The economy of photography
Photography’s Economics 101
For those starting in photography.
I do not promote corporations for the sake of promoting. When I talk about a brand in a good light, it is because they did well.
There was a post I made a few mornings ago that went… wild. I was saying how the Fuji killed the word Pro out of their X-Pro line series. It is now X-Amateur3, leaving the pro-users to use a 4 years old X-Pro2 (which is fine!)
The point of it was this: photography as a business is very different than photography as a hobby[ist].
The issue wasn’t that the X-Pro3 is expensive or gimmicky: but that it is not for professional anymore.
Photography is about art, yes, but also about making a living sometimes, for some of us anyway.
Let’s have an honest talk about gear for a second. This is NOT for advanced photographers or people that already made it in the photography business. This is for the mass, for the ones googling “Best camera travel 2019 or 2020”. This is for the ones that were not there in 2007 for the launch of the Nikon D300/D3.
So this is for the younger travellers/bloggers/influencers.
There was a time where there was no digital full-frame camera other than the 1Ds series by Canon. And then Canon surprised the world with their small Canon 5D model. Nikon retaliated in 2007 with the fabulous Nikon D3. And from then on, we had great, great sensors on the market.
But sensor is not everything. Ergonomic is a big one. Economic is another one.
M4/3 sensor in Olympus and Panasonic are way, way worse than the APS-C (Canon, Fuji, Nikon, Sony) when it comes to contrast, dynamic range, colour tonality, and depth of field. Yet… the marketing is so strong and pervasive than a quick web research will make you think that a Panasonic G85 or Olympus omd-something is a great camera – but it is not, not anymore. It was maybe in 2012 – but in 2019? Save your money, grab a used Nikon D3 or D3s or 1D mk IV and spend the rest on glass. If you want to be a pro, and you got only $2k to start your business, go get a Nikon D3 with a 85m f/1.4 AF-D and a 24mm f/2.8 (and a cheap 50mm f/1.8 for in between) along a SB-800 Flash. That’s all you would ever need to be a professional photographer.
A camera that was made for pro will always be a great tool for the amateur, but not vice-versa: a pro will be able to deliver great results with a Nikon D3200 attached to a D3200, but who cares.
The point is that value is what matters at the end of the day.
Maybe it is only me being old school and still perceiving the values in things, but when the mass critics aware-consumers for calling bullshit on corporations that are trying to make products for the investors and not the publics, get shut down and boo-ed off stage, I wonder if there’s any hope…
If you are a young photographer that does not know yet if you want to make money with photography: go get a five years old DSLR in the Pro category and start shooting. You never know where it might lead you.
You do not need the latest gear. As a matter of fact, the Fuji X-H1, Nikon D3s, Canon 1Dx or 6D, or D600, is all you ever need. Great glass, great body, great times. You don’t need the latest camera to make insanely good photos.
Photography as a business is about having the tool to make it work: for me, it is to have the tool that allows me to be an artist and to never forget that.
I cannot overstate this: a pro-tool will make you feel like an artist because it gets out of the way, where amateur cameras are often more complicated, with less shortcut on the body or gimmicky screen, which results, funny enough, in a worst photography experience, thus in a less fluid rendition of a scene that you are trying to portray.
There’s a reason that I still pick up my 17 years old Nikon F5 (reviewed here): it feels awesome, and I feel like I’m ready to go to war with it. The Canon 1D (reviewed here) makes me feel the same way. But give me anything less than a professional camera and suddenly feel that there is something in between me and the subject.
And maybe that’s why photography as a business is different from photography as a hobby. It isn’t only about making a smart financial choice, it is about having…fun. And fun it so goddam underrated nowadays, sadly.
Running your hobby as if it was a business will increase the rewards, even if not financially at first (or never). Running things with a tighter budget often leads to new wave of creativity.
Cheers,
JP
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