My "Aha!" moment was when I got my 600/4 IS lens. It was a big step up in quality and functionality for me. I first started out with a 200/2.8 and a cheapo 2X TC. A couple years later, I acquired the 400/5.6. Last year, I was able to get the 600, and when I first picked it up, I realized that I needed to renew my gym membership.
gdanmitchell wrote:
As to equipment, I have never, not once, had anything approaching the powerful "aha!" moment of realization and comprehension that affects the way I see and photograph.
Photographic equipment is simply the set of tools we use. There is little or nothing profound about it, and it does little to inform my "seeing."
Dan, no offense intended as I respect and agree with many of your philosophies, but it seems to me that you often include these types of statements in many gear-related threads. The OP specifically asked:
Grantland wrote:
Do you have an "aha" moment/memory when some newly acquired equipment
I believe that your thoughts about equipment are already among the most well documented on these boards, and I wouldn't complain about you repeating those thoughts in new threads that call for them. But this thread specifically asked a question pertaining to epiphanies related to equipment, so why post if you're not going to play along? As I said, no offense intended and nothing personal at all.
The lens that taught me how much of a difference good glass makes, was the 135L. I borrowed a friend's 135 during a wedding and took a few photos including some of the flower girl. When I got home and viewed them on my monitor, I was floored. Never before had I seen such amazing sharpness in any of my photos. Wow! I didn't pick one up for another few years, but it is truly an amazing lens.
Going to the 5d classic from my 20d was pretty great as well. Perhaps less of an "aha" moment and more of a "that's better!" moment. (I never did like the 1.6 "crap factor")
200/2 as well. The long view. That bright viewfinder in half light, twilight, and the outta focus forms. Lately it's the high ISO on newer cams (now I can shoot as I please, damn near, and a great deal of it handheld) and lordy the adjustment brush in LR4, which isn't equipment eggs-actly, but which has made easy... recovering a whole chain of aha moments discovered ...while building prints... making local adjustments... over n over ...in the devilishly tedious darkroom.
HawksFan66 wrote:
Mine was about 6 months ago when I upgraded to a new-to-me Canon 1D mk III. The difference this body and its focus ability has made in my sports photography is just amazing, a real eye opener. I find it hard to pick up my back-up 40D now.
Yeah, going from a normal camera back then to a 1D series was a revelation. Not only AF wise, but the whole speed and responsiveness of the 1 series make them a joy to use IMO.
My "aha!" moment has to be when I bought my first L zoom, the 70-200mm f/2.8L non IS about 14 years ago or so. I couldn't believe how good a zoom lens could be when I saw the first slides projected on to my screen. Sharp, crisp images with fantastic colour. My face pretty much looked like this:
From way back it would be using camera movements for the first time and seeing what they can do, then seeing a 10x8 transparency close up - it was like actually being there.
But in digital it would be the first time I looked at a processed 5D RAW file at 100% and I realised I'd never have to shoot with the awkward unreliable limited medium that is film again.
More recently the simply awesome high ISO abilities of the 5D3 - I can really shoot at stupidly high ISO's and not worry too much about noise if I get the exposure right.
It's interesting that I had pretty much the same experience with my first 5D, as Jim and David.
Gunzorro wrote:
2006: 5D -- Could finally sell my 4x5 after two years of no use and rely on full frame digital.
dhphoto wrote:
...the first time I looked at a processed 5D RAW file at 100% and I realised I'd never have to shoot with the awkward unreliable limited medium that is film again.
Soon after getting a 20D, and then a pair of 30D, I sold my 35mm film gear, including a Pentax LX "complete set". I kept my Fujifilm 67 and 69 rangefinders, as well as my Shen Hao field camera. Soon after getting a 5D, I sold all of my MF and LF film gear, with only a few small film cameras left for my bookshelf museum.
First time I used my 5D2 at ISO 3200 at night. Film died for me at that precise moment. For me the 5D2 was the first digital camera I used that did what I needed better than film. A watershed moment, less noise, more accurate colour, more detail in a shorter exposure for soooo much less money per shot.
David Baldwin wrote:
A watershed moment, less noise, more accurate colour, more detail in a shorter exposure for soooo much less money per shot.
A revelation.
And not just more accurate colour, more or less whatever colour you want, not just what the film decided was accurate, and different areas of the same frame in a different colour and whatever ISO you want and....ad nauseam
This may sound like hating, here in the Canon forum, but I'm being honest...it was when I realized I got better pictures and had more fun with photography by using my Micro 4/3 cameras than my 1Ds Mark II. I made the full switch shortly thereafter and have had so much more fun and have taken my camera more places now that weight and bulk isn't a concern. It's been truly liberating.
I loved my Canon gear, but the giant pain it was to carry around the heavy gear made it eventually not nearly as fun as I wanted photography to be.
My first Aha! moment was when I got my first digital reflex, a Rebel XT: all digital cameras frustrated me because there was this lag between pressing the shutter and the photo being actually taken. The XT had an almost instant lag and I remember being so excited about it. Second Aha! has been developing my own film (yes, after digital, the "normal" path completely reversed); alas, now I do not have much time for it with 2 little toddlers and I am back to digital and amazed at the high iso capabilities of Canon's last generation of cameras (a 6D in my case).
Jman13 wrote:
This may sound like hating, here in the Canon forum, but I'm being honest...it was when I realized I got better pictures and had more fun with photography by using my Micro 4/3 cameras than my 1Ds Mark II. I made the full switch shortly thereafter and have had so much more fun and have taken my camera more places now that weight and bulk isn't a concern. It's been truly liberating.
I loved my Canon gear, but the giant pain it was to carry around the heavy gear made it eventually not nearly as fun as I wanted photography to be. ...Show more →
That's the beauty, everyone is different.
I tried a Panny G5 system last month and hated it, I realised the very smallest sensor I could accept is a 1.6 crop, I just found the micro 4/3rd's didn't have the basic quality (for me) and I find the smaller bodies very fiddly
Rather than "aha" more like "oh wow!!" - acquiring a D700 after shooting a beat up Canon Rebel XT for nearly 6-years (why did I wait so long to upgrade??).
Second, "wow!!" - acquiring 50 1.8G for my D700 - super, super sharp! Love it!
Third, learning to use AF-ON!
Oops! Didn't realize this was the Canon forum! Sorry! I did bust out the old XT about 2-weeks - still a great little camera.
The capabilites of my first F2 compared to my first 35mm SLR a Petri, my first Nikkor 80-200/4.5 and the Vivitar 90mm macro... then when I got an F3, it was a dream compared to the F2, my second Nikkor 50-300/4.5...between then and now there have been many ah-ha moments...fast forward to the last ten years, the capabilites of the 1D2 and 1D2n and the files of the 1Ds2....and so many ah-ha moments over the last ten years in digital PP.
