{"id":37292,"date":"2025-07-14T11:12:48","date_gmt":"2025-07-14T16:12:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.blog.jimdoty.com\/?p=37292"},"modified":"2025-07-15T23:21:20","modified_gmt":"2025-07-16T04:21:20","slug":"its-not-the-camera-its-you","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.blog.jimdoty.com\/?p=37292","title":{"rendered":"It’s Not the Camera That Matters, It’s You!"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

This brief article was inspired by two blurbs I came across online. One was about which Japanese companies sell the most digital cameras, and the other was about which cameras “real photographers use”. Far be it from me to define “real photographers”.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

What brand of camera should you buy? The answer: It doesn\u2019t matter. What matters is you and the skills you develop. Not the brand of camera in your hands. Forget about articles comparing this brand versus that brand. Forget about which brand is the top seller.<\/p>\n

I\u2019ve been teaching photography for 30 years. I\u2019ve learned the thing that matters most is the person behind the camera and what they have learned, not the camera they are using. As long as your camera is designed and manufactured well, and has a well thought-out menu system, the brand and price don\u2019t matter.<\/p>\n

<\/div>\n

I\u2019ve seen pitiful photos that came out of very expensive cameras, and beautiful images created with inexpensive pawn shop cameras. (For the record, I have purchased pawn shop cameras for myself and for friends looking for an economical way to get into “serious” photography.)<\/p>\n

What matters is you and what you are willing to learn. Read the best “how to” photo books. (I recommend several in the links below, including my own book.) Take the best workshops and classes. Look at great images in National Geographic<\/em> or Sports Illustrated or Vogue<\/em> or whatever high quality publications have images like the kind you want to create. Practice what you are learning. Take lots of pictures. That is what matters.<\/p>\n

Some day after you have honed your skills, you might discover a particular camera feature might be really useful for the work you want to do. Or a particular lens with a specialty feature might open new doors. When that happens, you will have the skills and experience to know it. But until that day arrives, learn, practice, and master the skills every accomplished photographer needs to have.<\/p>\n

Book Links<\/strong><\/p>\n

Tim Grey Recommends Digital Photography Exposure for Dummies<\/em><\/a>.<\/a> This is my own photography book. It is one of the highest rated photography books at Amazon.com. It is one of the most detailed and comprehensive \u201cexposure\u201d books on the market, and a great introduction to all things photographic with chapters on people, landscape, wildlife, flower, and sports photography.
\n<\/strong><\/p>\n

Some of the Best All Purpose Photography Books<\/a><\/p>\n

Photographic Composition: The Essential Book<\/a><\/p>\n

Excellent \u201cHow To Photograph People\u201d Books<\/a><\/p>\n

Nature Photography Books: The Three Essentials<\/a>. If you only read three nature photography books, put these on your \u201cmust read\u201d list.<\/p>\n

My Two Favorite Introductions to Landscape Photography<\/a>. If you only get two books on landscape photography, these are the books to get.<\/p>\n

The Best \u201cHow To\u201d Nature Photography Books<\/a><\/p>\n

How To Find Wildlife, The Best Books<\/a><\/p>\n

How To Photograph Wildlife, The Best Books<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This brief article was inspired by two blurbs I came across online. One was about which Japanese companies sell the most digital cameras, and the other was about which cameras “real photographers use”. Far be it from me to define … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6,7,5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-37292","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-cameras","category-lenses","category-photo-gear"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.blog.jimdoty.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37292","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.blog.jimdoty.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.blog.jimdoty.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.blog.jimdoty.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.blog.jimdoty.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=37292"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/www.blog.jimdoty.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37292\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":37302,"href":"https:\/\/www.blog.jimdoty.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37292\/revisions\/37302"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.blog.jimdoty.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=37292"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.blog.jimdoty.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=37292"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.blog.jimdoty.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=37292"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}