The longer I've been a photographer, the more I've come to realize that the quality of the camera you own is far less important than how you shoot. The iPhone fashion shoot, now an iconic post on Fstoppers, showed that quality images can be taken without the biggest or latest camera body. While I'll affirm that shooting professionally shouldn't be determined by what kind of cameras you have, I think professionalism should be somewhat defined by how many cameras (and lenses) you have.
I was reminded of this very recently when, because of my own carelessness, I had two of my best lenses and one of my primary camera bodies get completely waterlogged. While I'll save that specific story for a future article, the implications of what happened could have been pretty severe. This time of year is prime wedding season and unfortunately, people won't reschedule at my convenience. With only a couple of days till my next wedding, I had very limited options to work with. In my locale, there's no easy renting option. While online renters like BorrowLenses do a fantastic job at getting you the equipment, they are only able to send it out within a certain time frame. I had to work with what was available to me. I had to be prepared to shoot the last wedding without half of my equipment.
While I did not relish the thought of shooting on only one primary body, limited lenses, and a crappy old 40D body as a last resort back up, the wedding went fine. Because my normal wedding day includes two cameras, an old back up body, and a range of several complimentary lenses, I was able to maintain my normal workflow without much interruption. The images I shot may have had a slightly different focal range than my standard wedding, but the quality of images I delivered to my client remained uncompromised.
My point is not to give myself a pat on the back for being somewhat prepared, but rather I want to illustrate how a very realistic situation could either be stressful and potentially devastating or could been no big deal. What if I didn't have extra lenses to offer a diverse set of images? What if I didn't have a back up camera at all? As professional photographers, we have a responsibility to be prepared for our clients regardless of circumstance. If something happens to a piece of gear, we need to be ready and have a back up plan. In my opinion, anyone who does not have secondary gear should not be charging for any sort of serious gig.
I have to say. I really appreciate this article. I know its hard for some people trying to break into photography, and all they can afford is a used Canon 40D and a cheap lens. They want to shoot weddings, with this little gear and be a photographer. And I read all the articles on this blog about how equipment does not matter I guess because they are trying to be encouraging. I get that. Though, it can not be farther from the truth. I am a professional car photographer and in the past I shot concerts. (dansavinelli.com) I CANNOT do what I do with out the best equipment and education I have acquired. (not necessarily from school, but from assisting, classes, online, etc....) Great equipment makes a better picture. Not trying to make those feel bad who cannot afford. It takes time to build a great system. Its taken me 10 years to get what I have. I purposely lived with my parents for years so I could spend an extra 15,000.00 dollars a year on equipment. Because I love what I do.
"Gear Doesn't Matter" statement is really old, tbh, it's pretty easy to get good gear in nowadays. Kids always ask parents for new ones, and undoubtedly parents are willing to do so. If you are a photographer/videographer, and you are neither pursuing the best quality of your work nor developing innovative products. then YOU ARE OUT.
Had the same thing happen but at a remote shoot - ended up shooting the whole thing with the old D40 - realized I still liked the ASP-C sensor and the 1.6x! I'm glad I had the old body and some backup lenses. It saved my bacon. http://schadt.com
Not gonna lie, I scrolled straight to the comments on this one.
LOL
me too
hahahaha :)
Dave sorry to hear about the WETTING of your main gear :)
did u learn a lesson???? :-P
hehehe
what you gonna get to replace the lost gear?
GRATS on making due with what ya had.
Some would have folded or given up.
You did good!
ALSO I can think of one thing that would scream " GEAR" over photographer's abilities.
that thing is, the equipment's ability to take a pounding, or in this case, complete waterlogging.
In this case, the gear choice would trump ability, if it were not for the fact of having multiple bodies available.
have at it...
I've heard stories though. A lot of customers out there are looking at your gear and judging your professionalism based on whether you have a Hasselblad or no. Whether you have staff, or no. How "professional" you "look" is sometimes important. Probably not as important as the final result, but I've heard from photographers who did not get the job, basically because they said they used a Canon 5D Mark II and not a Hasselblad.
