CAMERA GEAR (and Photography)

We photographers do love our gear – cameras and lenses mainly, but also the other stuff such as tripods and bags. Far too much attention is paid to gear on the likes of YouTube, rather than on photography, but let’s face it, we all love our stuff. Well I do anyway.

I suspect that deep down everyone knows that a new camera won’t make you a better photographer. That’s not quite true. Sometimes you do need that special feature and therefore to succeed, need the camera with that special feature. A good example would be having a weather-proof camera, lens and bag when out in the driving rain and snow. In other words, in Britain.

It’s also true that when a camera and lens feel great in the hand, works well, not too heavy and is easy to use, the confidence it inspires can make you more inclined to enjoy your photography, and so may well take better (errr, more) photos. That’s been my experience anyway.

I changed over to using Olympus (micro four thirds MFT) fairly recently. My main camera is the OM System OM-1 mark ii. I absolutely love the ergonomics; the camera feels so good in the hand and makes taking photos so much fun. Absolutely loads of computational photography and the fastest response of any camera I’ve ever used. It’s so fast! Best of all are the lenses. Being MFT, they’re so much smaller and lighter than other formats (APS-C, Full Frame or Medium Format). That matters to me now that I am old and feeble. The quality of the lenses is second to none.

I have a few other cameras I use. Mainly my OM-3, iPhone and DJI Mini 4 drone for photos and videos, and GoPro and DJI Pocket 3 for video.