Going Full Frame
In late 2016 I decided to buy a flash for my camera. The flash isn’t important to this story, but at the same time, it is. Let me backtrack a little bit. Before I bought my D3300, I knew essentially nothing about photography. My camera purchase was driven by one thing and one thing only, price. In learning photography on YouTube in the ensuing months I began to feel sick to my stomach upon learning that my camera would never take as good pictures as possible because it was not full frame. Ok, that may be an exaggeration. I fell into a period of heavy gear lust and I poured over all the gear I didn’t have convinced that whatever I didn’t have was better than what I did have.
In 2016, the king of the “professional” level camera was the Canon 5D Mk III. I bought a Nikon, the first mistake. Nikon’s 70–200mm f/2.8 had focus breathing. No professional in their right mind would shoot Nikon right? Right? Well FroKnowsPhoto shoots Nikon, and Matt Granger does as well, but then they have full professional kits I didn’t have. I needed to have a full professional kit because I was a “Photographer”. And it needed to be Canon because focus breathing. My favorite YouTubers said so. Does it sound like I’m rambling? Well, that’s how my brain seemed to work then. But above the focus breathing, the pro bodies, and dual card slots one thing made me want a full-frame camera more than anything.
The Nikon Df. The most beautiful camera I’d ever seen. Those dials and the body styling reminding me of the cameras my grandfather and godfather had when I was growing up. I was instantly smitten. I had no idea what was good from what was bad. YouTube told me I wanted a Canon 5D Mk III but in my heart, I decided that after I got all the gear I needed to be a “pro”, I would get a Nikon Df. I could see it in my head, for all the high paying jobs I’d have a 5D3 with the holy trinity of lenses (10–24, 24–70, and 70–200 all f/2.8) hanging from one shoulder and a Df sporting a 50mm lens hanging from the other. I kept this pipe dream even when I bought my 17–55 Sigma lens because deep down I’d never expected to afford any of those items.
But in late 2016, I decided to buy a flash for my camera. In Trinidad, there was only one person to talk to about importing camera gear. He runs a business called Affordable Imports. If any Trinidadian stumbles upon this article, they already know who I’m talking about. If you don’t, check them out at instagram.com/afforableimportstt and tell them Vish sent you.
The flash unit I bought from him (Yongnuo YN660), I still own to this day, although to say I’ve used it on more than 10 occasions would be stretching the truth a bit. What’s important was that Conrad owned a Nikon Df and it was on the passenger seat in his car the day he met me to sell me that flash unit. I remember being so ecstatic just to see one that I was over the moon when he encouraged me to pick it up and try it out. I had no idea what back-button focusing was and so most of the first images were out of focus. I had also never used a telephoto prime before (I believe it was the Nikon 105mm) so most of my images were poorly framed and way too close.
I don’t remember when and how this happened, but either right there on the spot or later that day, I asked him how much he would sell me the camera for. I didn’t expect the response I got and started trying to work out how best to afford the Df. I traded my D3300, my 18–55, 55–200, and Sigma 17–50 lenses as well as filling in the gap with money to afford the camera. I would do it again in a heartbeat, but not because it’s full-frame, rather because I love the camera. From January 2017 to sometime in 2019, my full-frame kit was the Nikon Df with the Nikon 50mm f/1.8G lens and the Nikkor 105mm f/2.5 Non-Ai lens.
