Wildlife photographer Morten Hilmer spent almost two hours answering questions from viewers about his expedition to the remote northern part of Canada, about which he produced a great series of videos.
Morten is a great photographer and seems to be an extremely nice person, but what really got me thinking is his take on gear. I'm posting it in this forum because this is where I'm most active, but it's true for any photographer or brand user.
He shoots mostly wildlife and landscapes and is often in extremely cold areas. He takes tons of general gear to survive, to stay safe and to charge his battery-dependent devices.
What struck me in the video is that people asked him about gear, whether he's switching to Canon (he shoots Nikon), why he uses the Z6 instead of the Z7, what computer setup he uses, etc.
It's all straightforward to him: he got rid of his excellent D5 because he couldn't charge the batteries with solar power; he has the Z6 because it's new tech and the Z7 is too expensive to own until better tech comes along and because the Z6 is better in low light; he often shoots with the cheapish Tamron 150-600mm because it's good enough (he also uses a Nikon 600mm f/4); he doesn't really care about the other brands, but cares most about knowing his camera through and through; all he needs are those two long lenses and a wide angle and he's set; he shoots only FF because he often works in low light; he uses a laptop for all his editing, both photography and video.
It all sounds so logical when he says it and I know all these things, but since watching his video, I'm sitting here at my iMac with two 27inch screens (with my old MacBook Air sitting in a drawer somewhere and multiple other 27inch screens spread throughout the house in case I want to hook up the laptop or my Mac mini to them). I have seven cameras of four different brands and a ton of lenses, some of which I haven't used in a while. Even if I add the fact that I do more than wildlife and landscape photography, I'm nowhere near as focused as he is and certainly don't know my current cameras like I did my Canon 5D which I had for 8 years.
Part of me wants to Marie Kondo my gear (as I'm already doing with the too many fountain pens and notebooks I have accumulated over time). The question is: can I?
It's a good reminder to help us retain perspective. I was looking though old photos of mine last night ranging from shots taken 12 years ago with a Canon 450D and cheap lens to the latest taken with my Sony A7III with a G lens, with some stuff taken on Oly and Fuji in the mix.
And yes I can see the difference in output between the different systems and increasingly higher MP count, but it wasn't a case of gee this old 8mp file taken with a cheap lens looks terrible.
The late Galen Rowell said it all when someone in the audience of one of his slide shows asked what his secrets were to getting great shots - his answer "f8 and be there!".
Geoff D F wrote:
It's a good reminder to help us retain perspective. I was looking though old photos of mine last night ranging from shots taken 12 years ago with a Canon 450D and cheap lens to the latest taken with my Sony A7III with a G lens, with some stuff taken on Oly and Fuji in the mix.
And yes I can see the difference in output between the different systems and increasingly higher MP count, but it wasn't a case of gee this old 8mp file taken with a cheap lens looks terrible.
The late Galen Rowell said it all when someone in the audience of one of his slide shows asked what his secrets were to getting great shots - his answer "f8 and be there!".
I guess I should have put a question in my post, because people read it and apart from you (thank you!) didn't react. When I look back at my old images, it's mostly mistakes I made myself that prevent me from printing them to the size I want. With MFT, one of the reasons I have so many lenses is that I got into the system early and bought lenses as they became available, so I have the early primes, then zooms and then two of the f/1.2 primes. The early primes are individually not worth much on the used market and sometimes I prefer them, but it's rare. This buildup is one of the reasons I'm wary of getting into a new system now, because it's not at all clear what a Canon or Nikon lens line up will look like in a few years.
Thanks for the link. Watched it and reminds me to get cracking to understand Olympus E M1x better. Understanding what the camera "CAN" do, and not getting hung up on what it can't do keeps the focus creating images. As he said when the can't do list is causing not getting what you want, then look around.
munim wrote:
Try not having disposable income, it really helped me focus my gear
True that. When I was a poor student, I lusted over the professional cameras real photojournalists had but all I could afford was my little Pentax so I never considered anything else.
