Digital SLR photography — How much camera gear do you really need?
There’s a lot of impressive new camera gear being released onto the market all the time. Is this making us better photographers, or is there something else we should be doing?
I only had a couple of seconds to frame, focus and capture this photo of a young Grey Butcherbird. Familiarity with my camera gear, rather than what gear I was using, enabled me to act fast enough to get the shot.
When I started becoming really enthusiastic about digital SLR photography I wanted to buy a whole lot of gear. All those fancy lenses sure looked good in the shop. But did I need them? No. I’m glad I stuck with my initial, minimum choices. The truth is, I’m enjoying myself more for having less equipment. And it’s helping my photography.
The beautiful moment
I think that expression sums up what photography is all about: capturing a beautiful moment. That moment could be beautiful for lots of reasons — I’m not narrowing things down to just talking about physical beauty. Cameras can’t find beautiful moments. But good photographers can. That’s why a good photographer, even with bad equipment, will always take better shots than a bad photographer.
Photography courses
When I was at art college I studied photography for a couple of years. It was fantastic training. It taught me some of the basics of photographic theory that go into every shot. It also gave me a wonderful introduction to ways of thinking about photography and composition and what makes a great shot. Doing a photography course can be an excellent way to improve your work.
So if it’s all about the photographer and not the gear, then why do I bother with a digital SLR?
Part of the reason is image quality. A properly-used digital SLR is capable of quality that the compacts or mobile phone cameras, with their much smaller sensors, are not able to achieve. I admit that compacts and mobile phone cameras are getting better and are plenty good enough for most tasks. But their small sensors still create issues for some types of photography that benefit from low noise or limited depth of field.
Another part of the answer is because digital SLRs are beautifully adaptable. You can turn a digital SLR into pretty much any kind of specialist camera.
Specialist gear requires specialist knowledge
Just like with any specialty, a camera that has been fitted out for a specialist task is going to require some specialised knowledge. It’s going to involve getting to really know your gear.
That’s why, whenever I switch lenses I find I have to also switch parts of my brain too. I have to adjust my way of thinking between the ways the two lenses affect a composition. Likewise, when I buy a new camera it takes me a while to get to know it properly, especially these crazy-complicated digital SLR cameras with manuals that cun run for hundreds of pages. So, the less often I have to switch between lenses or cameras, the less confused I am. Which means I am thinking more about photography instead of the gear I’m using.
Macro photography, like this shot of an Assassin Bug, can sometimes involve the use of specialist equipment
Feature bloat
My current camera body is capable of lots of different things. It has more features than I need and I only use about 10% of what it can do. Some parts of the manual I didn’t even bother reading. To be honest, if some alien spaceship hovers in the sky in front of you for only 10 seconds, you don’t want to be madly flipping through pages of a thick camera manual trying to figure out obscure sub-menus and user settings and so on. In fact, at a time like that, the fewer buttons you need to worry about the happier you are going to be.
Wildlife photography vs other types of photography
If you’re a wildlife photographer, then maybe you need to think more about camera gear than other photographers. That’s because wildlife tends to push camera gear to some of its limits. For example, let’s say you’re interested in bird photography. Most birds are notoriously small and shy and so a telephoto lens is going to help you fill the frame with that little bird. Now, a big lens is not your only option. You can also creep up closer to the birds or use hides or find places where birds are less likely to notice you or be bothered by you. So a bit of work can replace the need for that expensive new lens. However most bird photographers do still prefer some decent focal length, even with all the other options covered.
Likewise, if you enjoy photographing bugs then some macro equipment is going to be essential. But you won’t need much. My favourite lens is my 100 mm macro lens which focuses quite close. The cool thing is that it also focuses to infinity. And it just so happens for a bunch of reasons that it’s a superb lens for portraiture too.
So, even if you’re a wildlife photographer, it’s amazing what you can do with just one lens. And then you’d have the advantage of really knowing what works best with that lens. You will get to know its strengths and its weaknesses. You’ll get a better feel for composing images with it which means you will position yourself into better spots for taking your photos. You’ll know what works and what doesn’t. When you encounter a beautiful moment you will know exactly what to do.
So, the flood of new camera gear isn’t making us into better photographers then?
I’m going to give another weird response to that: Definitely not, and absolutely yes.
It isn’t, because the eye for a beautiful moment is what really counts in great photography, more than anything else.
And it is, because the flood of new gear, especially cheap digital compacts, has made photography so much more accessible. I don’t care if Grandma with her pocket compact doesn’t understand the subtle differences between various pixel densities or whatever. If she’s out there taking shots and having a great time then that’s fine by me. She might even get some killer shots too, and all that practice is probably improving her eye for photography. Since people are no longer worried about wasting film, I’m seeing them using cameras more and getting the kind of shots they would have otherwise missed. I love that. And I think that’s making us into better photographers!
Do I want to switch back to a compact camera?
No way. I love what my SLR can do. It really is half a dozen specialist cameras rolled into one. But I’m not going to try to learn it all. I’ve got more than enough to keep me busy just trying to improve on a couple of those specialties and I’m enjoying every minute of it. And the more familiar I am with my gear, the less stuff there is to get between me and those beautiful moments.
