For most of us, there's a lot of excitement involved in buying a new camera, but it might not be the best investment for upgrading the content you create. Here are 5 things you should upgrade first.
If you love cameras as well as photography, upgrading or even changing your current body is an enjoyable time. Testing the limits of what is now possible with your new camera, putting the new functionalities to use, and pixel peeping all are great ways to justify (or explain away) your purchase. But if you're creating content — and this video pertains to video content — there are better places to put your dollars and time if you want to improve the quality.
There are some great suggestions in this video, but there's a standout option in my mind for upgrading not only the quality of your video content, but your stills photography too. That is lighting. This comes in two forms, though. Firstly, you need to learn about lighting; how to properly light a subject for different aesthetics, how to set the mood, and so on. Secondly, investing in quality lights. This doesn't necessarily mean dropping $10,000 on the newest and most coveted studio lights, but rather working out what it is you need to create the best look you can that fits your vision, and then buying that instead. There are some wonderful lighting companies out there now that don't charge house deposits for one strobe.
What do you think is the first item to upgrade?
"What do you think is the first item to upgrade?".... your camera.
I have been trying to upgrade my ability, no luck there!
One of the best upgrades for my low-light event photography has been DxO's PhotoLab 4 Elite, with its new and amazing DeepPRIME noise reduction. The previous PRIME noise reduction was already among the best, but DeepPRIME raises the bar substantially by not only making high-ISO images look really clean, but by now recovering far more fine detail. It allows me to make prints of such images at least one full print size larger, and it's given me the confidence to push ISO 1-2 stops higher. For high-ISO work, it's like automatically upgrading every one of my many bodies to a newer model or a larger format. All for under $200. For event shooters, it's a no-brainer.