When I first re-started this journey I knew that I’d want a digital SLR. It took almost a full year but after changing my mind more often than normal (and if you know me, you’ll know how often that is) I finally took the plunge. I decided that the Nikon D7200 with a 18-140 lens was going to be the way to go. It’s a more feature rich camera than my superzoom bridge and for me the most important part is that I can now start to take the low aperture “bokeh” pictures I’ve always liked. Hopefully with some time away from the day job, I’ll get to practice and take some awesome new pictures over the next 2 weeks.
The one thing I have promised is that I won’t become an SLR snob. I experience this first hand on a photography course last year and a friend of mine experienced the same snobbery at a local photography club only a few weeks ago. An expensive camera doesn’t make you a better photographer, it doesn’t improve your composition, it doesn’t teach you how to use natural light in clever ways. It is merely the tool to capture your “vision” if you’ll pardon the pun. Yes, a feature rich camera will allow you to have more control over the way the image is captured, but really… that’s all.
You can take a beautiful photo on any camera, you can capture that perfect moment on any camera, whether it be on a smartphone, an old school film camera, a cheap digital, a bridge or a full SLR (I know theres a difference between the full and cropped sensor SLRs but that’s a post for another day). You are the one who sets the composition and most importantly presses the button to capture it. Photography is art, art is subjective. If someone else doesn’t like your photo, that’s ok, they are meant to have an opinion of their own. If you don’t like it, strive to take a better shot next time. Learn new techniques, experiment with light and shadows and angles. But most important…. have fun.
This post, in some ways, highlights why it took me a year to buy the D7200. As with everything I do, I start with a plan, get a little distracted on the way and then get passionate about something else (often closely related to the original plan). So I best stop typing before I go off on a complete tangent 😊
