Does Gear Matter?
We all want to be better photographers right? There seems to be a never ending supply of new cameras and reviews of new gear. The idea being i guess is that the latest gear means you will be the best photographer you can be.
Does gear matter? What makes a good photographer, can you just get the best gear our there and use it to create images to be proud of? Let’s discuss this bit.
Are you a photographer?
This sounds like a silly question, but what does it mean to be a photographer. To my mind a photographer want to take pictures, to make art, to record a scene in a way that is remembered. Photography allow us to take moments out of time and keep them. Photography is about art and recording the world you see. To be a photographer you must want to actually take pictures, every day if possible and not with your phone. Let me ask you, “when did you last pick up a camera and use it?” I don’t include phones in this since, most people carry these all the time anyway. I should say that there is nothing wrong with phones for everyday photography but they do all the work for you. They will produce OK images but there is no passion or skill in that, it’s not you taking the pictures, you will learn nothing. You really do need a real camera and you need to carry it with you.
Pretty much any camera you can buy costing £1000 or more over the last 10 years will produce a decent image. In the second hand market you can get decent cameras for £500, So what camera you have is totally irrelevant, they are pretty much all good enough.
Nikon D700
But where gear does matter is that you must be comfortable with your camera, want to hold it, pick it up and use it. This is where gear DOES matter. It’s not the megapixels, the autofocus, the high ISO, the weather sealing, the lens selection, the size, the sensor, no. What matters is that you like it, you want to hold it, look at it, pick it up, take it with you and use it.
The only gear that matters is the gear you love and is with you where ever you go.
Maybe I should tell you a bit about my gear journey. Like most people, I have tried lots of different cameras. Pentax (Film), Nikon (DSLR, full frame), Sony (Mirrorless Full Frame and APSC), Fujifilm (APSC and Medium format). In each case I was trying to find the best gear for my style of shooting. I mostly take shots of landscapes, nature, the world around me, street etc. For each system there were advantages and disadvantages, I would buy a camera and lens, use it for a while , then sell it. This went on for decades (Yes I am an old git).
Sony A7R III
One day i discovered Leica. Obviously I had heard of Leica but always considered them a luxury camera for rich people (not me). I decided to give Leica a try, selling a Sony A7R III to raise enough cash to actually afford one. I went for the cheapest one I could find, which was an M8 with a Voightlander 35mm. Did it make me a better photographer?
Leica M8
Nope.
It made me much worse. I sold it shortly afterwards because it was manual focus which meant I kept missing shots, i over or under exposed images a lot, it was an old and expensive camera which I thought was fragile and so was afraid to take it with me in case of damage or being stolen. It was a beautiful camera, I loved to hold it, the manual clicks of the dials, the simplicity of the menus, the pure photographic experience was lovely, it was a joy to own but I still sold it. It just wasn’t for me.
Looking for every improving image quality I bought a GFX 50R thinking medium format was the answer to the best images. Wrong again. Whilst the images WERE great, It was too big and heavy to carry around and it’s complexity and menus drove me nuts. Lenses were huge and heavy, I sold it shortly afterwards.
GFX 50R
Although I often ended up with crap images, I did love the Leica. I missed it.
It was then I realised the truth, the only gear that matters is the gear you love. I spent a lot of time handling the Leica, holding it, wanting to pick it up. It was simple but frustrating and required skill to get anything half decent out of it. I realised that the look of the Leica M camera and the way it operated made me want to use it, take it with me even though I often got crap images. This was entirely my fault, I did not have the skill required to use it properly. Modern cameras make you lazy, with a Leica M you have to do the work and do it properly.
I went out and bought a Leica M246, a black and white only camera. It’s totally manual and ONLY does black and white. I paired it with a Voightlander 28mm F2. That’s it, I’m hooked. It goes everywhere I go, the 28mm stays on it 90% of the time, I did get a 50mm F1.2 for portraits and low light but that is it, 90% of the time its just my M246 and 28mm.
Why did I go for the M246?
It had the same look and feel as the M8, but less fragile. I have always loved black and white and wanted a camera that was specifically built for that. “What about the original M Monochrome or one of the newer Monochrome cameras“, I hear you ask. I did look at the M9 mono but it has sensor issues, I also looked at the M10 Mono but it has 40 MP. 24 MP gives better tonal response than 40 MP in my opinion, the same applies to the M11 and Q2 mono cameras.
Leica M246
I found my camera, I got better using it. It produces jaw dropping images when I get it right that make my heart sing with joy and that I am intensely proud of. I use it as often as I can.
The moral of this story is to find ONE beautiful camera and ONE elegant lens that you love and use them. You will then produce your best work, and you will love doing it. Do not chase the megapixels, the auto focus, the high dynamic range, the endless array of lenses, they are not what you need, you will spend all your time and money on changing gear and not on producing good work. Find one camera you love and use it.
A recent classic car show
From a local Goat sanctuary
Whitstable, Kent