How an Impulse Purchase Changed My Career

Back in 2017, my commercial work was struggling to make any impact. I got the odd big job, but mostly out of convenience rather than style — that was, until I purchased this lens.

I have always been very practical when it comes to my purchases for my business. After all, it's a business and not a hobby for me. However, through a bit of a windfall of a re-license that I wasn't expecting and a large commission, I decided to upgrade my most used lens.

As a Canon shooter for my bread and butter work, an old 100mm lens was my go-to for the style of work I was doing at the time. So, I decided to treat myself (which is very out of character) to a nice new one. After a bit of research, I decided the lens I wanted was the Zeiss Milvus 100mm f/2M ZF.2 Macro Lens. 

The leap in price from the previous 100mm was somewhat substantial, but upon receiving it, I was very impressed with the build quality and optical performance of this lens, although this is not a lens review video. What impressed me the most was how much I could create incredibly detailed images. Not too long before the pandemic, I decided to entirely recreate myself as a photographer because of this purchase. This body of work led to being signed by a top agent and to shooting some really big and exciting campaigns based off my personal work alongside the usual work I would have picked up. 

In this video, I talk about how and why this lens changed my photographic career and why it is my favorite and most illogical bit of camera kit. 

Scott Choucino's picture

Food Photographer from the UK. Not at all tech savvy and knows very little about gear news and rumours.

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18 Comments

Why don't you show any examples of images you have created with this lens? Without real-life examples, I am sorry, it feels like just a promo video:(

Click bait is what has become of FStoppers.

If you click on my link you can see my work there which is all shot with this lens . Not sure what it’s supposed to be selling, the video is just a short essay on how a lens purchase changed my career

Thank you for your time and reply, appreciate it. Sorry but I really do not see why one would speak about the lens and not provide any examples of images created by this lens. In the same video, rather than expecting people to go to yet another link and spend time browsing through dozens of images trying to find the images (without knowing which ones were created with this particular lens). It would help if more clarity would be provided to the viewer. No offense, but I do not have time to browse dozens of images on yet another link trying to figure out which ones were created with this lens.

Lee, if the comment you made makes you feel happy and "grown-up" - enjoy it, by all means:) Hope you can do something for yourself to feel happier. Have a sunny and a positive day.

:) Thank you for accepting the fact that you became a grown-up only after you wrote these messages. Sorry to hear you were not a grown-up prior to that (which you have just accepted yourself:). Hope you enjoy:)

Child Lee, whether I am busy or not is none of your business. Have a wonderful day:)

Lee, what you meant to say was "Yan, you are a dumbass". There fixed it for you.

Reminds me of that old TV show, "PitchMen" (RIP, Billy Mays).

Thanks for sharing, it was a nice to hear about how a purchase shifted your trajectory in your career for the better. A nice change from the standard youtube gear video full of comparisons and excited over the top carry on for sure.

I like this dudes style of shooting. And his philosophies of running a commercial photography business have been inspiring to starting my own. Hope he keeps pumping out these vids.

This video sort of contradicts his other video about not buying new gear, using what you have, and saving money. The message here is: buy better gear, change the look of your photography, and it will pay for itself.

It's a tiny error but after looking at your website I notice a missing "e" on suite, on your footer text - "an editing suit" (+ e)
- great work, really appreciate your style.