In my last post I wrote about advice I had been given about just ‘Handling’ your camera bodies in order to become familiar with them but now perhaps the most important thing I can add to that is about ‘Using’ them frequently as there is no reason not too in this digital age where the costs of doing so are financially negligible .
I am a fan of YouTube though not of the current trend of click bait based upon “It broke” or “We confront disaster” as a headline on the thumbnail. I suspect that the marketing people at YouTube who apart from upping the advertising slots and encouraging people to upload more frequently, are encouraging channels to do this.
In photographic terms I always avoid the “I traded in all my “Y” branded gear for “Z” brand gear” and all such headlines because put simply, just who cares about other people’s consumer fantasies over “Brands” ? As I’ve written many times before, you would be hard put to buy a ‘bad’ camera today from any manufacturer so what gear you chose to buy is down to your personal preference, budget or a combination of both.
My Choice
Each camera will have it’s particular strengths where it excels and other areas where it may not be so good and this can also be true of different models from the same manufacturer. As I have never been someone who expects any one camera to be great at everything, I use more than one particular camera and deliberately rotate them all in terms of use.
Leaving aside the many other cameras I own, some are ‘marooned’ early digital models that have no trade in value others my collection of ‘wet film’ cameras, plus my various infrared M series bodies and Canon G series cameras there are my ‘go to’ bodies. Currently there are four main cameras that I am using: Canon 5DS, Canon 1DX MkII, Canon M6 MkII and the Lumix G90 micro four thirds mirrorless.
Each one brings something very different to the party and I have a sufficient range of native glass for each body plus the possibility of adapted lenses if required. However each has its own and often quite unique foibles and quirks so it is important to keep rotating them to keep your ‘memory muscle’ fresh for each camera otherwise you could trip yourself up and lose a picture opportunity because you are fumbling with the controls at the crucial moment.
Variety
I suppose that if you restricted yourself to one particular photographic genre such as landscape, studio, street, timelapse etc, then you would have a very tight series of technical abilities that you want from your camera and indeed lenses but I’m not that person, I suppose that I’m a ‘generalist’.
I like landscapes but also wildlife, macro, people and situations. To me the observed world through a camera lens is totally fascinating and I don’t want to miss out on any of it so hence the spread of different kinds of cameras. I have always ‘observed’ the world around me from even when I was very young and the world is an exciting place so perhaps in a subconscious way, seeing the world through the viewfinder is my way of isolating things of interest.
I think that I’ve become even more aware of this since I have ‘rediscovered’ my ability to draw again. Not that this matters whether you are drawing or taking photographs, the world especially the ‘normal’ world around us that we see in our daily lives and take for granted, is often full of surprising and intricate details if you just focus in on it.