Then, many years later when I discovered eBay and was earning a decent income, I bought a used Nikon F5 even though I actually didn't need a camera like that. I finally had a toy I couldn't afford earlier. Didn't last long, though, as I regained my senses and replaced it with a F100.
It all sounds so logical when he says it and I know all these things, but since watching his video, I'm sitting here at my iMac with two 27inch screens (with my old MacBook Air sitting in a drawer somewhere and multiple other 27inch screens spread throughout the house in case I want to hook up the laptop or my Mac mini to them). I have seven cameras of four different brands and a ton of lenses, some of which I haven't used in a while. Even if I add the fact that I do more than wildlife and landscape photography, I'm nowhere near as focused as he is and certainly don't know my current cameras like I did my Canon 5D which I had for 8 years. Part of me wants to Marie Kondo my gear (as I'm already doing with the too many fountain pens and notebooks I have accumulated over time). The question is: can I?...Show more →
Well, I have to admit from looking at your postings, you are clearly obsessed with gear. No insult intended: many of us are. For myself, I have always found that concentrating on one system and ignoring the distraction clears the mind of the confusion of messaging. You must buy this, you must buy that and on and on. It also makes photography easier: it's easier to choose from between 5 lenses than 15. My biggest accumulation of systems was 4 (3 FF systems and medium format). Selling off all that stuff was the best thing I did. I've concentrated on one system (MFT), but I still have the FF Canon for shooting sport. I'd like to sell the FF, but so far can't do it due to low light requirement, but I am counting the days. Saves lots of money and angst. There is always something "better" and that is changing all the time. Unless you find you have a serious impediment to your shooting, it is best to largely ignore the chatter. I also agree that not having the disposable income is a big factor, but if you are gear head, this may make the angst worse. I remember I knew someone (a good photographer), who suddenly bought a whole Leica M kit in the space of 6 months, with all the most expensive Noctiluxes etc etc. My guess it was all on credit. 18 months later all the Leica gear was gone and he was shooting a Canon Rebel with a few primes. Pictures basically looked the same: still good. What a waste of time and money!
But seriously, of course it is not possible to reduce your real disposable income. However, I am reading The Wealthy Barber and one of the suggestions for taming the desire to acquire more and more stuff is to not acquaint yourselves in circles of friends or environments where the difference in material belongings is in your face. This can mean not associating with people that earn much more than you, or going to stores, window shopping, hanging out on gear forums
Robin Smith wrote:
Well, I have to admit from looking at your postings, you are clearly obsessed with gear. No insult intended: many of us are. For myself, I have always found that concentrating on one system and ignoring the distraction clears the mind of the confusion of messaging. You must buy this, you must buy that and on and on. It also makes photography easier: it's easier to choose from between 5 lenses than 15. My biggest accumulation of systems was 4 (3 FF systems and medium format). Selling off all that stuff was the best thing I did. I've concentrated on one system (MFT), but I still have the FF Canon for shooting sport. I'd like to sell the FF, but so far can't do it due to low light requirement, but I am counting the days. Saves lots of money and angst. There is always something "better" and that is changing all the time. Unless you find you have a serious impediment to your shooting, it is best to largely ignore the chatter. I also agree that not having the disposable income is a big factor, but if you are gear head, this may make the angst worse. I remember I knew someone (a good photographer), who suddenly bought a whole Leica M kit in the space of 6 months, with all the most expensive Noctiluxes etc etc. My guess it was all on credit. 18 months later all the Leica gear was gone and he was shooting a Canon Rebel with a few primes. Pictures basically looked the same: still good. What a waste of time and money!...Show more →
I do admit I'm a gear head and easily accumulate things that I don't really need in a few fields (photography gear, notebooks and fountain pens).
