Does Gear Matter?

Justin Joo
Sep 8, 2018 · 3 min read
taken and edited with iPhone 7

If you didn’t know by now, I’m a photographer with a [healthy] obsession over cameras, lenses, and all the other super cool and fascinating camera gear / technology. It’s a big aspect of photography that really drives me and I could spend hours and hours just talking to people about photography gear. My YouTube subscriptions mainly revolve around YouTubers who review gear and are photo geeks themselves. I recently got Twitter for the sole purpose of being more up to date with rumours about new gear that Canon, Nikon, Sony, Fuji, and other large camera manufacturers may be releasing in the near future. Heck, I even worked retail in a photography department so I could learn more, talk more, and receive discounts more (yes, I good English) on image taking machines (cameras, in case you didn’t understand me good English). But does this make me any better of a photographer? Does gear matter?

Short answer: not really.

Really short answer: yes.

Short answer but not as short as my first two answers: yes and no, it depends.

I think the best way to go about this is to use examples. The reason sometimes gear matters and sometimes it does not is it depends on what you’re shooting and what you’re trying to achieve in the photo. If you’re a wildlife photographer and you’re trying to take photos of birds, cheetahs, or platypuses (it’s not platypi, I looked it up), I’m sorry but you will not get a decent shot with your iPhone 12 or Galaxy Note 29. And to be honest, not even with a really good DSLR with any lens. Why? Because shooting wildlife specifically requires long telephoto lenses and there really isn’t any way around that. It’s just common sense. You can’t shoot something that’s so far away you can’t see it.

taken with Sony A7RIII + Zeiss 35mm f1.4 — edited with Adobe Lightroom and Photoshop

The point of that example was to tell you that when you have a specific vision, you need specific gear. Hence, gear matters [in that case].

But Mr. Jooberjoo, what if I don’t have a specific vision? Then can I use any gear?

Well that’s a stupid question. Obviously you can’t use any gear but you may have a wider range of gear that’s cheaper and more accessible in different forms. Let’s take food photos for example. You can take decent food pics in many different ways with your iPhone 4s, your Google Pixel 3, your Nikon d5200 kit, your disposable camera, or your laptop 360p webcam. As long as you know your gear’s strengths and limitations. THAT IS THE KEY PEOPLE, THE WHOLE POINT OF THIS BLOG POST (not really, the whole point is at the end so keep reading). I didn’t say that your food photo will look the same with all these different types of cameras, but you can take a decent photo with any of them. They may look quite different with the different types of cameras: phones have a focal length of ~27mm, disposable cameras use film so the colours will be different, and your webcam will be some pretty wide angle. So the look of each photo will be different, but if you understand what you’re shooting with and you understand composition, lighting, colours, etc. you will probably have a nice photo.

But Mr. Jooberjoo, I still don’t understand what you’re saying.

Bitch, stfu. Who are you anyways…

What I’m saying is, you can take a “nice” photo with any camera, if you have the creative skills and understand its limitations. But when the photo you want to take needs smooth bokeh (background blur), exceptional lowlight capabilities, long reach, high burst shooting, fast continuous autofocus, etc. you won’t have the luxury of shooting with your ex-girlfriend’s iPhone 6s that you regret buying her (not coming from personal experience).

What?

shot with Sony A7RIII + Zeiss 35mm f1.4 — edited on Adobe Lightroom
Welcome to a place where words matter. On Medium, smart voices and original ideas take center stage - with no ads in sight. Watch
Follow all the topics you care about, and we’ll deliver the best stories for you to your homepage and inbox. Explore
Get unlimited access to the best stories on Medium — and support writers while you’re at it. Just $5/month. Upgrade