm f/4 prime for about $1,000. If you want another stop of speed, itll cost you about $4,000. Out in the real world, if you take a shot at 300mm and f/11, youll notice a difference between the lenses, but it wont be huge. The extra money spent on the primes bought you only small improvements in your image quality and small increases in the situations where you can use the lens.
That doesnt mean that expensive gear is an irrational purchase. Just because spending 4x for a piece of gear only results in a 10% improvement in quality or number of keepers doesnt mean that it is a bad expenditure. It just means that the extra money has to be worth the small marginal improvement in your images. That depends on how much you shoot and how you value those improvements.
The point of all of that rambling is that people often invest lots of extra money in their gear and are disappointed because they dont see commensurate improvements in their pictures. Too many people are investing their time and money into the wrong thing.
The best way to invest in improving your photography is to invest in yourself. Make yourself a better photographer and you will get more out of your gear. Id much rather see a noisy, low resolution shot of magnificent artistry than a noise free, high resolution shot that is boring.
Why do so many people waste money on gear they dont need instead of focusing on their photography? Its easy. You can sit back and browse vendor sites where they try to convince you that you need the latest and greatest stuff. You can read glowing reviews by people that have already sunk their money (and pride) into new gear. The Internet seems strongly geared towards getting people to buy more gear rather than getting them to take better pictures.
If buying better gear isnt the answer, what is? There are lots of ways to improve your photography. The best and most important is the cheapest shoot. The more you shoot, the more you will learn. You can read all you want, but that wont do much good if you dont go out and shoot.
Shooting to learn isnt that much different than shooting for fun. Most of the time, they are the same. There are some things that will help you learn more from your shooting. One commonly taught technique is to reduce your choices. Go out and shoot everything at one focal length, or one shutter speed, or one aperture. Go out on a shoot and focus on one unusual perspective like shooting from ground level or the level of your childs eyes. The point is to reduce your choices to remove variables from the equation. That gets you to focus more on the few things that you can control for the shot. Doing that helps you learn more about those few things. We dont teach subjects like math by trying to teach everything at one time, so why should photography be different?
Another important learning technique is to review your shots. When you get home, look at your shots critically. Think about what you like and dont like about them. Think about things that you want to do differently. You will learn more from looking at your own shots than you will learn by reading about other peoples shots.
Beyond practicing, there are lots and lots of ways to learn to take better pictures. Everyone except the most diehard introverts can learn from shooting with other people. Even if they dont know any more than you do, they can still have interesting shot ideas or provide feedback on your shots. Find some shooting partners and go out on shoots together.
Most areas have photography clubs. These can be great places to go to meet other people to shoot with. They can also be the source of other good educational opportunities like speakers or critiques. Just make sure that you dont start substituting hanging out at the photography club for actually taking pictures. In the end, you dont really learn things if you dont put them into practice.
Aside from real interaction with other photographers, there are lots of other ways to learn. There has been an explosion of really good blogs from really good photographers. Many of these might be over your head at first, but youll be surprised how much you pick up from them. Scott Kelbys blog is probably one of the best for new shooters because he makes so many references to so many other shooters. Hes almost like a hub with spokes leading out to many, many other shooters blogs.
There are tons of great photography books. I know that the Understanding series is very popular here. Weve had a few threads with lots of other good book recommendations.
Im also a fan of workshops and seminars. If you start keeping up with photography blogs or going to your local photography club, youll see ads for them. I just went to a good seminar put on by David Ziser and Ive got another one put on by Joe McNally this weekend. I love going to these because I always learn new things. I also see interesting alternative perspectives. For example Ziser, a fairly prominent wedding photographer, shoots mostly with moderately priced consumer zooms. Thats because for his style of shooting, he wouldnt see much benefit to using better lenses and prefers the lighter weight and lower cost of the consumer zooms.
OK, this has rambled on long enough. My main point is that once you are in the DSLR world, it is easy to get on the upgrade treadmill. For most people in most situations, I think that theyll improve their pictures much more with practice and education than they will by purchasing the latest and greatest camera body or lens. My suggestion is that you upgrade the most important piece of gear in the photography chain your mind.
My one exception is that if you want to take much better pictures and you still arent using a DSLR (or other similar sized sensor camera), you should definitely make that upgrade.
You often read posts from people asking what camera someone is using because they would like to get pictures like that. Inevitably, someone responds that it is the photograph, not the camera. The reality, of course, is that it is some of both. Ansel Adams couldnt get good shots inside the Haunted Mansion with a five year old cell phone camera. There just isnt enough light for such a camera, not to mention that hes dead and he cant use any cameras anymore, though he would sort of fit in with the theme of the ride.
One of the biggest problems with upgrading gear is that you very quickly hit very diminishing returns. There is a quantum leap between a typical point and shoot and an entry level DSLR because of the sensor size. Aside from that, you are mostly twiddling around the edges when you upgrade.
