Photography on a budget - is this even possible?!

[jamesclish]

Originally Posted by junglebear

Be thankful for what you have, and learn to use it to its maximum potential. I'm still using a Fuji super-zoom, I'd love a DSLR with 3 lenses but for now it's not possible so I've forgotten about looking on ebay and amazon (and jessops has some surprisingly cheap deals) and just made do with what I have. I haven't stopped improving (imho!) and I still take some shots that I'm very pleased with.

Wow! Your pictures are certainly testament to the fact that great results can be achieved with any gear. Well done!

[IainM]

y'know how necessity is the mother of all invention? It's the same principle that you should follow when trying to improve your photography.
Restriction in your gear will will breed creativity, because your are forced to get creative. If you were given all the gear you could desire, your photography would not improve very much.
But if you just used a basic set up with one lens and read stuff about how to take good pictures, your photographic ability would leap forward.

Try restricting yourself even more - go on a photographic walk with one card that has not much space one it (like a 1gb or even a 512meg one). Or just impose a self limit of 10 photos. Force yourself to think about what you are taking.

[wildbird]

Originally Posted by IainM

y'know how necessity is the mother of all invention?
Try restricting yourself even more - go on a photographic walk with one card that has not much space one it (like a 1gb or even a 512meg one). Or just impose a self limit of 10 photos. Force yourself to think about what you are taking.

And assumption is the mother of all #%%$ups, according to Steven Seagal movies :-)

I agree with pretty much everything here. If there is something that you wish you could see twice as big in your lens, simply halve the distance between it and and the camera! Say as widening the lens, simply walk backwards! Remember that all the worlds photos dont get deleted every year when a new model of camera comes out - I remember seeing somewhere that the Pirelli calendar was shot with a D80 years ago, this same camera is seen as very ordinary compared to even the top selling D90 nowadays, but the pics it produced by people knowing how to use it were obviously very good.

Same as everything though, whether that be fishing gear or camera gear, I always want something else, yet there are people out there with handlines getting more fish than me, and people with less camera than me taking great pics.

Work with what you have first, then when time and money allow, look at upgrading but by then, you will know what it can do already. Hint, dont go to a sporting event and get to use a professionals gear (with a D3s, and prime 400 on a monopod) while they are on the phone - guarantee you will want one of these outfits! (over AUD $20,000)

[junglebear]

Originally Posted by jamesclish

Wow! Your pictures are certainly testament to the fact that great results can be achieved with any gear. Well done!

Thanks very much

[8ounty]

Originally Posted by wildbird

Hint, dont go to a sporting event and get to use a professionals gear (with a D3s, and prime 400 on a monopod) while they are on the phone - guarantee you will want one of these outfits! (over AUD $20,000)

I went on a shoot the other day, and had a play with a friends 7D - bad move! I've spent the last few days learning more about my 20D, and I feel better and more confident about my photography and myself. I'm going on another shoot tomorrow night, and am already looking forward to the results!

[BCampbell]

8ounty, your 20D would be a huge step up for me.

All this talk about gear not mattering is bull****. Not to say that you don't still need to be a good photographer, but a huge part of being that is knowing what tools to use for the job.

I mean, come on, some of the comments in here... like invoking Henri Cartier-Bresson. Sure, he used a pretty basic Leica and pretty basic glass, but he also shot a fairly narrow type of photography. If you only want to shoot like HCB, then no, you don't need much more than that.

Look, when someone comes to these forums and says "I'm trying to shoot my kids basketball game indoors from the stands" we don't say "It's about your artistic vision. It doesn't matter what gear you buy. Use what you have to its furthest potential, it will boost your creativity." No, we say go buy an 85mm f/1.8 and a camera with better high-ISO capability.

Yes, it's best to know how to use what you have to its fullest. But it's also better to do that with a 5DMkII than a Rebel XT. Take it from someone who has been pushing obsolete hardware for a while now. It's not fun, you plateau quickly, and once you do your growth is horribly stunted.

Nobody should take advice from me. But the best advice really is to figure out what you want to do and use the best tool possible for the job. Can you still do that on a budget? Sure, the key word is "possible". You have a camera; the 20D has a lot of faults but it takes pictures. Figure out what you want to do and plan what you'll need to do it. If you want to shoot in low light, you can get a 35mm f/2 and a sub-$100 flash. Just make sure you're getting the best tools you can afford.

[8ounty]

And this is why I love this forum - thanks for your opinion BCampbell, a lot of what you've said makes sense. Thanks to this thread my lens lust is now manageable, but I do have a list of gear that I want to one day own, and through lots of saving will gradually buy - but there is no longer a rush.