For a while, I wrote about gear and used many different systems. I was actually selling most of my stuff in early 2015, when I got into bird photography and my priorities shifted. I never had really long lenses before and now I have a bunch. I'm trying to cull, but it's difficult because the only clear leader in the tech that matters to me at the moment is the one brand I don't like using (Sony).
Then again, I lived in Europe from 2006 to 2011 and 90% of the time used a Canon 5D. I had only a few lenses and was overall very satisfied. But I also hardly took that camera on my daily walks in Vienna, Austria, because it was heavy and bulky, thus missing many opportunities.
I have hoped for years now that I could just have MFT, but it increasingly doesn't look that way. I realized this not only because MFT continues to lag in CAF performance, but also when it appeared we were going to move to Istanbul and I knew I needed a FF camera to shoot at dusk there. So, I want to cull, but I don't know what the end result should be for my uses.
Fountain pen culling is much easier, because even a cheap pen can do what any fountain pen can do
munim wrote:
But seriously, of course it is not possible to reduce your real disposable income. However, I am reading The Wealthy Barber and one of the suggestions for taming the desire to acquire more and more stuff is to not acquaint yourselves in circles of friends or environments where the difference in material belongings is in your face. This can mean not associating with people that earn much more than you, or going to stores, window shopping, hanging out on gear forums
I live in a well-to-do area (for the school system) and often feel poor here. Still better than when I worked in Greenwich, CT, where the local car dealers have Aston Martins and Bentleys lined up on their lots as if they're Toyotas, ready for pick up.
I think I am probably a gear head in that I enjoy using and learning the features, advantages and disadvantages of different systems. But I feel I also have varied needs. I like doing landscape and macro and some wildlife when opportunities present and photography is a big feature when I travel. But I also like to document family events and fun times, and my broader family expects me to be the family photographer.
I'm also building an arsenal for use for the future when I expect I may have more time to pursue photography. But I'm increasingly of the view that for the most part one doesn't need the latest expensive and esoteric lenses. When the Sony system was in its infancy, I picked up a bunch of Canon nFD primes cheap, and these in my view are ideal for landscape photography. If you choose carefully the lenses at f8-11 are as sharp and contrasty as anything else I've used and manual focus is actually a help, because they seem to be designed with infinity focus that is not far off the hyperfocal distance.
So I now have my M4/3 system which is my lightweight, take it anywhere, do it all system. My Sony system supplemented with a couple of adpated EOS lenses, which is geared to when I want FF quality, and my collection of Canon nFD lenses for landscape work.
Surley only three camera bodies and 28 lenses are not unreasonable? Not counting a few point and shoots I also have, of course.
There is a lot to be said for staying with just one brand and one system/format. Aside from the obvious cost advantage (no duplication of lenses, batteries, etc) and the inconvenience of traveling with 2 different systems, having just 1 system that you know very intimately and can work quickly and intuitively in the field can make the difference between getting the shot and missing it completely because you are having to fumble through the controls, etc.
Geoff D F wrote:
I think I am probably a gear head in that I enjoy using and learning the features, advantages and disadvantages of different systems. But I feel I also have varied needs. I like doing landscape and macro and some wildlife when opportunities present and photography is a big feature when I travel. But I also like to document family events and fun times, and my broader family expects me to be the family photographer.
I'm also building an arsenal for use for the future when I expect I may have more time to pursue photography. But I'm increasingly of the view that for the most part one doesn't need the latest expensive and esoteric lenses. When the Sony system was in its infancy, I picked up a bunch of Canon nFD primes cheap, and these in my view are ideal for landscape photography. If you choose carefully the lenses at f8-11 are as sharp and contrasty as anything else I've used and manual focus is actually a help, because they seem to be designed with infinity focus that is not far off the hyperfocal distance.
So I now have my M4/3 system which is my lightweight, take it anywhere, do it all system. My Sony system supplemented with a couple of adpated EOS lenses, which is geared to when I want FF quality, and my collection of Canon nFD lenses for landscape work.
