Fact and Myth : Gears You ACTUALLY Need for Photography
One day, a friend of mine (who have been using Canon 600D
for a year), came to me and asked me this question : “Bro, there’s a
second-hand Canon 60D sold for cheap price, should I upgrade my camera ?”
Seriously, do we have to upgrade our camera every now and
then ? the answer is obvious : NO ! Our camera is different than smartphone (which
we upgrades almost every year lol). Our camera are long terms investation, that’s
why a periodical upgrade is not necessary. In addition, the manufacturers of
the camera only releases a new model of their products every couple of years. So
don’t be in hurry, as long as you are good with your camera, keep it.
Then, how about other photography gears ? Most people will
mention a complete list of photography gears , starting from lenses, tripods,
filters, cable releases, flashes, diffusers, tele-converters, and many others. Does
it have to be that complicated (and expensive) to start doing photography ?
Worry not, most of people’s opinions are just myths. In fact, we only need less
gears than we thought to start doing photography. Lets check this out :
1. CAMERA
This one very obvious, you can’t get a photograph without a camera, right ? J The camera I mentioned here refers to the one that let you to set Aperture, ISO, Shutter Speed, and white balance. Why ? because by owning such a camera, you have an absolute control over your image processing. After all, photography is an art of light-manipulation, therefore we are going to need a device which is capable of doing so.
There
are tons of camera out there,whether it is a digital format or film format,
DSLR or mirrorless camera, full frame sensor or crop sensor, canon or Nikon,
etc. Before deciding to buy a camera, consider to do some researches to choose
a camera which fits you, that is because you are not just buying the camera,
but also the system itself which may you use in a long-term. So, getting the
right camera for you is important. Also, consider your camera in correspond to
your needs (and of course, your budget), whether you buy it for a hobby or a
professional needs. You don’t have to spend thousands of dollar for a camera if
you just using it for a hobby. As for myself, currently I’m using a DSLR camera
with a crop sensor, and it fits me well because I found that digital format is
easier and more suitable for me.
 |
| Full-frame (Left) & crop sensor (Right). Besides the difference in their sensor size, Full-frame camera tends to have more feature, which usually used by the professionals. |
.2. LENS
Lens holds an important key to your photograph. In fact, lens have more significant (compared to the camera itself) effect towards the sharpness of your image. Imagine your brain as the camera, and your eyes as the lens. No matter how good your camera as long as it does not supported by a good lens, it would be pointless. That’s why some lenses are way more expensive than the camera itself.
There are lots of lenses sold in the market with their own specification, such as; wide angle lenses, prime lens, tele-photo lens, all-around lens, macro lens, even tilt-shift lens. Each of those lens has their own specialization with their range of focal length. Some people may choose an all-around lens (for example : Canon 18-200 mm) due to its large range of focal length, meaning that it can be used both for landscape and tele-zoom photo. Well, there is nothing wrong with that, however I would highly recommend you (if you have spare money) to buy each of specialized lens instead of buying an all-around lens. For example, you are going to need Canon 18-55 mm for shooting landscape, Canon 50mm for portrait, and Canon 70-200mm for telephoto. That way, you’ll get an optimized photograph.
Again, do some research before buying your lens ! This is because lens have their own compatibility with certain cameras. It also should be noted that lenses’ manufacturer produce the lens that fit with their respective camera, which means, you can’t use Nikon’s lens on Canon’s Camera. Also, consider whether your camera is a fullframe camera or crop sensor camera, because it will affect the mechanism of your camera.
3.
TRIPOD
“Do I really need a tripod ?”
Yes, you REALLY
need one, at least if you want to get the long exposure images (see the sample
below). Tripod also helps you a lot in a low-light situation, where slowing
down the shutter speed is the only option. No matter how skilled a photographer
is, their hand will not get steady in shutter speed setting slower than 1/50s, which
will result in a blurry images. That’s why I’m saying that a tripod is a must,
you may not use it everytime, but you definitely NEED it. It’s fun to own a
tripod anyway, because you can experiment with long exposure effect (as I
mentioned earlier). Tripods open a whole new world in your photography.
 |
| the images above are samples of long exposure effect which can only be achieved by using a tripod ! |
One thing to note when buying a tripod is its
material; a Carbon-fiber tripod is lighter than an Aluminium tripod, however it
is more fragile and more expensive. Also, consider the dimension of the tripod.
Travel tripod have a compact dimension compared to standard professional
tripod, making it easier to carry during your travel.
 |
| one of travel tripod from Vanguard. Although it is very compact, it's quality is on par with those professional tripods. |
It is also
important to consider the head of the tripod; whether it is a ball-head or
pan-head. Ball-head has simpler mechanism, resulting in an easy use and more durability,
while Pan-head is great for panning,
panoramic, or video shooting. Notice
the mounting of the head, whether it has a quick release system or not. It is
not a must, but having a quick release system helps you a lot (save more time)
when mounting or dismounting your camera. There are so much to consider, huh ?
 |
| Ball-head (Left) dan Pan-head (Right), Notice the differences in their mechanism. each of them has their own pro and cons. |
Please don’t buy Chinese
branded tripod, just don’t. I bought one those Chinese tripod for Rp.500.000 ($
38 or so), because I initially thought that I need a “tripod for beginner”
which is not too expensive. It was then I realized that the quality was horrible,
and it made me angry everytime I used it. Four months later, it broke and could
not be used anymore. That’s when I decided to buy a “real” tripod. You see, it
is better to spend more money on a good quality tripod, because we can use it
for a long time period. Some brands which can be your preference are; Manfrotto,
Benro, Gitzo, Giottos, Sirui, Vanguard,
and many others.
 |
| Avoid buying this kind of tripod ! Their quality is far from acceptable, and they are very easy to break. |
Believe it or not, that’s all we
need, Everything else is optional. You don’t have to get packs of gears to
start your photography. So, go get your money and spend it well on your gear J
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