Happy Halloween everyone! If it hasn’t already been obvious to you by now, I’m gradually moving away from writing about glamour and studio photography. If you missed it, there was a post with details on this new-ish direction this past Sunday. If you would like to see what I wrote about shooting glamour images for Halloween, you can read a previous post on that very subject right here. Meanwhile here’s some (hopefully) treats but no tricks….
Today’s Post by Joe Farace
“I always pass on good advice. It is the only thing to do with it. It is never of any use to oneself.” ―
Back in my traveling days, I once was lucky enough to stay at the Cadogan Hotel in the heart of London’s Chelsea neighborhood. also stayed at this charming hotel and frequently hosted friends at the hotel’s bar and I never miss a chance to quote the always quotable Irish playwright. Photograph of me on Carnaby Street was made by my late friend, the amazingly talented Steve Morganstern and shot on film with my Contax G1.
All of the cameras, lenses and film that are used to make the photographs appearing on this blog as well as all of my books were made with gear that I bought and paid for with my own money. There are a two exceptions: Some gear was loaned by a manufacturer when I was testing equipment for a review. After I finish writing the review all of the gear is returned to the manufacturer. There are no freebies, although I expect this may not be true for some reviewers. Next, my wife Mary is a kind and generous person and she gave me the Panasonic Lumix GH4 I use for my studio photography and an Olympus E-M10 Mark I that is used for all kinds of photography.
First, Some Background
My first SLR was a film-based Minolta, an used SR-1 that I bought from my friend and co-worker Eddie. After that, I shot Nikon SLRs for most of my early professional career, later switching to Contax having been inspired by a former editor of Shutterbug to try that brand instead of the Leicas that I was considering. I eventually acquired a used Leica M6 TTL but wish I could have gotten around to buying one of their film-based SLRs. (There’s a long story about a used Leica R8 body that I bought; perhaps for another time.)
When DSLRs came along, encouraged by my friend Rick Sammon I settled on the Canon EOS system but much later at a Panasonic press event for the launch of the Panasonic Lumix G5, I became enamored of the Micro Four-thirds system. I was also lucky to meet my then-new friend Mark Toal, a friendship that I treasure to this day. Nowadays most of my recent digital purchases were of Panasonic and Olympus mirrorless equipment. My film purchases were Canon A-series and one Contax SLR. My mentioning all of this history, it’s not to impress you with the gear that I have or to convince you to switch camera systems. If the equipment you own works for you and you’re happy, keep on truckin.’
Second, the truth is…
As the song goes, “Mistakes,. I’ve made a few…” And one of them was buying new equipment that would be needed for a project from a potential client. If you’re lucky you’ll get the assignment but my (sad) experience has been is that, more often than not, you don’t. Now you have the equipment, you don’t have the money it cost but maybe have a big credit card bill. The truth is that you don’t have to spend thousands of dollars on equipment to make quality photographs. The quality of the image has more to do with the photographer than the gear. There are many reasonably priced cameras offering interchangeable lenses and sophisticated electronics. Check out manufacturer’s lower and mid-priced models instead of their top-of-the line cameras. You might even be surprised at how capable an entry-level cameras can be.
If you’re a beginning photographer, I think you’ll find it much more useful to have a $800-1000 camera with a few lenses and a speedlight, instead of a $4,000 camera with a single lens That’s another reason why you should also consider purchasing a used camera—you’re going to use it anyway. When a new DSLR or mirrorless camera comes out, lots of photographers who want to be the “first kid on the block” with a new camera trade their older model in on the latest one. That’s the best time to buy the previously latest model and let the other person take the depreciation hit, kinda like buying a three-year old Mercedes Benz.
There are also subsets of used cameras called “demo” and “refurb” or factory refurbished models. Refurbs are similar to used and someone may have previously owned it but there could be a camera warranty in the package. My Olympus Pen F was a refurb purchased directly from Olympus before OM Systems took them over and their refurbs ceased to be as big a bargain as they formerly were. Many camera stores, including the big New York and Los Angeles shops also offer demo gear so it pays to have a sales person in the store that you work with on a regular basis to keep you informed of bargains.
And lest we forget, there’s eBay. I’ve sold cameras and lenses on eBay and know many happy eBay buyers. While the bargains that abounded in eBay’s early years have pretty much evaporated, it remains a great place to locate and purchase hard-to-find items, like the Yashica Electro GSN that I’ve been eyeing for years. You can see two videos on this subject on my YouTube channel: One is on buying used cameras from Japan, the other on eBay purchases made in the USA.
If you enjoyed today’s blog post and would like to buy Joe a cup of Earl Grey tea ($2.50,) click here. And if you do, thank so very much.