hard choices

Making those

hard choices

In an ideal world there is only one consideration that matters - what is the best equipment for the job? In my world things run differently and that single, simple question becomes two difficult ones - what do I need and what can I afford?

Before one can even start making sensible decisions about what to buy you really need to know what you want to photograph. It would seem sensible at least to choose a brand for which affordable lenses capable of dealing with your anticipated subjects are available. It is this reason probably more than any other which puts Canon and Nikon at the top of the pile.

Which of those two is the best can be, and is, argued about ad nauseum wherever photographers meet. I can only say that I chose Canon because they had a well- regarded range of lenses that included some smaller aperture telephotos such as the 300 f4, and the 400 and 100-400 f5.6 models. Professional quality lenses that while still being dear enough, came without the massive price tags of the 2.8 versions.

Ultimately it is a pointless argument because only a fool would believe that the brand of camera that he uses would make him a better photographer.

There is a lot to be said for buying the best quality gear you can afford and then sticking with it until its use becomes second nature. There is nothing worse than missing a shot because you were rooting through the manual looking for advice, for example, on changing the focussing mode. It pays to be able to operate the controls with your eye still to the viewfinder so you can see what the subject is up to. Unless you are already a top notch photographer, then it is surely more important to put all your effort into getting the shots, because any half decent SLR with 8mp is capable of producing shots suitable for everything up to A3 prints or the very fussiest stock agencies.