I’m Confused; I Need Your Help To Understand

Derelicts, Messick Point, Poquoson, VA. (click to enlarge)
From the mid-1990s, Nikon camera and lens, inexpensive Ektachrome film scan.

 

I am thoroughly confused. I just don’t understand. I hope you as readers in our collective journey through photography can help me figure out all of this confusing information about photo gear.

Now, I've done my homework.  I've studied the technology, read the specification sheets, listened to the manufacturers' representatives speak about their cameras, watched the YouTube experts and read their blogs and I don't understand how such a wide variety of photographers with several different brand cameras using different sized sensors (and film!) as well as using OEM and third party lenses, from super expensive to inexpensive and they all are making unbelievably great photographs?  This just can't be!  No Way!

When I listen to the 'so-called' experts, influencers and brand ambassadors, each tell me their cameras’ speed, features, technology and image quality are superior to all others.  I come away feeling as though only their cameras will allow me to produce the kind of great photographs I want to make.  From listening to them I come to the conclusion that other camera brands just can't get the job done.  I must buy ‘theirs!’  Only ‘theirs’ will do!

So, I am confused.  Can it possibly be true that any brand of camera with just about any appropriate lens with any of the three popular sensor sizes make excellent photographs in a variety of photographic genrés?  Here’s why I ask.

I have seen some of the most beautiful photographs in all photographic genrés by photographers who use Nikon, Fujifilm, Sony, Leica, Pentax, Olympus, Panasonic and Canon cameras as well as film cameras.  I bet you have as well.  Let me give you examples of who I mean.

Adam Gibbs, Steve Mattheis, Nigel Danson, Joe McNally, Hudson Henry, Moose Peterson and Morton Hilmer, to name just a scant few, have made stunning photos with Nikon cameras.  

Simon Booth and Scott Walton create gorgeous photos with Pentax cameras.  

Andy Mumford, Roman Fox, Kevin Mullins, Karen Hutton and David Henrot use Fujifilm cameras to produce fantastic images across several different genrés.  

Petr Bambousek, Tesni Ward, David Griffin, Jay Dickman, Mike Lane and Rebecca Nason find Olympus cameras fill their every need to produce extraordinary photographs as well.  

Daniel Cox and Shiv Verma have used Panasonic cameras to give us wonderful images.  

Hugh Brownstone's black and white New York City street photography with his Leica will knock your socks off.

Rick Sammon, Scott Kelby, Mads Peter Iverson and a ton of other Canon photographers give us striking photographs with which to feast our eyes.   

And...don't forget Sony.  Mark Smith, Gavin Hardcastle, Matt Kloskowski, Nick Page and Simon Baxter, to name a few more, use that camera system to inspire us to produce photographs as outstanding as theirs.  

James Popsys used a m4/3 Panasonic for most of his professional career and only recently jumped to a Sony to continue to produce his work.  Both sensor formats allowed him to excel professionally.

I'm sure many of you know who Thomas Heaton is.  Thomas shot with Canon cameras for a long time, then switched to Fujifilm GFX and recently has switched to a Nikon Z7II.  Not only that, he regularly shoots with a Hasselblad and a Fujifilm 6X17 film cameras.  How does he manage to produce exquisite images with all of those cameras, both digital and film? 

Film?  Oh yes! Have you seen Ben Horne's and Shane Dignum's 8" X 10" work?  How about Nick Carver's Fujifilm 6X17 and 4" X 5" work?  Excellent as well.

1960s era Chevrolet.  Route 66 Museum, Clinton, OK (click to enlarge)
Nikon D810; 24-120mm f/4 F lens @ 65mm; 1/30th sec. @ f/11; ISO 400

I bet we all could name a hundred more photographers using even more diverse kit.  How can this be?  How can all of these photographers produce excellent work with all of these different cameras?

I have seen absolutely stunning birds-in-flight photographs made with the Olympus OM-1. The birds are sharp, detailed and the color is dead on.  I’ve seen equally excellent birds-in-flight photographs made with the Nikon Z9, the Fujifilm X-H2s, the Canon R3 and Sony A1! Gorgeous captures of those lovely creatures by all those different kinds of cameras!  That’s not all.  

I bet you have seen some of the glorious photographs made of wildlife here in North America as well as Europe, Asia and Africa. Those wildlife photographs are not just of exotic animals, but all kinds of animals, and were made using lenses from Fujifilm, Panasonic, Nikon, Canon, Sony and Olympus.  Wait!  I've also seen great wildlife photos made with lenses from Sigma and Tamron too.  Sigma and Tamron?  Are you kidding?  I’ve been told only the camera manufacturer’s lenses can give the best results?

Weddings?  Wedding photographers use all these brands, I would bet.  Same with sports photographers.  Documentary and street photographers not only use the brands mentioned but also the Ricoh GRIII, a tiny APS-C sized point-and-shoot style camera with no viewfinder.  Again, I ask, how can this be?

I just don't know how that can be but it is!  It doesn't make sense but those photographers make delightful images with all that different kit every day.  I must be living in a "Bizarro World."

I’m sure by now you get my point.  Seriously, in my opinion any current camera from any manufacturer with any size sensor will produce excellent images.  How good the images are is largely dependent upon the skills of the person behind the camera and if the right camera with the right features is chosen for the right type of photographic work.  The right tool for the job, so to speak.

If you are looking to buy a camera, my recommendation is first, determine the type or types of photographs you want to make and decide what you are going to do with your resultant images.  In other words, start with the end in mind.  

Then determine the top 5 or so features a camera needs in order for you to produce those types of photos, whether its focusing speed, subject recognition, the gear being small and lightweight, extremely fast shutter speeds, high resolution, focus bracketing, high speed sequential shooting, etc.  

Finally, after narrowing your selection down to a few camera models, hold each camera in your hand to find out if if feels good.  Ask yourself, “Am I going to want to pick up this camera and use it every day?  Does it ‘fit’ in my hand?   Does it feel good?  Do the menus seem logical and easy to figure out?  Are the buttons, dials and controls placed intuitively to how my mind works and do the necessary lenses that will work with the camera to allow me to do what I want to do?”  After answering your own questions, then think about overall which works best for you with what you intend to do with it.

Also, I recommend not listening to 'influencers' whose agenda is to serve themselves by way of sustaining their income stream and the pleasing manufacturers who provide them with cameras and lenses.  They don't necessarily have your best interests in mind, but their own.

Oh!  Thanks for the help figuring this all out!  Confusion resolved!

Join me over at my website, https://www.dennismook.com.  

Thanks for looking. Enjoy!  

Dennis A. Mook  

All content on this blog is © 2013-2022 Dennis A. Mook. All Rights Reserved. Feel free to point to this blog from your website with full attribution. Permission may be granted for commercial use. Please contact Mr. Mook to discuss permission to reproduce the blog posts and/or images.