Goods setup or good pictures?


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chaos72

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Dec 2, 2004
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EAST Singapore
Hello fellow csers,
reason for writing this is to share my experience since embarking on this DSLR journey. hope it can offer some insight for those newbies who just started this very passionate and interesting hobby.

started with a very basic COSINA SLR/24-70 setup years ago. It was about reading up film photography books fm the library... basic light principle and the technical know-hows..physics. the clickin-aways were then religiously recorded and final pictures were like buying 4-D...1 day after takin them down to the developers. then scrutinising every picture against the recorded data to improve just on technical skills..long time before understanding about composition and those arty farty representation or whatever...

then come the DSLR which could instantaneously review what you click just moments away.it was leaps and bounds compare to film. So i bought my first DSLR-20D! the interest then was FEVERISH! hopped into clubsnap and within 9 months...3 L lenses, 2-3 3rd party lenses/ 580flash/ 5-6 bags/ monopods/tripods and even a new imac...it was more than 10k i spend...money aside...i m just simply emgrossed into the technical stuffs...equipment/setup....the only place i m in EVERYDAY is in the equipment discussion and market place.

of course along the way, clicking away was no brainer since its free;) , then come the archiving part... no whatsoever looking at the EXIF...simply too many pictures to see! always thinkin..maybe the new 30D or the 35/1.4L would give me better pictures! let see what dpreview.com wrote and what does the next canon launch were??it just the equipment i TUNNEL-VISIOM into....

one time, stumble across some film albums i took years ago... it was a reality check...the film ones were taken with CONVICTION...conviction to do better...the sharpness,compostion and the efforts into creating a beautiful picture were commendable and undoubt rewarding...the digital ones, yet after so long yields marginal improvement despite it technologial advancement... then my clusnap surfing started to detour to the GALLERIES section. the pictures others took were inspiring and then it incite my photography DIRECTION.. I KNOW WHAT I WANT TO TAKE! not anything under the sun anymore...its better to move further in one direction then to stuck midway not knowing where to go.

started offloading some of my white elephants and taking more effort in picture taking...at the end of the day...the basic setup i really needed is a big bag/flash/lenses to cover me a comfortable range(17-40+70-200+macro is good enuf) most of the time the 17-40 is of good versatility. 8 megapixels is good enuf too...full frame? unless my current one broke and the pricing is reasonable....its all about composition..i know..i know...take it in full frame and then crop rite? then when is the skill gonna improve???

i have known some ppl who took really beautiful pictures just with those small digital cameras and even handphones! those pictures as the are without ID is like a story. no sharpness, no bokeh, poor colour but the image can invoke something when you see one. Thats the picture i want to take! and Thats where i m heading!

the 1DSmark2+50mm1.2L / Leica M8 are tempting but even if money is not a factor, i rather stick to GOOD PICTURES!
 

thanx for your account, and hope you continue to make images that make you happy. good images are a bonus. :)
 

pls pardon my grammer n spellin...its like 4 am now and still working...

just wanna share my experince...thats all! cheerios!
 

great write-up thanks for sharing, hope to inspire more newbies to look beyond the gear and into the pictures
 

the 1DSmark2+50mm1.2L / Leica M8 are tempting but even if money is not a factor, i rather stick to GOOD PICTURES!

You're heading in the right direction! ;)
 

:D .... everyone will find their own path in photography... i'm glad you found yours ...

Cheers!
 

thanks for sharing... you took the 1st step towards the right direction.:)
 

:thumbsup:

I can feel the emotion in your write-up.

Sometimes, it is not easy to pen feeling on to paper.

Great.
 

My journey to take a good photo:
First I think if I have more manual controls on the camera
Then I wanted more pixels
Then I wanted faster lens
Then I got an entry level dSLR
Then I wanted to look "pro" and upgrade mid-level dSLR
Then still not happy, get a pro series dSLR
then finally forgot why I bought all these things liao...


haha...just kidding :) (i no money, still using P&S)
 

Hi pal, what you have said is really very true...

I am one who really believe that the its the man behind the machine that will make most of the difference....

Chaos, hope to see more of your photos in future. Perhaps we can go shooting together when you are in town. Cheers

Tung
 

Inspiring read.

Hopefully this will make newbies wake up their idea and stop thinking about shooting and start thinking about the true art and philosophy behind photography.
 

One time or another, most men being men (and some women), will fall into the pit of equipment-chasing, especially for beginners. Because we're bombarded with such much temptation - some of us guilty of being the tempters! - our focus is shifted to how good our equipment is instead of how good our photography skills are.

Glad you've reached a new stage of revelation!

Here's something to share with all of us, just for laugh...

WTD95.gif
 

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