Surley only three camera bodies and 28 lenses are not unreasonable? Not counting a few point and shoots I also have, of course....Show more →
I've been all over the board with respect to gear and my photographic interests and I don't think that rollercoaster will end anytime soon.
In summary, when I was much younger I wanted to become a photojournalist and I often went to shoot events and riots etc.. I shot with my own Pentax ME Super and borrowed my dad's old ME. Like Morten Hilmer, I often trained myself in using those cameras by just operating them without film in them. I could manually focus these babies blazingly fast and change film while walking and talking.
Many years later, when I got back into photography after a long hiatus (never became a pro), I bought and sold a lot of stuff on eBay to try things out that previously were out of my reach. I must have owned almost any brand over the years. I finally settled for Contax N and G, then switched to Canon for digital.
While in Europe I used Canon and got to know that system very well, though I also bought a Pentax DSLR for nostalgic reasons. A few years after our return to the US, I fell in love with MFT and dabbled again with many other systems. While I wrote for my blog, I rented many cameras and lenses and got loaner lenses from Zeiss, including their Otus lenses.
I'm not looking for ultimate image quality but I am looking for sharpness. And the experience of shooting is critical for me.
Like you, I have a hard time settling down because I'm interested in shooting many different genres and because we're probably going to move again, most likely to a city instead of the burbs where we are now. I've lived in five different countries and speak from experience that I know my photographic interests change each time I move. Plus, there's travel from wherever we live.
Still, I don't think I have 28 lenses, unless I start counting really old ones that are lying around unused somewhere...
johnvanr wrote:
I've been all over the board with respect to gear and my photographic interests and I don't think that rollercoaster will end anytime soon.
In summary, when I was much younger I wanted to become a photojournalist and I often went to shoot events and riots etc.. I shot with my own Pentax ME Super and borrowed my dad's old ME. Like Morten Hilmer, I often trained myself in using those cameras by just operating them without film in them. I could manually focus these babies blazingly fast and change film while walking and talking.
Many years later, when I got back into photography after a long hiatus (never became a pro), I bought and sold a lot of stuff on eBay to try things out that previously were out of my reach. I must have owned almost any brand over the years. I finally settled for Contax N and G, then switched to Canon for digital.
While in Europe I used Canon and got to know that system very well, though I also bought a Pentax DSLR for nostalgic reasons. A few years after our return to the US, I fell in love with MFT and dabbled again with many other systems. While I wrote for my blog, I rented many cameras and lenses and got loaner lenses from Zeiss, including their Otus lenses.
I'm not looking for ultimate image quality but I am looking for sharpness. And the experience of shooting is critical for me.
Like you, I have a hard time settling down because I'm interested in shooting many different genres and because we're probably going to move again, most likely to a city instead of the burbs where we are now. I've lived in five different countries and speak from experience that I know my photographic interests change each time I move. Plus, there's travel from wherever we live.
Still, I don't think I have 28 lenses, unless I start counting really old ones that are lying around unused somewhere......Show more →
I actually suprised myself when I came up with that number. At first I counted 21, but then I realised I had forgotten a few and then realised I had forgotten a few more. I should probably sell a few and use the cash to upgrade my ancient EM1.1.
bobbytan wrote:
There is a lot to be said for staying with just one brand and one system/format. Aside from the obvious cost advantage (no duplication of lenses, batteries, etc) and the inconvenience of traveling with 2 different systems, having just 1 system that you know very intimately and can work quickly and intuitively in the field can make the difference between getting the shot and missing it completely because you are having to fumble through the controls, etc.
I understand where you are coming from, but I feel I am familiar enough with both the Sony and Olympus systems to get what I want when I want.
Despite the millions of features cameras have these days most photography pretty much involves the same thing - making a judgement either about shutter speed (movement control) or aperture (DoF control) and then nailing composition and focus - either S-AF or C-AF+tr.
