The debate over whether expensive gear is essential for high-quality photography is ongoing in the photography community. A professional photographer's experiment with Sony's cheapest interchangeable lens camera for a week of professional work offers insightful perspectives on this topic and serves as a great reminder that you don't always need the latest and greatest.
Coming to you from PJ Pantelis, this great video follows him across four real photo shoots over a week, including a food shoot, two product shoots, and a portrait session, using Sony's most affordable camera, the ZV-E10. To maintain the challenge's integrity, instead of pairing the camera with expensive lenses, he opts for affordable options recommended by YouTube's cheap lens expert, Mark Wiemels. The chosen lenses include a 27mm f/2.8 for around $15, a 35mm f/1.8 for about $150, and a unique 60mm macro lens priced at approximately $140. Pantelis' initial skepticism about these cheaper lenses quickly turns to surprise as he finds them outperforming his expectations, particularly the macro lens, which he credits for some of his favorite images ever. This experience highlights how affordable gear can still produce high-quality results, challenging the notion that expensive equipment is a prerequisite for professional photography and underscoring the importance of sound technique.
During the shoots, Pantelis encounters some initial challenges with focusing and lighting, especially with the kit lens. However, switching to the third-party lenses yields much better results. The 27mm and 35mm lenses become his go-to choices, offering the needed depth of field and image quality. The macro lens, despite its manual focus and challenges, proves invaluable, especially in product photography. Pantelis' success in delivering quality images that seamlessly matched his previous work and received no negative feedback on platforms like Instagram underscores the equipment's capability in a professional setting.
For any photographer questioning the necessity of investing in high-end gear, this video is a must-watch. It demonstrates how, with skill and creativity, one can achieve professional-grade photography with more budget-friendly equipment. That's particularly important in an industry where we are frequently attempted to buy our way to better results. Check out the video above for the full rundown from Pantelis.
And here I had thought Laowa was the champion of high-quality inexpensive lenses.
When I saw this article, the first thing I looked for was that poor dead horse that is being beaten mercilessly.
At the risk of stating the obvious, the 27mm is $150 not $15. I have the 60 mm macro and it is a bit tedious to focus especially for longer shots. Mark Weimels also mentions this in his review. I used this lens a few times and put it up for sale. Just missed too many shots due to out of focus.
Point well taken…. maybe not a NEW message, but a worthwhile one nevertheless, and delivered in a very practical way.
Thank you!
I've been using an A6000 with the kit lens for real estate ever since it came out. When it's no longer repairable. I intend to replace it with the ZV-E10.
Interesting! Not a pro,ok! Just a hobbyist! One thing few if not all forget is Software is greater my leaps and bounds in just a few years, so what he is using to edit the images is way better than he used to use. Very old Manual lenses you have to use manual focus Peaking Setting with colors, most never read about or use due to so much AF used - not that hard, even zooming. Going Sony in '14 I used my old Canon film lenses and APS-C T2i with $20 adapters. Even today that old fast glass is great, if you get some that are foggy there is a way to bring back to life. One thing not mentioned is the prism filters (hard to find) that give PS a run for its money to make the effects.
# 2 I used a Canon Film FD telephoto lens to capture my first Lunar Eclipse in Nov. '14 but used all of them for a year and longer as I saved for Sony lenses. To remember those lenses were for full frame 35mm so lens corrections not really needed and the glass is fast f/2.8 and faster why for hand holding not so much bokeh. #3 was a bracketed 5 at +/- 2EV setting I use even today, the A7s was a great learning tool.
Now for believe or not I captured the Milky Way back in '11 with my T2i did not notice back then, just a test shot, But I always go back to old images and re edit like I said SW gets better!
I still go to garage sales and estate sales to find old lenses most time just given to me.
Lastly stop saying Cheap for the time made it was expensive and well made!!! A good lens is a forever lens!!!
It'll be very interesting to see the topics after the year turns over. So many of these topics have been beaten to death in the last 2 years especially, would be really interesting to see if the status quo continues or we take a new turn.
Not complaining about this particular video, is only a thousand of them already, but somebody out there might need it or enjoy it or whatever.