My job requires me to spend some time on photography blogs and forums every week, and I’m consistently surprised by how much snobbery I run into. It seems everyone has a premium brand or model they swear by, and the predominate claim is “costlier is better. While I won’t argue that expensive lenses and sensors can yield great results, I still want to grab the internet by it’s collective shoulders, give it a good shake and ask it a few simple questions: does your camera have ISO, shutter speed and aperture control? Do you understand the basics of composition and subject matter? If so, you have the tools to be a great photographer. So cut it out!
ISO, shutter speed and aperture: these three settings and the mastery of them, plus a basic knowledge of the art of photography are all it takes to take great photos. Having high quality, fast glass is great, but it’s not essential. Give an experienced photographer the cheapest entry level DSLR and some time and he’ll show you exactly what I’m talking about. It doesn’t even have to be a DSLR. A mirrorless or point-and-shoot camera that has these three settings will do, or even a camera with only some of these settings. Heck, give a photographer an automatic camera with no settings and if he has a mastery of composition and subject matter, he’ll still deliver something pretty great.
My point is this: cameras, be they digital or film, are amazing tools no matter how low-end they are, and we are privileged to live in an age where this advanced equipment is so cheap and accessible. I admit, it’s fun to obsess over the newest and slickest camera tech, to imagine what gear you could own if money was no object. But how many of us spend most of our time thinking about what we could achieve with what we don’t yet own when what we do own could achieve just as much if not more? I’m consistently blown away by the work of photographers who shoot this way, who humbly break out their humble gear and take amazing photos.
The Filmmaking community is very similar. I’ve encountered filmmaker’s who say you simply can’t shoot something worthwhile without a high-end camera, lights and a large crew. A friend of mine is working on a really beautiful looking sci-fi web series and I assumed his team was shooting it with RED Epics. I asked him what the process was like and he told me they were actually just using an entry level Canon Rebel T2i. Clearly, the quality of your image is determined by knowing your gear, not by owning the best.