I think this is a pretty rare circumstance given that many of the world's top photographers right now shoot on small format DSLRs and not medium format. If this were true, none of them would have that option. For example:
Joe McNally (Nikon D800 and D4)
Lindsay Adler (Sigma SD1)
Joel Grimes (Canon 5D Mk III)
Lara Jade (Canon 5D Mk III)
I am glad you say that, Ryan. Because I really dislike how ANYTHING that detracts from good images gets in anyones focus.
depending on the client and the photographer it can still be true, I don't think you can call Lindsay Alder world class and she is paid by Sigma to use the equipment nor Lara Jade.
Less established pros will use Hasselblads to impress instead of what they are good for. There is a relationship between focal length and sensor size that is just beautiful when shooting beauty and portraits that is hard to replicate with the 35mm DSLR. The established pros realize that the resolution is there and has been there with the DSLR and will use it regularly while also using the Medium format when the job calls for it.
all the photographers below use the dslr and medium format but none do it to impress.
Annie Leibovitz who uses Canons
Mario Sorrenti uses Canon
Mario Testino uses Canon
Peter Lindberg uses Nikon
Inez and Vinoodh use Canon
Not sure how well you can name drop, I am a huge fan of Leibovitz and have seen her use the D800 numerous times, as well as a number of medium formats.
Don't know if you were referring to my comment above about the Hasselblads. My point was its not a matter of being a Hassel, Its that you buy the best you can get. I shoot with a D800E and a D3s on my car shoots. Even though a Hassel is better, I got the best I can afford. PS. Joe has many D4's and a few D800 and D800e's... TD was right as well, erase 2 of those names from your list.
I was referring to Tobias' comment about how customers judge people on the quality of their gear and that they don't consider you a pro photographer unless you are shooting with a medium format like a Haselblad.
So I listed 4 current very successful photographers who don't shoot on medium format but somehow have a ton of respect, regardless. I could list a lot more. Medium format isn't even remotely necessary. It is a choice but anyone thinking they are losing business because they don't have a $25,000 camera back is very wrong.
Its not about how many lenses or bodies you have, it is about having the focal lengths and f-stops you work in being available to you.
Pros rent most gear. That way you own every lens.
Commercial Pros, assignment pros, in certain locales, do. In places like New York or LA there are so many rental options at such a good price I can definitely see why that is done.
Where I live, not so much... Often specific gear has a waiting list and when it is available the price is very high to rent. (In most cases after renting an item 2-3 times I could have just bought it for cheaper)
Renting is also ideal for commercial photography because the gear varies from shoot to shoot. For a wedding shooter, for example, they will use the exact same gear every weekend, all summer and thus renting is no longer cost effective.
I even use a gopro for a wedding shoot ;) great for fun crazy wide angle shots!
A more suitable post would be "Do you have enough talent to be a Professional"?
In my opinion, any model who does not have a secondary face should not be charging for any sort of serious gig.
HAHAHAHAHAHA KILLED ME
There is not just "one " thing that makes anyone a professional, but rather many.
- I'm sorry, but you need the best gear for the job you are doing, it's that simple. You don't have to own an F1 car to be an amazing driver, but if you want to be an amazing F1 driver you certainly do. Sure my olod Canon 1DmkIII made amazing images (back in the day), but now it can't hold a candle to my 5DmkIII's. Even comparing the 5D's to the T5, it's a no brainier. The IQ, color range, everything in the 5D just blows the crap out of the T5. Glass, well sometimes there are those great value lenses, but when it comes down to needing everything you can, in a low light situation, I'll take f2 over f5.6 any day. Now, do you need a lot of gear, no! But you do need enough to be able to have a backup, or a contingency plan such as savings or a rental house.
- Professionalism, this is rather important in being deemed a professional. If you do not know how to act accordingly and treat clients, then you will not succeed. I know many photographers who's work is average, but there professionalism takes them to the next level. They are looked at as some of the best in the area where I live.
- Running a business, you need to know the back and front ends of what you do, or make enough money to have someone do it for you. You can't just buy a camera, put up a website and call yourself a professional. There is insurance, marketing, education & training, business plans, accounting, organization and networking.
- Talent, this is important, but does it make you a professional, hardly. I know a lot of people in a lot of industries who have a boat load of talent. However they are far from being any where near a professional.
