Does camera brand really matter?

One of the biggest differences between professional photographers and amautures sometimes comes down to the equipment we use to photograph our clients.

There has been a long standing belief that if you don’t use brand XYZ or ZYX, you cannot be considered a professional photographer or if you don’t have all the fastest glass available, you couldn’t possibly be a professional photographer. I whole heartily believe that what makes a great photographer is what they can do with an inexpensive lens and some at home rigging to create an image that is mind blowing.

I have been fortunate throughout my photography life to been able to afford newer, faster, better pieces of equipment as I’ve grown, but it wasn’t always that way. Years ago, when I first started in photography, I was given my first camera, a Pentax ME Super. This camera was a hand me down from my uncle. I was blessed that the camera still worked properly and I could make images with it. But after all these years, I realize that camera wasn’t perfect. The lens had some haze and the camera had light leaks, but I didn’t care, I continued to use what I had to make images. That is what we as photographers do, we create visual stories.

Another point of contention I sometimes run into is my camera brand of choice. I made the choice years ago to continue to use Pentax cameras when making my transition from film to digital. For me, it was a no brainer. I loved using my Pentax film camera, I would love using their digital cameras. But to much surprise, other so called photographers began to judge me for using Pentax cameras. Those so called photographer’s long stories of my camera has 700 focus points and can shoot 9 frames per second and on and on about specifications began to bore me. None of this really bothered be because the equipment I chose to use met my needs as a photographer and the type of photography I was doing. And to be quite honest, when a client gets their images, do you really think they’re going to say “I wonder what kind of camera they used” Simply put - no.

I urge everyone that needs a photographer to judge them based on their completed works, not the equipment they use.

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Does camera brand really matter?