Am I dreaming or did I really spend 8 grand on gear?

[Sean Setters]

I say I want to do portraits but I have antisocial tendencies and become too insecure to photograph other people sometimes unless I really hype myself. Part of that insecurity links back to not being comfortable with the technical aspects. I don't want to make somebody wait while I twiddle my thumbs, how embarrassing! Hopefully that changes after I go through some books and self-training. I'll keep the suggested primes in mind when I go out on shooting trips. A fast prime sounds very tempting but I only have enough for one more...


Another Bryan Peterson book?! I'll look into that book. Thanks for the suggestion.
<div style="clear: both;"]</div>

I primarily shoot portraits and my subjects frequently wait while I fiddle with my equipment (yes, I know how that sounds). By fiddling, you're experimenting, and by experimenting, you're getting better. And if you're getting better, it means your subjects are getting better pictures. So they can just wait...


Shoot, shoot, and shoot some more. Try different styles. One nice thing about a prime is that it forces you to use one focal length--and that constraint often engenders creativity rather than supressing it. However, I'm quite lazy and like my zooms. I typically only use a prime if I need the extra wide aperture because of a lack of ambient light.

[Scott]

Blessed are we to have a rich uncle, and shame on him for holding out on you. It seems that you have bought the sports car but don

[musickna]

The best way to learn the technical aspects is just to get out there and use your equipment. Of course, you can and should supplement that with a thorough reading of the instruction manuals, books on photographic technique, photography boards such as this, photographer's websites etc. etc. But, ultimately, what you do with your equipment is what will teach you best.


You'll make mistakes, screw up shots that you wish you'd got just right, get great shots that you didn't expect, but that's all part of the learning process. A process that never stops.


In many ways, it's much more important to develop an artist's eye than to obsess about the technical aspects of your equipment. Many of the world's greatest photographs were taken with equipment that we today might view as hopelessly primitive. But in each of those cases, the person behind the camera knew what to look for and how to capture it most effectively. Finding that skill is the real fun and reward of photography.

[wickerprints]

I bought $9000 in camera equipment (body, lenses, tripod, strobes, flash transceivers...not including accessories like cards, batteries, misc. lighting) in the span of about 6 months. Prior to that, I didn't own a DSLR.


So it's fair to say that I knew relatively little at the time I first started buying my gear. And yet I can assure you I know how to use what I have. It's called learning, and I know this is going to sound very arrogant or condescending, but photography is not exactly rocket science. There are more technically challenging artistic disciplines out there. Just try formulating your own ceramic glazes.


It's not that I don't appreciate where the sentiment comes from--I think there are quite a few people out there who buy a lot of gear but don't know how to maximize its potential. But that's not because the gear or the art is intrinsically difficult to understand. It's because those people don't CARE to learn how; they think that the more money they spend, the better they automatically become. So yeah I do get that.


But at the same time, to say that one can buy the sports car but not have the driver's license, frankly does a disservice to people such as myself who knew what they were getting into and went for it; people who are serious about absorbing as much information as possible and applying it to their process. The problem with waiting until "proficiency" is that it's a bit of a Catch-22. How am I supposed to learn how to take advantage of my 100/2.8L macro IS if I don't have a macro lens? Am I supposed to buy a reversing ring, extension tubes, and/or close up lenses first? All that does is teach me how to use those particular items. How are you supposed to learn how to use something before you have it to use?


So I don't buy into this idea of "grow first, then buy." In the long run that is an expensive proposition. The real problem that one is trying to avoid here is buying the wrong things for what you want to do, such as buying a 300/2.8L IS if what you want to do is shoot Yosemite, or indoor baby pictures. But that kind of mistake is not a product of the "buy then learn how to use" tactic. It is a consequence of the "buy before you do your homework" problem. For example, some people go out and buy the 85/1.2L II on the glowing recommendations of other photographers. And then they realize after they get it that it's focus-by-wire, weighs 2.5 pounds, is soft wide open, has slower AF than the 85/1.8, etc.


In short, the real problem is that people buy things they don't research, not that they buy things before they are experienced enough to know how to use it or maximize its potential.


