10 Things

5 photography investments I’ve loved and 5 I’ve despised

Bonus points for readers than can name that camera, more bonus points for those that can name the lenses…

I’ve spent the last six hours experimenting, learning, and devising new print-related materials and mounting ideas. All of these ideas came from a long list compiled over the last year. All-in-all I consider today’s investment a wild success and I’ll be back to the grindstone tomorrow. Of course, those successes (and failures) will be shared with all of you but we’ve got quite a lot of work to complete.

On that note, I decided to share something a bit more lighthearted today and a little less taxing on the brain. How about an ever-popular list of gear I have no regrets purchasing and on the flip side, a list of things I thought I’d love but ended up wishing I never heard of. Although lighthearted and very “gear-head-y” this kind of thing does have value. I’ll start this off but by all means, please share your own “love” and “glad it’s gone” lists of things so others can learn from your experiences.

The Good

1. I own a ton of cameras, possibly too many. I’ve owned 10x more than that along the way. I’ve used just about everything even if I haven’t owned it. The absolute best investment and favorite camera I’ve ever owned must be my Canon 5DsR (in a tie with my 5Ds). I am in no way saying this is the right camera for you. What I can say is that the reason I love this camera is the same reason I’ve loved a few cameras over 40 or so years. That sole reason is that I LOVE using it. Nothing bothers me, the basic controls I use all the time are simple and uncluttered, the camera does what I expect it to all the time every time, in a nutshell, it simply gets out of my way. Realize I never mentioned any specs, this is super important in that I don’t care as long as it produces pictures that meet what I need end of story. Honestly, I would not consider using another camera if all it offered was “specs” that do not matter in any material way to me. Of course, there were film cameras I could say the same thing about.

2. My Peak Design straps. A small thing but super important, realize I hate camera straps. I hate every camera strap I’ve ever owned. I don’t hate the Peak Design straps because it goes away when I don’t want it there. No other camera strap ever did that. Those other straps with “quick releases” are actually worse when “quick released” in terms of getting in my way as a constant distraction.

3. My Novoflex Magical 50 tripod head. Nope, not the most expensive head I’ve ever owned but simply the best for the work I do. Also, the best is that it does not REQUIRE me to buy into a “quick release plate”. I don’t like a quick-release plate. I have had them, I hate them. I have literally never been in a shooting situation that requires me to be on the tripod and then off the tripod over and over again let alone “quickly”. I hate them. I had them before and used them over long periods just waiting for them to solve problems I never actually encountered. I ended up taking that plate off, then putting it back on whenever I was or was not actually using a tripod. Oh, yes, I’ve lost many “quick-release” plates in that process. They are also not at all quick to put on and tack off. They are seriously uncomfortable in a lot of ways.

4. I love every single piece of pro-level lighting gear I’ve ever purchased. I still own and use most of that gear. I had the privilege of starting out with gear that costs a lot of money and continued down that road only through the luck of understanding I did not like fiddly little switches and liked big knobs and simple operation. I love all of my Profoto gear that plugs into the wall, the same goes for my Broncolor gear that plugs into the wall. I love each for the same and for different reasons. If I had to give one system up it would be the Profoto gear but that’s only due to some seriously lousy decisions they’ve made lately. Note that I qualified these as NOT battery powered.

5. Every wide-aperture prime lens I’ve ever purchased between 35mm and 50mm (or equivalent) for every camera system I’ve owned.

The Bad

1. The Contax G and G2 systems. I leaped onto the G and every prime lens they made the moment I could lay my hands on one. I tried very hard to love that camera but I hated using it in every single way. It was a worse rangefinder than my M’s and a worse manual focus or AF than my SLR 35mm systems. It was the worst of all worlds. What did I do? I “upgraded” to the G2 which solved nothing about why I hated that system. I can say that the prime lens lineup was great, too bad they weren’t manual focus.

2. Most of my digital cameras except my H2, my 907x (very specific use cases but I know that) and my Canon 5D mk3, and of course my better version mentioned above. Too complicated, too cramped with buttons and dials that you knock into, too festooned with complexities and features I never asked for or cared to use. This includes my EVF cameras which I still do not like as they do nothing material for me and double down on the bad layouts, bad handling, and in-your-face complexity.

3. My early Canon “pro” printers (I swear by the new Canon printers) but those first ones with changing out the inks, the horrid metamerism (especially on gloss or semi-gloss), the constantly clogged nozzles and ruined prints... Honestly, there was a long time C-prints were far better and easier.

4. Every ultra-wide lens I ever made the bad decision to buy. It’s not that they were “bad lenses” but it’s in my error of judgment on actually deploying them for anything I actually made pictures of or am likely to. I’ve wasted more money on “the widest lens they make” countless times. I cannot remember ever using any picture I’ve made with any of them. Yes, I know “how” to use them but 21 is the widest I’ve ever actually used. I’ll bet the same is true for most photographers, even “wide-angle photographers”. No, using a 14mm and then cropping at all does not count as using a 14mm.

5. Every “normal” focal length macro lens I’ve ever bought. They are slow, and they are virtually useless when used as an actual macro lens. I am fine with lenses that focus close but those dedicated normal focal length macros are a bad idea.

No, there’s no ugly category today. I’ll save that and it’s reserved for experiences that involved money spent on photography endeavors rather than mere bad gear decisions. I’d love to hear the good and bad photo gear decisions you’ve made and the context so we can all learn over and over again the themes that cause those bad purchases. There’s actually a non-zero possibility you could save someone else the trouble, unlikely but it is possible.