Hi! New member here. I'd like to share something with you.
About the gear:
My last Saturday didn't start very well as I broke my newly bought lens. Mind you, when I say "newly" I mean I bought it recently; the lens is old. It's a 100-300mm Cosina for Canon EF. I tried fixing it but to no avail. AF mechanism is dead. It was not very expensive; around €25. I will not miss it much, but it still hurts.
Why am I telling you this? Because I consider myself a "poor photographer". Yes, I'll take the "poor" pun. Go ahead.
Photography is far from being my major point of income and I invest in it probably slightly more than I should (ask my wife). My Canon 5d mk2 is worn second hand item and I'm afraid his days are counted. One item only from my gear took me back more than €100.
So on Saturday I had to resort to my trusty Pentacon 200mm with a 2x M42 converter of irrelevant brand. And I dare to say the result are good enough to say that the gear is only as good as you make it. Sure, the fringing is obvious and there are lenses that would make this job a lot easier but the thing is very simple: I cannot afford them.
So if the next time you want to complain about how you need a new better gear to take better pictures, think about a guy who shot this roe deer handheld with a manual lens from different era.
About the picture:
Roe deer has very bad sight due to astigmatism. Curiously this feature makes them very sensible to even slight movement. And that's why they were grazing four meters behind me in the woods today. I had to wait completely still a few minutes to turn around and take this picture as they were totally unaware of my presence until I pressed the shutter button. Probably because of no wind.
Bonus information: I'm astigmatic as well.
Agreed! It's not the gear, it's the talent and skill of the person using it that makes the difference.
As much as I'd love to compete with Aaron Gwin, if I had the most advanced DH bike imaginable, he'd still be faster if he were riding a tricycle.
I'd say you made the best out of the gear you had. I like the image, and the deer looks sharp to me.
True.
Thank you, Thomas. Fortunately my M42 to Canon EF adapter has dandelion which confirms focus point (in good light at least).
Very nice. Love to know I'm not the only person trying hard to shoot on such a budget with what I have. I love the deer's expression "what are you looking at?" Great work. PS - Sorry about your lens. Been there.
Thanks, Christine! Of course there is a point where you just need a better gear, but unless you can afford it - do the best with what you have with no excuses. :)