In Defense Of The Imperfect

Does better gear help us make better photographs?

First shot I made in the morning light when I was stranded in DC during a hurricane in 2013. Made with an old, crappy, small-ish 50mm 1.4. ISO 800, all the grain was added by me with a pushed TRI-X preset. No fussing around in post, don’t care what is in the shadows, if I did there’s plenty of info there. I could have easily made this on any of my film cameras as well. I’m fine with imperfections and limitations and have been since around this era. I definitely do not like the limited battery life we’ve come to accept.

I have a confession to make. I’ve not purchased a new camera since 2016. Don’t misunderstand what I mean, I’ve definitely purchased more cameras and more lenses since that time but none of those were brand new. All of the cameras were used and 80% of lenses were used. Almost all of the cameras and definitely all of the lenses were “like new” or manufacturer refurbished. Same goes for the lenses. One thing I’ve learned is that I really don’t need to spend extra for the “like new” condition. The best values I’ve obtained are the well-used. The value to be had in today’s camera market is absolutely insane. It took me a long time to learn most “improvements” make almost no difference to my output and in some cases detract from it.

I have one high-megapixel camera. It’s the same camera I referred to above, the last brand new camera I purchased in 2016. I use it for the majority of pictures I make. I love what it do within the parameters of what I make pictures of. Are some newer cameras better based on measurement of arbitrary extremes? Maybe but if I don’t use or care about those extremes it really doesn’t matter. I like the results I get and more importantly I like using it. I have plenty of glass that fits the mount and more importantly all of that glass produces perfectly good results. What’s better is that I have expanded the range of lenses on the cheap-cheap. The only thing it doesn’t do well at is video.

I did have a need to make some videos four or five years ago so I solved that problem by purchasing a “refurbished” Canon EOS R - the first one, you know the one with all the huge problems like “cropped 4K”. Didn’t care much about that based on my needs. Oh, it wasn’t nearly as good at eyeball tracking as the brand new latest Sony A7 version 22 or whatever. For the most part I used my old glass on it. Cheap. I did try a couple of the new RF “perfect” glass and realized I liked some of the less perfect glass I already had better for a multitude of reasons. When my need for making video went away I sold the EOS R and a couple of those more perfect RF lenses. Why… because I liked using my old 2016 Canon 5Ds and 5DsR better.

Fast forward a couple of years and that need to make videos came up again. I quickly went looking for another EOS R but found that was only about $100 less than an R6 so I bought the R6. It’s fine, it’s more than fine it’s got all the fancy new features like IBIS, full-frame 4K, higher frame rates, faster focusing and eye-ball tracking, etc. Works great. Do I use it to make still pictures? Sometimes but only when I have to make a video at the same time in the same place on the same day. Truth be told I like using every other camera I have to make pictures, even those old 5Ds/R. Why? For one thing, a very important thing, I like optical viewfinders. EVF’s do nothing for me with the exception of very precise still-life images in which case every other camera I own has live view that works fine. In fact it works better for those situations because I tether to a much larger screen with much more precise composition and focus.

What do newer, better cameras do? They are technically faster at everything but I don’t care. All of them are plenty fast for anything I make, they have been for a good while. In many cases I do far better when I slow down. I make better photographs when I am looking at the scene and become aware of the light and shadow, the patterns, the composition, and fine tune what I am trying to portray. I make worse pictures when I am merely reacting as fast as I can. In a lot of ways that’s one of the reasons I have shot film in slow cameras, it has always kept me grounded and focused rather than trying to “react” to everything I possibly could take a picture of.

I am curious, how many of you care that much about video specs on your camera? Really, we’ve all played with video because it was there, then we played with it some more… high frame rates, slowing it down, etc but how many of you use it, how often and for what? Me, I use video mostly for how-to illustrations, an interview here or there (which honestly is more about the audio) and that’s about it. I think most use of all the “improvements” is to produce YouTube videos to demonstrate how to make video. Especially when it comes to those improvements built in to mainstream still cameras.

Surveying the landscape of photography over the last decade (since I’ve purchased that brand new camera) and longer has any of you seen a giant increase in the number of fantastic photography overall? I haven’t. If you have personally seen a giant improvement in your own pictures, how much of that is experience vs gear improvements? How much of your own photography is dependent of frame rates or “perfect” glass. If the ever-faster does help you for the majority of your work, how much more will help you more? 10+FPS has been available for years, my R6 does 12 mechanical and 20 electronic shutter. You can grab one for $1000 used. Really, does the MkII or MkIII or MkIV help more???

When it really comes down to it slowing down and simplicity helps me far more than faster/better. Cameras I like to use for the way they feel, the viewfinder, and simplicity help me more than features or speed. Sure I have one “perfect” 50mm (my personal desert island focal length) but I don’t use it. I should probably sell it. I far prefer my smaller, less perfect, fast 50mm lenses than my perfect lens that is the size of a pro-zoom. They are not that different, there’s not much in focus at f/1.2 or f/1.4 and truth be told I kinda like the less than perfect rendering of my flawed lenses.