In all honesty, i think we get caught up in the word "professional' to often. I believe we are photographers who run business's and if we run a good business then we are clearly acting on a professional level. To me a professional is someone who has an education as a "learned profession" (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_professions). These jobs require specialized education and have rules and regulations set forth by governing bodies. Photography will never be a "profession" as it is too subjective to be governed by rules and regulations. Sure the business side could be, but that is just general business practice, not photography itself.
I think that perhaps it's not necessarily how MUCH gear you have, but the quality of gear you have, and even more so, the fact that you are knowledgeable enough to recognize what you need in order to achieve what you want to achieve, how to get the best result, and making that investment.
In case anyone misunderstood me, I was not 'knocking' the original post. My points are twofold. There ARE, wether we care to admit it a lot of people who equate being 'A Professional' photographer with owning kit. You know what they say, 'you buy a good camera and you're a photographer, you buy a saxophone and you own a saxophone'... I rest my case, but my real point is that there is a world of difference between being 'A Professional' and being 'professional' (i.e.behaving in a professional manner). Put simply, if you don't have some sort of back-up when going on a shoot that someone is paying for, you are simply not behaving in a professional manner. Would you get in a taxi if you thought the driver hadn't checked his tyres or his insurance? Thought not...
My original post was a slight annoyance about people saying that you couldn't be a professional if you used a certain type of lens or whatever. My equipment takes me to the level that my clients require. DPS in a high end magazine for example. If more quality is required (advertising/Billboard), I hire.
It's called being professional.
You also need to keep in mind that not every one shoots FX or Full frame and a 18-55 on some sensors is really a 24 to 70.
Personally i am not as much of a gear junky as others. That being said this is why i shoot all of the weddings that i shoot with 2 photographers. Yes one day ill buy a backup body to my d600 or maybe ill pick up a D800 and use my current D600 as a backup body.
I also think that you should be able to have enough savings that if you need to purchase a new lens or body in a few days notice that you can go out and do that. It is good food for thought about what you should do in case some thing happens. As long as you do have a backup plan then your good.
I got my first job using photos I'd taken with a $28 drugstore camera. Carrying backup was no problem!
Gear has everything to do with everything, i'm so tired of all these photographers preaching about how they own 10,000 dollar in gear but all they need is an iphone to take great images. if that is true than why don't you just sell all your gear and buy a few iphones for your work?? It's ridiculous, Can you take good photos with an iPhone? sure you can, but can you get the shutter speeds, DOF, Focus, focal length or IQ that you are pre-visualizing for a photograph? no you can't, If i wanted to shoot some long exposure seascapes, I'll need a dslr, a wide angle lens, various nd filters, a tripod, and a shutter release. And sure you can use an old film camera, an inexpensive lens, some cheap film, some welding glass nd filter and thrift store tripod, but is that going to produce the results you are striving for in your imagination? no, probably not. If i wanted to shoot some great wedding photos with great color saturation, sharpness, creamy bokeh, and good IQ could i use an iPhone? No I couldn't, could i take some decent photos with an iphone? probably, but the images i'm striving for? no. Both gear and skill have everything to do with being a professional photographer, and the gear is a huge aspect of it. Something that I learned when i bought my first full frame camera and my images improved 10 fold overnight.
Agreed. If gear has no importance, then why do professionals even own professional gear?
You might have the best compositional eye on the planet, or the best possible rapport with your subject and none of that matters if your camera breaks or your strobes don't fire.
A true pro never gets caught with his/her pants down. All critical equipment needs to be redundant. Have back ups for your back ups. Murphy's law applies. What can go wrong, often will. Be prepared.
Comparing the 18-55 to a prime L-series is a waste of time. Why not compare the mid-range lenses with the most expensive? - is paying x3 really worth it? Often it is not noticeable if you get it right in camera, however I would argue that better equipment saves you time in post. And if 'time is money' some could say its a worth-while investment. There are however a lot of people with more money than sense, if you don't know exactly what you need a new lens for - don't buy it!