Take the current Canon APS-C lineup as an example. The Rebel T2i, 60D, and 7D all share essentially the same sensor. If you put the same lens on all three and set the focus, aperture, shutter speed, and ISO the same, youll get virtually identical images from all three. So why do people spend the extra money on a 7D over a Rebel? For things like a better AF system, a more durable body, faster frame rates, and lots of stuff like that. For most shots, none of that matters. Its for those few shots at the margin where the difference becomes important.
Spending your first $500-$700 on a DSLR gets you into the game. Upping the ante to a $1,500, $2,500, or even $8,000 camera makes a difference, but not nearly as much as that first $500 did. Thats diminishing returns. Each additional dollar you spend gets you smaller and smaller improvements in your pictures.
The same holds true for lenses. You can buy a 75-300mm f/5.6 for about $200. You can buy a better one for about $500. You can buy a 300mm f/4 prime for about $1,000. If you want another stop of speed, itll cost you about $4,000. Out in the real world, if you take a shot at 300mm and f/11, youll notice a difference between the lenses, but it wont be huge. The extra money spent on the primes bought you only small improvements in your image quality and small increases in the situations where you can use the lens.
That doesnt mean that expensive gear is an irrational purchase. Just because spending 4x for a piece of gear only results in a 10% improvement in quality or number of keepers doesnt mean that it is a bad expenditure. It just means that the extra money has to be worth the small marginal improvement in your images. That depends on how much you shoot and how you value those improvements.
The point of all of that rambling is that people often invest lots of extra money in their gear and are disappointed because they dont see commensurate improvements in their pictures. Too many people are investing their time and money into the wrong thing.
The best way to invest in improving your photography is to invest in yourself. Make yourself a better photographer and you will get more out of your gear. Id much rather see a noisy, low resolution shot of magnificent artistry than a noise free, high resolution shot that is boring.
Why do so many people waste money on gear they dont need instead of focusing on their photography? Its easy. You can sit back and browse vendor sites where they try to convince you that you need the latest and greatest stuff. You can read glowing reviews by people that have already sunk their money (and pride) into new gear. The Internet seems strongly geared towards getting people to buy more gear rather than getting them to take better pictures.
If buying better gear isnt the answer, what is? There are lots of ways to improve your photography. The best and most important is the cheapest shoot. The more you shoot, the more you will learn. You can read all you want, but that wont do much good if you dont go out and shoot.
Shooting to learn isnt that much different than shooting for fun. Most of the time, they are the same. There are some things that will help you learn more from your shooting. One commonly taught technique is to reduce your choices. Go out and shoot everything at one focal length, or one shutter speed, or one aperture. Go out on a shoot and focus on one unusual perspective like shooting from ground level or the level of your childs eyes. The point is to reduce your choices to remove variables from the equation. That gets you to focus more on the few things that you can control for the shot. Doing that helps you learn more about those few things. We dont teach subjects like math by trying to teach everything at one time, so why should photography be different?
Another important learning technique is to review your shots. When you get home, look at your shots critically. Think about what you like and dont like about them. Think about things that you want to do differently. You will learn more from looking at your own shots than you will learn by reading about other peoples shots.
Beyond practicing, there are lots and lots of ways to learn to take better pictures. Everyone except the most diehard introverts can learn from shooting with other people. Even if they dont know any more than you do, they can still have interesting shot ideas or provide feedback on your shots. Find some shooting partners and go out on shoots together.
Most areas have photography clubs. These can be great places to go to meet other people to shoot with. They can also be the source of other good educational opportunities like speakers or critiques. Just make sure that you dont start substituting hanging out at the photography club for actually taking pictures. In the end, you dont really learn things if you dont put them into practice.
Aside from real interaction with other photographers, there are lots of other ways to learn. There has been an explosion of really good blogs from really good photographers. Many of these might be over your head at first, but youll be surprised how much you pick up from them. Scott Kelbys blog is probably one of the best for new shooters because he makes so many references to so many other shooters. Hes almost like a hub with spokes leading out to many, many other shooters blogs.
There are tons of great photography books. I know that the Understanding series is very popular here. Weve had a few threads with lots of other good book recommendations.
Im also a fan of workshops and seminars. If you start keeping up with photography blogs or going to your local photography club, youll see ads for them. I just went to a good seminar put on by David Ziser and Ive got another one put on by Joe McNally this weekend. I love going to these because I always learn new things. I also see interesting alternative perspectives. For example Ziser, a fairly prominent wedding photographer, shoots mostly with moderately priced consumer zooms. Thats because for his style of shooting, he wouldnt see much benefit to using better lenses and prefers the lighter weight and lower cost of the consumer zooms.
OK, this has rambled on long enough. My main point is that once you are in the DSLR world, it is easy to get on the upgrade treadmill. For most people in most situations, I think that theyll improve their pictures much more with practice and education than they will by purchasing the latest and greatest camera body or lens. My suggestion is that you upgrade the most important piece of gear in the photography chain your mind.
My one exception is that if you want to take much better pictures and you still arent using a DSLR (or other similar sized sensor camera), you should definitely make that upgrade.
