5 Traps of Professional Photography Equipment
Posted by photonovice on August 17th, 2007
Taking photos is fun and it is even greater fun when you can use top quality professional equipment. However owning top quality gear hides a few traps for the inexperienced.
I have been a happy owner of an AF-S VR Zoom-Nikkor 70-200mm f/2.8G IF-ED lens for some time now. It is definitely a professional lens and it performs extremely well even in my unprofessional hands. But in spite of that I encountered issues with owning and using this great piece of glass.
I spent a bit more than a week with this pro thing – and of course with my family 
– during my holiday. I carried the lens in my Lowepro Slingshot 300 AW with other pieces of my gear and held it in my hands for quite a few hours. The lens’ 1470g weight has been proven many times on my shoulders and in my hands. It is heavy, man. My wife could make just a few shots with it because of its weight.
Trap #1: Professional photography equipment is heavy in most of the cases. These things are designed for providing quality results for commercial photography purposes and making them light weight is not a primary requirement.
After making a few shots with my new lens I fell in love with its bokeh – the smooth haziness of the out-of-focus areas – which can be especially useful in portraiture creating a nicely blurred background.
 taken with an 18-135mm “kit lens“ |
 taken with the expensive 70-200mm lens |
My very first impression was that this effect can be achieved only with such a top lens, and it took me quite a few weeks to realize that even I managed to make a photo with comparable bokeh but with a much cheaper lens.
Trap #2: thinking that only expensive gear can give you the desired results.
When photographing people with this 70-200mm lens I realized in pain how far I have to walk away to shoot a standing figure. I should have known what I will get before buying the lens. I had been told by a friend that this lens is a professional and generic purpose lens used by the pros every day. I checked the reviews and evaluations of this specific glass written by professionals and they stated that this is a great thing to have. But they know what to expect from 70mm and I did not. It was also a kind of surprise to me that I cannot focus when going too close to my object, which means that this glass cannot be used as a micro lens.
Trap #3: buying something when you don’t know exactly what to expect.
A 70-200mm lens is definitely a telephoto lens. With all of of its advantages and disadvantages. Landscape photography is mostly done by wideangle lenses. Within buildings you might want to use normal or wideangle ones and for photographing very small objects you use micro lenses. But if you are – like I was – travelling, carrying your camera equipped with your beloved, expensive and heavy lens and you are – just like I was – reluctant to change your lens – because of loving your new purchase so much or being afraid of dust getting into your camera – to an other one that would fit and serve better in the given circumstances, then you have chosen the wrong lens for your trip.
Trap #4: using your top quality gear in situations where other ones – possibly not that good pieces – would be better.
I’m thinking of buying an other lens. A wide-angle zoom. And if I had bought a pro lens for telephoto why should I buy a cheap one for wide-angle? I need exceptional quality, right?
Hey, am I stupid? I am still not a professional photographer. Why on Earth would I need an other lens in the wide area when I have the 18-135mm kit lens? What are my problems with it?
- It is a DX lens, which means that it was designed for “small” sensor of the Nikon DSLRs and it does not give a full frame picture. But I don’t have a full frame DSLR (even Nikon does not have.)
- It has cromatic aberration. But that can be handled in Lightroom, right?
- It is vignetting. But that can be handled in Lightroom as well, right?
But I need it, period.
Trap #5: you cannot stop if you are in the loop of top gear.
Good gear is not evil though, but one should be prepared to use it both mentally and practically. I heard it many years ago that before buying a house the buyer should rent it for a while to probe it. A colleague of mine refused to buy a used car without a test drive. I know it is not always feasible but in most cases you can rent or borrow the pro camera, lens, flashlight or whatever you are planning to purchase. Do it and decide after that. And eventually it will give you pleasure.
August 17th, 2007 at 8:27 pm
5 Traps of Professional Photography Equipment…
Professional photography equipment is designed to provide quality results, but buying such a piece might bring some surprises….
August 17th, 2007 at 8:38 pm
Traps 1, 3, & 4 are more about how doing a little extra research ahead of time is a good idea. They’re definitely something that you can encounter, but I wouldn’t really place those on a list of ‘traps’ stemming from using pro equipment.
Traps 2 & 5 are good ones, though. I’ve seen impressive photos come from $10 toy cameras. It’s how you use the equipment more than anything, but there are very pronounced limitations to lower-end lenses. And good god is the expensive stuff addicting!
August 18th, 2007 at 6:45 am
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August 19th, 2007 at 6:09 pm
Edward,
Whilst research can help with trap 1, it’s not until you actually have a heavy lens attached to your camera, that the reality meets the “it’s not *that* heavy” fantasy… i.e. research is all well and good, but isn’t the same as experience.
Similarly with trap 3. I’ve never had a 500mm prime. No amount of research will replace actual use of one.
Regards,
Rob…
August 29th, 2007 at 4:36 am
Heh, I’d probably trade you the weight of my Vivitar 80-200 mm manual focus lens I use on my Pentax K10D for the weight of yours. Old school, solid metal and glass.
Of course, I don’t use it very often. I tend to live on the 55 macro and 50 prime. Really, photography is about what you love, and any lens that captures what you love will be more effective than spending all the money in the world to capture something you don’t care about.
August 31st, 2007 at 5:52 am
Trap #6: Thinking that zoom lenses will give you quality results. Ever notice how “the pros” have a lot of different lenses? Why don’t they just have 3, an 18-35, maybe a 35-90, and a 75-300? Because pros know that zoom lenses are vastly inferior to fixed lenses. Why would Canon manufacture a $1,500 50mm lens? Because the clarity and sharpness are breathtaking. Why do pros shoot with $3,000 Leicas? Besides the body being ridiculously well-engineered, the lenses have unparalleled optics. The only thing comparable would be the Carl Zeiss lenses on Hasselblads. Notice how these are all fixed lens systems. If you want better photos, buy two or three nice lenses: a 28mm, a 50mm, and maybe a 90mm. You have legs, use them to move around to get better shots rather than relying on the lens to do the work.
September 1st, 2007 at 9:48 pm
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October 7th, 2007 at 6:13 pm
[...] photonovice wrote a fantastic post today on “5 Traps of Professional Photography Equipment”Here’s ONLY a quick extractTrap #1: Professional photography equipment is heavy in most of the cases. These things are designed for providing quality results for commercial photography purposes and making them light weight is not a primary requirement. … [...]
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April 29th, 2008 at 1:32 am
I have had a 80-200 Nikon for ages, but like the 70-200VR it gets Heavy after a few Hours, so I bought a 70-300VR,amost half the weight and I am very pleased with the results, Bob Krist has said so to and I respect his opinon on everything photographic.
May 14th, 2008 at 7:49 am
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February 24th, 2009 at 6:08 am
The only set back you can overcome is the wight of the lens.
The reason for the weight is the 2.8 aperture. You need the big glass to get the 2.8.
I use this lens every single day and after a while the weight is not an issue.
Imagine panning with this lens for a motorsports event.
This is a 70-200 lens so at 70 you could take fewer steps than at 200
March 14th, 2009 at 11:07 pm
Twice in your article, you refer to using a “micro” lens for close-ups. These lenses are actually called “macro” lenses. Just thought you might want to know.