POLL: Would have your earlier shots improved by better gear?

[Dylan777]

I voted on last one + fundamental in photography. If I get to do it over, I would buy a 1DX over 5D III first.

It's pathetic to hear modest gear makes no difference in enthusiasm. Adv-tech making our life easier, faster and better.

I shoot a lot kids indoor sports. I need a camera that can give me the best tracking and best high ISO. I understand 5D II and 6D can do this task at lower keeper rate. With 1DX, my keeper is higher. I can be more selective on the keepers. When we look at Canon latest lenses, they made huge improvement - from IQ, AF speed, accuracy, amazing IS, and of course weight reduction on big whites. I got more BIF photos with my 1DX than 5D III. With my latest 400mm f2.8 IS II and latest 2x TC III, I can shoot at 800mm without worry much about AF accuracy. Would that be enough for hobbyists(with decent budget ) to enjoy new gear? I can't speak for everyone, but for me, YES. I understand photography is a hard earning business today and many pros couldn't justify the high cost of these new gear.

It's hard to teach an old dog new trick.

You are conflating enthusiasm and tech.

You have spent over $20,000 in the last 12 months on your camera gear, do you honestly believe your images are that much better than somebody using a 6D and a secondhand 70-200 but who invested much more time and enthusiasm than you into shooting their kids? How about your BIF, I'll wager I can find much better images than yours from vastly more modest and enthusastic shooters using a 7D and a 400 f5.6.

You enjoy the owning of the tech, and there is nothing wrong with that, but go to a small local camera club where the "best" camera is a 60D and you would be shocked at the image quality they are pushing out and it is all carried along and grows from their enthusiasm.

Enthusiasm and tech are not synonymous, my experience over the last 30+ years of serious photography has been that enthusiasm trumps pretty much everything, sure there will always be images that are just not possible without the latest or greatest, but from what I have seen, none of us, including myself, are shooting them.

No comment on 6D since I don't own one. Marsu42 is a 6D owner, he always speaks the true about 6D AF and Ai servo - tracking.

When comparing my current gear Vs my prev gear - 40D, 60D, 5D II, 50mm f1.4, 17-55, 24-70 & 70-200 ver1 - it doesn't require a person with high IQ to see the dif. between these bodies and lenses.

I never claimed my BIF photos are better than others. I'm proud to be the owner because I'm the one photographed those birds. If you feel you have a better collection. Feel free to share them in BIF thread with CR.

 

[Aglet]

What about you? If you would have had top gear right from day one, would have it been "worth it"?

my shots would not necessarily have improved much because of equipment, but the quality of my files could have been a bit better with different gear.

I recently revisited some older files I have in my "finished" collection I use for printing.
Looking at them 1:1 now - yeesh! Some of them are very noisy and grainy. I may actually reprocess a few using newer & better NR software i now have available. They look very good printed at 18x12 inches but I'm planning to get a 44" machine and I'll want to up my file quality to print as many as possible to stand up to printing as large as possible.

The past 2 years of using ABC cameras have really spoiled me for pixel-peeping file quality vs what I was shooting prior to that.

 

[The Bad Duck]

I starten out with the AE1. Film, that is. No autofokus. No "professional mode" . Crappy exposure measurement. Just single shot.

with AF I would have had more shots in focus. With beter exposure metering I would have had more correctly exposed shots. But I was learning and now My understanding of the gear is deeper than it would have been otherwise. And now I feel spoiled by my cameras, both the 5d mk II and the mk III. They are so great and make my photography so much Better.

 

[DigiAngel]

i would have had more keepers und less shots where the focus was off due to poor auto-focus performance of my older cameras...yes.

apart from that, my shots would have less noise, better dynamic range and so on, but that would not really make them better. its just a technical sidenote. so i votet no.

 

[DiSnapper]

Poor noise performance and inaccurate AF system of my 7D has troubled me a lot for last 4 years. my 400D gave me more keepers compared to 7D. Anyways at the end of the it was my decision to continue with 7D. So as a decision maker I am at fault for continuing with faulty equipment.

 

[candyman]

I voted: ... "*not* have really mattered as I was learning"
And I am still learning!! I do feel very comfortable with my current equipment to master and improve my photography. My photos are by far not in a level where I am able to compete here. Personally I find a lot of inspiration here for that matter. Competition is a good thing when trying to learn and improve. I see so many fantastic photos here and elsewhere on the internet. I enjoy looking at it.

 

[DRR]

For the most part, no, gear would not have made much of a difference.

If I had to do it over again, I would have moved to a set of midrange primes earlier instead of L-zooms. And I would have gone FF sooner.

Give me a digital revel and a kit zoom and I'll still take better pictures today, than I would have when I started out if I had 10k of gear.

 

[jepabst]

I think everyone would benefit greatly from starting with the cheapest DSLR and a nifty fifty. That lens works great in low light, and you have to move your feet instead of considering zoom. The 18-55mm is a paper-weight. The 50mm teaches you more about photography. Also, on a beginner DSLR, because of the crop sensor, it's a pretty great portrait lens.

 

[Helios68]

When I was learning I did a lot of mistakes. So I don't think I would have done better pictures with even a 1Dx...

 

[Lurker]

I think everyone would benefit greatly from starting with the cheapest DSLR and a nifty fifty.

Maybe for your type of photography but not EVERYONE does your type of photography.
A 50 won't accomplish a lot with birds and wildlife. Cheapest DSLR? Try catching the iridescent greens in the blackish head of common merganser (mostly white bird) while it passes you at 80mph in early morning light with the cheapest DSLR you can find.

You need to match the equipment to your skill and your needs. It needs to be usable now and give you room for growth. How much growth? That depends on the individual and how much they want to grow.

I pitty the newbee that tries to figure out how to get started in photography. They'll have the cheapest DSLR kit they can find and a $2000 tripod/head to put it on.

 

[tog13]

I said "many more keepers" because of the large percentage of my shots that are taken in iffy performance lighting. The jump in the percentage of keepers from 10D to 5D1 to 5D3 is obvious.