Why expensive photo equipment pays off
8.2.2018
Translation: machine translated
Support: Melanie Anna Lee
After taking a photo of a bottle of beard oil, I received a lot of advice on how to learn. I also give advice to all those who want to take more ambitious photographs: Buy expensive.
Ladies, I have to say: I'm surprised. I make a few clumsy attempts to take a photo of a bottle of beard oil and you all come to my rescue. "One Perfect Shot" will probably become a mini-series, because there are a few things I want to try out.
Thank you!
One question comes up from time to time: Why do I have such expensive equipment if - as I readily and openly admit myself - I'm only really good at taking snapshots?
That's pretty expensive equipment for someone who actually has
I take a similar approach to my photographic equipment as I do to anything else that I take seriously in terms of technology, be it a smartphone, hard drive or anything else. I want to be able to grow with my equipment - not the other way round.
This is why I counterpoint David Lee's article, in which he only advises the bare essentials.
What I really need the camera for
Before I go into a big opinion piece here, I'd like to briefly outline my job and my life in pictures. Because "snapshots" doesn't quite describe everything I do with a camera.
My equipment is not cheap. But I also have different expectations of a camera. I want to learn how to film as part of a long-term project. Through self-study. That's tough. Because officially, I learnt the following during my training as a newspaper journalist:
- Never cut off heads and feet
- Never take photos with a flash
- Your subject has the light or the sun in their face
I did well with this for years, because newspapers rarely need videos. Until I suddenly had to stand behind the film camera of video producer Stephanie Tresch at IFA 2017. Because she is being scanned in three dimensions for Sony's new smartphone.
In the course of the trade fair, it turns out that I stand behind the camera more often. Because switching in front of/behind the camera works too well for me and Stephanie to want to do without it.
Since then, I've been filming myself and familiarising myself with the video producers' camera, the Sony a7s ii with a 24-70mm lens.
One thing has been confirmed in the course of my self-study: If you're ambitious, it's worth buying expensive equipment.
You can grow with the technology
The camera and the lens are overkill for someone with my skills. For now. Because with the current setup, I can grow with the equipment and not the equipment with me. That's a big difference in terms of the learning curve.
If I had started taking photos and filming with a cheap camera and any lens, I would have reached the limits of the technology at some point. Then I would have reached the point where the thought of "as soon as I have a better lens, I'll be able to do the same" would come up. Saving, waiting, loss of motivation. Bollocks.
With the Overkill setup, however, I don't have this problem. If an image comes out badly or a video somehow turns out rubbish, it's not the technology's fault. Because Stephanie and her colleague Manuel Wenk make super nice videos with the same setup. So I know it must be possible. The only question is how.
In other words, any errors in the image are due to my own incompetence and not to shortcomings in the technology.
So if I mess up a picture or video, I can google or ask where the error lies. Is the aperture set incorrectly? The ISO? The exposure time? Why is it like that? How do the settings interact?
The question of whether I have the right technological equipment or whether the lens is made for this use case doesn't even arise.
In self-study, this is incredibly valuable.
Full Auto: saviour in times of need and teacher
About self-study. One important discovery is the Full Auto mode. The professionals reading this are now shivering. Such expensive equipment and then full auto?
For ambitious beginners, however, the full auto mode - i.e. automatic focus and image adjustment - is a blessing. I still use this mode today if I can't get a picture right. But I refuse to learn anything from it.
I usually shoot in manual mode and have set the peaking to help, where the viewfinder shows me what will be in focus in the photo.
When I shoot a picture on Full Auto, I look at the EXIF data of the picture afterwards. It contains the settings that the camera has selected. Most of the time, the a7s ii does this quite well and only rarely does it have a fit of incompetence.
The best way to view the EXIF data is on your PC. Simply right-click on the finished image and then Properties. In the "Details" tab, you can see what the camera was thinking. Remember this and you'll have valuable knowledge in your arsenal next time.
"But I'm not talented at all..."
If I hadn't had the experience of growing with technology and full auto mode as a temp, I would still be unsure now. I'm not talented at all when it comes to photos and videos. That's where a hobby, a passion, comes to my aid: weightlifting. Sure, I have a certain talent for it. With my physique, even if I were slimmer, I still wouldn't be predestined to be a runner. But talent ends at some point. According to my strongman coach, that was before the start of last season. I learnt then that the most talented person is always outperformed by the hardest worker.
Strongman Laurence Shahlaei also gave me important words on this, no matter what I'm learning.
I don't care if you think that you're the best. I don't care if everyone tells you that you're the best. The best can be outworked. The best can be unseated. Consistent, relentless, constant hard work give opportunity to reach the top... and something even greater: The ability to overcome your fears, obstacles and doubt.
Translation: I don't care if you think you're the best. I don't care if everyone tells you that you're the best. The best can be beaten by work. The best can be knocked off the throne. Consistent, relentless, constant hard work gives you the ability to rise to the top... and something even more important: the ability to conquer your fears, obstacles and doubts.
I take this admittedly somewhat platitudinous wisdom from the athlete to heart. He is right. I learn something with every photo I take. With every piece of furniture I move to get better light, I understand more. Maybe it will be a while before I can take decent photos or get the best settings for a video without the advice of Stephanie and Manuel. But the fault lies with me, not the technology.
I'll keep at it and wish you the same. If you want to do ambitious photography or filming, then it's worth buying an expensive camera and a good lens.
And if everything doesn't work out, you can always sell your equipment again. Cameras and lenses have the annoying habit of not getting much cheaper with age. <p
Journalist. Author. Hacker. A storyteller searching for boundaries, secrets and taboos – putting the world to paper. Not because I can but because I can’t not.
