A minimalistic approach

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Leen Koper
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A minimalistic approach

Post by Leen Koper »

Now I am at the end of my professional career I am rethinking the decisions I made on equipment and what still to invest, but just for hobby purposes.
In my opinion the first wave of constantly having to buy new cameras has passed. New technology offers some improvements, but not in the way it did in the digital revolution at the beginning of the century. I bought 10 cameras, so about one each year because newer technology forced me to and/or camera manufacturers stopped production of DSLRs (Minolta and Fuji).

Now I can easely reduce my investments to one camera each 4 years. Moreover, the manufacturers seem to slow down the introduction of new models, partly due to the tsunami in Japan and the flooding in Thailand, but nevertheless.
Buying a new, powerful flash is not realistic any more, as the increased ISO possibilities compensate for the lesser output.

My studio flash has always been minimal. For people portraits you never need anything more than 300Ws; mine has always been 200Ws. High ISO can take care of everything (and I never needed to use anything over 400 ISO) and I only use it at half of its power.

Lenses? I have about 10 lenses, but I noticed I haven't used anything but the dirt cheap 24-105 kitlens during the last two months. Obviously I hardly need (professionally) anything else.

Why have I invested so much during my career?
Just hobby?
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Stany Buyle
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Re: A minimalistic approach

Post by Stany Buyle »

Good morning Leen, happy new year! :D
In relation to your topic: TMHO your minimalistic approach works better for portraiture than for any other specific kind of photography. In portraiture the skill dominates much more than the necessity of speed or resolution. If upto that the initial file has been pp in a way that you don't recognise the original anymore, the used gear loose every importance.
kindest regards,

Stany
I like better one good shot in a day than 10 bad ones in a second...
http://www.fotografie.cafe
Leen Koper
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Re: A minimalistic approach

Post by Leen Koper »

A happy new year to you and your family too!

I'm just talking about wedding and portraiture; together with my occasional shot with the 75-300 for weddings, I don't use any other lens than the 18-105. I see a lot of photographers use pretty powerful flash equipement, where usualy a much cheaper set would do the job as well.
I know, it is wonderful to have a 1000Ws availlable, but why, if only 300 Ws will do? The same thing applies to lenses; a lens that renders straight lines would be a wonderful thing to own, but if you are just a people or a landscape photographer, you can as well use a cheap one, because nobody will notice the distortion in the final result.
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