Generally using any of the special puffery modes only occurs when I have plenty of time to make adjustments.
In fact I think I miss most shots due to my habit of carrying my camera in a bag, with lens cap on and hood reversed. I should practice speed drawing, like in the old west, but emphasis on drawing camera, removing lens cap and reversing hood.
I live in the Canadian Arctic most of the year and the logistics force on you an equipment austerity and common sense.
EM5.2, 7-14/2.8, 12-40/2.8, 40-150/2.8. 25/1.8, macro converter for the latter and 1.4TC for the zoom. Might get the 300/4. Might also get the EM1.3.
What you take needs to easily pack into small planes and competes with survival clothing. I use the MacBook Pro at my residence, but leave with only my iPad Pro 11" when out in the isolated communities or on site. All communication is by LTE via satellite uplink. It's reasonably reliable but not large format fast. You could never use Adobe CC, for example.
Clothing is all Canada Goose, Arc'teryx, Baffin, and North Face! Standing on permafrost for 2 hours is an ordeal without the right footwear.
It's averaged -35 Celsius this month with a wind chill taking that down to -50C routinely. A "warm" day is -20C! The blizzards here will knock most large men off their feet in seconds. In those extremes, for camera equipment and pretty much all else, you take what is reliable and what you need...nothing more. And LOTS of batteries.
Geoff D F wrote:
Despite the millions of features cameras have these days most photography pretty much involves the same thing - making a judgement either about shutter speed (movement control) or aperture (DoF control) and then nailing composition and focus - either S-AF or C-AF+tr.
Even worst: some excellent photographers made incredible pictures without worrying so much about it... As JeanLoup Sieff said, the hard part is shooting "interesting" pictures.
Geoff D F wrote:
In fact I think I miss most shots due to my habit of carrying my camera in a bag, with lens cap on and hood reversed. I should practice speed drawing, like in the old west, but emphasis on drawing camera, removing lens cap and reversing hood.
I hate reversing hood for this reason. I replace them by small, fixed metal hood every time I can, with the cap on it.
The other obvious solution is to have a reasonably sized camera out of the bag most of the time.
Aristophanes wrote:
I live in the Canadian Arctic most of the year and the logistics force on you an equipment austerity and common sense.
EM5.2, 7-14/2.8, 12-40/2.8, 40-150/2.8. 25/1.8, macro converter for the latter and 1.4TC for the zoom. Might get the 300/4. Might also get the EM1.3.
What you take needs to easily pack into small planes and competes with survival clothing. I use the MacBook Pro at my residence, but leave with only my iPad Pro 11" when out in the isolated communities or on site. All communication is by LTE via satellite uplink. It's reasonably reliable but not large format fast. You could never use Adobe CC, for example.
Clothing is all Canada Goose, Arc'teryx, Baffin, and North Face! Standing on permafrost for 2 hours is an ordeal without the right footwear.
It's averaged -35 Celsius this month with a wind chill taking that down to -50C routinely. A "warm" day is -20C! The blizzards here will knock most large men off their feet in seconds. In those extremes, for camera equipment and pretty much all else, you take what is reliable and what you need...nothing more. And LOTS of batteries....Show more →
I've been at Algonquin Park when it is -35 Celcius in the early morning. That is not fun especially with the wind in the open. I found it difficult to keep my batteries warm for more than a few minutes of use as the E-M1ii slowed to a crawl and shut down. What do you do to keep your camera and batteries warm either during or between uses?
I've been all over the board with respect to gear and my photographic interests and I don't think that rollercoaster will end anytime soon.
John
You strike me as a worrier. I suggest you chill and just take it easy and try to stop worrying about what is best for what. Composition and interesting shots are really what it is all about, not which CAF system is the best because it has a 10% better hit rate. As for not being able to take shots in dusk, I don't understand; Olympus has superb IBIS and fast lenses, I don't find it a problem, in fact much less than I did with my Canon system most of the time, and much more pleasurable.
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