People have this illusion that better equipment will get them drastically better images, that really isnt the case. Photographers may make it look easy, but behind the scenes a LOT of work goes into their images. You cannot cut corners (well, in some areas you can) but you are looking in the wrong direction. Equipment wont make you a better photographer, it just makes the image-taking process slightly easier (less compromises) and maybe less photoshop time because you have a nice negative to work with. Besides that; you still need to do the hard work - which is using your creativity to take an image of something people will find interesting.
I think your missing a lot of blanks here...and that this statement:
"anyone who does not have secondary gear should not be charging for any sort of serious gig" - is plain bs!
fact is...in order for you to GROW your gear you must charge, I myself am starting up my business and EVERY client I have charged has been MORE than happy with my work! And yes...that is including commercial franchised businesses.
You buy only NECESSARY items to do the job adequately, and rent where you fall short, and only through your income can you re-invest into your own business.
You cannot expect a photographer to ONLY charge once they have secondary equipment...EVERYONE starts from the bottom and to get better you do pro-bono shoots to build your folio where you fall short, and CHARGE for shoots you KNOW you can deliver!
It is unrealistic to expect the average Joe to be able to sink a couple grand into a business for SECONDARY equipment, when they have not yielded profits covering initial expenses for their PRIMARY equipment! That's the equivalent of expanding your business before you even have enough business!
the point is...Every photographers pricing will reflect their experience (or lack there of). The client pays according to the photographer. A premium price commands better experience, better equipment, better security and assurance (should something go wrong), and more so a premium product.
Stating that you are only worthy to charge serious gigs once you have attained secondary equipment is not only unjust, but discouraging for those aspiring photographers looking to go pro, making that leap of faith charging their first big clients when they don't yet have the capital to re-invest! I'm sure you were there once...
sincerely yours,
an aspiring pro...
I'm not all that sure that allowing a couple of lenses and a primary body get completely waterlogged due to carelessness comes under the realms of proffessional.
Yes you should have a backup plan for equipment faliure. But if you are in a situation where hiring is an option then thats fine. I must admit I'm in the film/video world where hiring is par for the course (its unusual for a hollywood production to own their primary cameras let alone any backups, mostly the DoP/Cinematographer will decide with the producers and director what to use and then hire them).
There are people out there that prove both sides of the argument. You got people with 5d III's and L glass who's work looks like junk, and you have people with kit glass and entry level dSLRs creating beautiful pieces. At the end of the day, knowledge separates people the most, better gear just amplifies knowledge and expands ability.
If my 7d fails my XSI will be my (a bit limited) backup My 12-24 can be replaced by my 20mm and my feet and my 24-105 with my 50mm and feet. I do have 2 fashes but could work with just one.
"In my opinion, anyone who does not have secondary gear should not be charging for any sort of serious gig." That's a trolling statement if I've seen one.
No, it is bang on. If you are on contract shooting a wedding and your only camera fails 15 seconds before the ceremony not only have you completely failed at what you were contracted to do but you also open yourself up to a hefty lawsuit which have been known to end photography careers before they even get started.
It is perfectly ok to be a pro with only one camera, but stick to the sorts of shoots where it is not "catastrophic" if your gear fails. Events are a serious "no-no", so are big scale commercial shoots that have tens of thousands of dollars invested in them.
Over the past decade; I have found that every photographer worth their salt, that I have ever worked with, had one piece of equipment that truly set them apart from all the amateurs...a ladder. I think what separates a pro from a weekend warrior isn't so much about lenses or bodies, but about preparedness. It's why pros bring extra batteries and tape, and a reflector, and a screwdriver... just in case.
Cameras are just tools, and different tools do different jobs. I only use expensive cameras and lenses because they are the only tools that will do the job. Unfortunately Canon do not make cheap weather sealed cameras that shoot at 10fps.
nonsense .. yet entertaining ..
I think there is a law in nature that can not cover all so the line 'As professional photographers, we have a responsibility to be prepared for our clients regardless of circumstance' there are 'circumstances we do not control in life...hence 'insurance' and disaster
Hey David! Just wanted to note (since we live in the same town), that should this happen again, you can contact my friend Mike at www.charlestonavgear.com. He's local, responsive, and reasonable. Even if you don't have a tragic mis-hap...he's great for borrowing an exotic lens you're thinking about purchasing...or just want to play with. :-)
When did a 40d become a crappy backup?