Your Camera doesn’t matter.

A lot of people are very good at shredding apart Camera Brands online just based on specs. But do those even matter?

Nowadays, whenever a new Camera gets released, the online Trolls start coming out of their caves ad start complaining that X doesn’t do Y or that Y is better than Z. In real life though, specs only matter to those who never held a Camera in their hands.

Of course I don’t mean that specs don’t matter at all. Of course a good high ISO performance is nice. Of course we all want good lenses and many megapixels. But in without at least a basic understanding of the ground lying principles of photography, even the latest and greatest Camera wont make you a good photographer.

Things like the Exposure Triangle can be taught, if people are willing to understand what each Aperture, Shutter Speed and ISO change in their images. You don’t need the highest ISO if you know the basics, even though it certainly can help. But most people I know don’t shoot above ISO 3200 anyways.

Off course you can go strictly by the rules and never understand things like Colour Contrast, good Content and beautiful Composition (The 3 C’s, find my articles here.) But you will never be a good photographer if haven’t broken the rules once in your carreer. And a better Camera won’t change that.

For me, my Camera is merely a tool that I use to capture my imagination, like a carpenter would use his hammer to fix a chair. The tool is only ever as good as the person using it. But when your gear starts holding you back, there’s nothing stopping you from getting a wider lens, or a new microphone. Or even a new camera.