When I decided to take my flash off camera, I got completely frustrated because I could not figure out how the various wireless transceivers worked and how they were different; not because I'm new to strobism or that I didn't know everything about lighting ratios, but because the manufacturers do not make their product description clear. And that's why it took me so freaking long to choose. I wasn't going to buy the cheap eBay triggers just because I needed to cut my teeth. I needed to understand exactly what I was buying into.


Anyway, here are some photos I took recently. They're not my best but I like them because they each have a story to go with them.


[img]/cfs-file.ashx/__key/CommunityServer.Components.UserFiles/00.00.00.30.26/IMG_5F00_0343.JPG[/img]


Victoria Crowned Pigeon (Goura victoria, order Columbiformes), at the San Diego Wild Animal Park. This crazy bird would NOT leave me alone. It walked right up to me while I put my pack down to switch lenses. I sat quietly, watching it for a minute, and it started to get a little bit too close for my liking. I thought it was going to attack me because it was inches away from my arm. I got up slowly and walked away, but it followed me around and puffed up its feathers. Maybe it was attracted to the color of my jeans. There was another specimen in the enclosure but it didn't behave like this one. I switched out lenses so I could get a closeup of the crown. Unfortunately there's some vignetting since it was late in the day, necessitating shooting wide open, and Canon hasn't updated EOS Utility to include peripheral illumination data for the new 100/2.8L. Other than some basic color adjustment nothing else was edited.


5D Mark II, 100/2.8L macro IS @ f/2.8 @ 1/160s @ ISO 640, no flash.


[img]/cfs-file.ashx/__key/CommunityServer.Components.UserFiles/00.00.00.30.26/IMG_5F00_0111.JPG[/img]


Pair of Mandarin ducks (Aix galericulata, order Anseriformes). I like how the one on the left is looking at the other as if to say, "what are you doing over there?" They were quite busy bathing in the pond and had just come out to preen. I later got a shot of the male on the right, just as he was using his foot to "kick" his head...lol.


5D Mark II, 300/4L IS @ f/6.3 @ 1/80s @ ISO 320, no flash.

[Raid]

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;"]<span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"]<span style="font-size: small;"]<span style="font-family: Calibri;"]JeffBP23<o></o>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;"]<span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"]<o><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: small;"]</o>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;"]<span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"]<span style="font-size: small;"]<span style="font-family: Calibri;"]Clearly you are in the first stages of &ldquo;L&rdquo; disease. This is such a highly addictive and virulent disease that there is no known cure. Once you take pictures with an &ldquo;L&rdquo; series lens you will never want to stop. L series lens have the ability to turn an old, no talent hack, like myself into a real photographer. You will then find yourself paying whatever they ask just to get another lens; you must get your next fix as soon as possible. The craving is insatiable and in the final stages you will find that you have sold all of your possessions, lost all of your family and friends just to get money for your next fix, your next lens.<o></o>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;"]<span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"]<span style="font-size: small;"]<span style="font-family: Calibri;"]In the final stages you will purchase the awesome 200 f2 and then your fate is sealed.
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;"]<span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"]<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: small;"]Good Luck
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;"]<span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"]
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;"]<span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"]<span style="font-size: small;"]<span style="font-family: Calibri;"]<o></o>

[nickds7]

Learn to be self-critical, read up on composing photographs, study others. Get lucky. []

[Colin]

I was stupid in college, and blew it all on stereo equipment....


It got worse when i got a job in a stereo store... I had no car, but I had a $10k+ audio system....


Photography is much more productive, even if you're not making money with it


He's going to have a lot of fun figuring out what all his stuff can do.

[Sean Setters]

Listening to what this group buys, you'd never know we were in a recession...we alone may be the cause of the economic recovery!

[Keith B]

Listening to what this group buys, you'd never know we were in a recession...we alone may be the cause of the economic recovery!

In Japan[]

[hotsecretary]

When I pickup some new equipment, I won't be surprised if I spend that or very close.



5DMarkII - $3k


24-70 - $1.3k


Grip $300


Battery $100





And I'm waiting to see if the 24-70 is updated, how much the possible 70-200 2.8 is going to be, etc But ya, just to get the walk around lens and basics is ~$5k (Cdn)





Funny thing is I sold my equipment minus the flash lately, and I only lost $200 on it all in total, so I can't complain.. L Lens how their value as do good cameras.