Is your camera system holding you back? Is it limiting your creativity in ways you aren’t aware of? Maybe working around the system's quirks or playing to its strengths causes you to overlook or avoid other creative elements of your photography. That is the reason for this camera system switch in this video.
Camera gear doesn’t matter. Or does it? In this video, Mark Denney realizes after reviewing his website portfolio that his usage of the Fuji GFX 100S over the past several years may have impacted his creative options in his landscape photography. Upon reviewing his portfolio, he noticed he did not have any long focal length images from the past several years.
Thinking about this, Denney realized that even with the longest lens he had, the Fuji 100-200mm, he couldn’t capture images with longer focal lengths like before. His camera gear was hampering his creativity by limiting his focal length options.
This led Denney to consider other camera systems to remove this limitation. As a previous Nikon user, Denney secured a Nikon Z8 and a powerful trio of lenses - the Nikon 14-24mm f/2.8, Nikon 24-120mm f/4, and Nikon 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6 which he took on his subsequent trips to the Great Smoky Mountains National Park and the Grand Tetons.
Denney concludes the video by discussing his thoughts on the Nikon camera system and the options it affords him. He also shares several images taken on the Nikon system and which lenses he preferred at these locations.
I often say camera gear doesn’t really matter, especially with modern cameras. But this video made me realize that there are still ways that the camera system we choose might affect our creative options. What do you think?
What do I think? I think it behooves one to understand one's goals and the concomitant hardware requirements before plunking down a whole bunch of money. Also, there's nothing wrong with using more than one system. I've got an iPhone, an advanced compact, a superzoom, a Micro Four Thirds kit, and a high-res 35mm kit. They all serve different purposes, and I'm not posting click-bait "Goodbye [camera maker]" videos on Youtube. I'd love to add a GFX100SII and 2-3 lenses alongside the rest of my gear.
It definitely pays to know what your goals are with photography and whether a camera system helps support those goals. I have a couple of different camera brands floating around here myself - depending on the occasion.
I think fullframe is the sweetspot. Best option is Sony due to a lot of lenses.
I am definitely partial to full frame for its versatility!
If I didn't need to shoot at ISO 25,600 and f1.4, MFT would still be my main kit. The largest prints I've made are 24", and my MFT images look great at that size.
MFT is an impressive system. I have a G9 that is pretty handy to have around and a GX85 that makes a great travel camera - it and three lenses all pack down super small!).
Yep Agreeed. I traded my GFX 100s for a ZF and it has been the best middle ground for me. I really enjoyed the 16 bit raws with the GFX but The camera is slow, lacks certain lenses, and the files are collossal to store and edit. Full frame is the most versatile platform for me. I can shoot anything with it.
Clickbait nonesense. Probably got sponsored by nikon
I think it was more a case of prior experience with the Nikon camera system and returning to what felt familiar. Now if I could get B&H to loan me camera gear like he did now...
You can adapt hundreds, literally hundreds, of telephoto and supertele lenses to the GFX system.
Adapt often and usually denotes compromise. Modern photographers that want/need to be efficient ain't got time for that.
Yeah - some of the adaptations I see out there (regardless of camera system) generally seem to have some compromise - fun to play around with, less fun if you are counting on things in the field.
Thomas Heaton went the same route for the same reason
Complete bullshit and I agree with @M_TW - obvious clickbait - you-tuber with an agenda - to make money - yep probably sponsored by Nikon. He hasn't said anything over the years about the medium format stifling his creativity - in fact he was promoting it most of the time. This is a typical clear to see trend in all you tubers - there are many examples out there including Gavin Hardcastle moving over to Hassleblad.... the list goes on and on - I have become much more selective on my you tube choices now and find myself watching it less and less because of the underlying psychological influence that social media has on buying trends and habits. These guys are constantly under pressure to produce content. As soon as I saw this video I unsubscribed from his channel.
He mentions in the video what caused him to look at other camera systems after having used Fuji for a while. People switch camera systems all the time - YouTubers are no different.
So he's essentially back to where I've been for the last ten years... a Nikon D800 with 24-120 lens. Despite all the hype around large format and mirrorless technology, for landscape photography I am not convinced anything since the D800 would have had any significant impact on the quality or creativity of my images. Especially the creativity part which originates in my mind... not the camera. If you think camera gear stifles creativity, save some money and buy a few books or visit a few galleries instead of switching camera brands.
I think with lots of forms of photography, the camera system often isn't what is holding a photographer back - probably even moreso for landscape photography (my predominant genre as well).
It's typical easy content. Heck, look at the comments here.
Nothing stirs up photography-gearheads into a hissy like switching systems.
And your contribution to the community is what?
Nice ad hominem.
I like my fuji, but I think they've ultimately become stagnant for professional growth. Good cameras for art and upper intermediate work
Switching gear always earns a lot of views and Nikon has a record of converting successful YouTubers.
That said, it also makes not much sense because the pixel density of the GFX 100 is equal to a 61 MP full frame - which means he could crop big time from a photo taken with a 200 mm lens on the GFX 100.
But then, photography is not always about reason-driven decisions. If someone enjoys switching from full frame to APS-C to medium format and then to another full frame system within a few years, it's his personal decision and nothing to be judged by others, myself included.
Interesting point on the ability to crop more with the GFX100 and sort of "cheat" the focal length!
That's actually one of the reasons I like the Z7II, not so much that I *need* 45MP all the time, but it lets me do more aggressive cropping later if need be. The same would certainly apply to the Fuji GFX100.
Tell me if I'm wrong but wouldn't a photo made with a long 400mm lens compress the foreground and background elements so that the background (say a distant mountain) looks much larger relative to the foreground than if the picture were shot on a short 24mm lens? Conversely, wide angle lenses make the background appear very distant. So as far as creative composition is concerned, cropping is not the same as shooting with a longer lens.
Cropping for focal-length effect "works" best if the camera is positioned in the same place it would be at the longer FL.
Focal length in itself doesn't compress - its the way a FL moves the camera in relation to subject/background.
Seems like it would be almost painful to have to drop from 100 megapixels, to 45.7 megapixels. It is overall a difficult situation, on one hand, the longer reach will help for edge cases when doing landscape photograph. For example, if you spot a a really cute fox, bear, deer, mountain lion, or other form of astronomically high cuteness levels, then having a camera system that allows for longer telephoto lenses, can mean that you can get decent images of the cute animals at a distance before attempting to get closer so that you can switch to more portrait type lenses.