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Sunday, November 18, 2012

Photography Training: Why Quality Lenses are so Important

Photography Training: Why Quality Lenses are so Important

I get asked all the time "which camera should I buy?". Well, truthfully, but the cheapest camera body you can and spend the rest on quality lenses. You're probably thinking that I am crazy right now. I mean, everyone knows that you need to newest Canon or Nikon digital camera body to look cool, right?  Wrong! I totally disagree. For example, I have a friend that has a $4,000 Nikon body and she has a cheap lens for it. Well, Hmmm, how do I say this nicely? She messed up. I did it the other way. I have a Lumix G1 camera. It cost me $250. I have spent around $4,000 on my current lens selection. I can take the same shot as her with my cheap camera body and my quality lenses and get an amazing shot that she is so jealous of. She sure looks cool with that big heavy digital monster of a camera though. No one looks at my camera. Is it really important to look cool or is it more important to get the amazing shot that can sell and make you money?  I would say the latter. I make money with my little digital camera. My clients love my photos. So, if you don't believe me, I will just add some photos below. They were taken with the same camera, but different lenses. One is a Canon FD 50mm lens and the other is a Leica lens. 

This one was taken with the Canon Lens. not a great shot but I'm trying to prove a point

This one was taken with the leica lens 

They were taken within seconds of each other.

The second one is much sharper and you can tell it is a quality lens.

Here are some other examples:

Cheap lens, not a bad photo though...


Quality lens.. Can you see the difference?  Haha.. I hope you can!

Ask yourself which image you would buy? They are both nice shots. I took them. I think the bottom shot is way better. It was taken with a quality lens.  

So, if you are going to purchase a new camera soon, think about this before you go out and but the expensive high megapixel camera with the kit lens. I would say do it the other way around. Buy expensive lenses and not as expensive camera body. In a few years your gonna get a new camera body anyway. If you have lenses you can keep them forever. Quality lenses are an investment. All brands of cameras have quality lenses available. They all have cheap lenses available too. Make sure you do your due diligence before you buy lenses and get the best one you can! Not the most expensive, but the best!



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3 comments:

  1. Generally, I agree with your idea, I'm shooting with cheapest DSLR body in my cameras system lineup and many people don't believe, that I can make something with it :) I earned lots of money with it, and who is better businessman in the end- me or someone who bought 5Dmk3 or D4? :)

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  2. Top notch advice. I've done that with my 35mm film kit. I've got a Pentax K1000 SLR , which is pretty much as basic as they come and I've got a superb Pentax 50mm f1.2 lens on it.

    I guess it matters a lot less on film because the camera really is just a light tight box and we can swap our sensors between any camera, something which can't be done on digital.

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