Does Equipment Matter? Why I Was Still Shooting 12-Years-Old Sony A-Mount Camera in 2023, and Why I Finally Switched?

A statement you often hear at Art Fairs when people come into your booth is “You must have a great camera to take these.” If you were to happen to read some photographer forums, this statement drives many photographers mad. They feel it diminishes their craft. After all, few people would state that a painting is a result of what paints the artist used. This is true as far as it goes, but the statement rarely bothered me. I used it to say that I am shooting with a very old Sony camera, and that a few shots in the booth were taken, gasp, with a smartphone.

The smartphone question is another topic of discussions between photographers. Many seem to think that unless you are using a professional camera, you are not a real photographer. However, were you to prompt most of these people, you would find out that they agree that a good professional photographer can produce great images, using a smartphone.

Interestingly, the photographer community seems to be divided into two camps, if you judge by online discussions. One camp is gear heads who like posting images of their new equipment, treat it as long lost family, follow and argue about every camera advancement among the different brands. The other camp are generally art purists who scoff at the equipment discussions and feel that “real photographers” don’t need autofocus, or frames per second or whatever new spec just came out, and that gear overall doesn’t matter. A lot of the same people also feel somewhat hostile towards editing their images (though this is probably a third camp). In practice, most people fall somewhere in between, but they tend to be far less vocal in on-line discussions :-).

So, what is the truth? Does gear matter? Or more accurately, can better equipment make you a better photographer? Well, as in many of my answers, it is a bit more nuanced. If I had to give a one word answer, then “yes”. If I had to give a two words answer, then “yes, but…” I generally, think that gear matters far less than some people think, and considerably more, especially in certain use cases, then some people care to admit.

I think my story is kind of illustrative of this explanation. Up until recently I was shooting with an old A-mount Sony aps-c camera (Alpha A77). If you don’t know what any of this means, don’t worry. It is not particularly important. It just means that the camera, by today’s standards, would be considered a dinosaur, and you can buy a used one on eBay for about 300$. When it finally broke a couple of months ago, it was not worth repairing, and I finally jumped ship into a new system (Sony A7 IV for anybody who cares).

If you have seen my work, and visited my booth, you probably know that it could still produce spectacular images despite its age and limitations. And that’s the key here. You can work with almost any equipment (including smartphone) if you know its limitations and know how to work within them. For example, my camera was pretty bad in low-light situations (at least by today’s standards). If you know that, you know how to work around those limitations until you can’t.

In practice, most of camera bodies made in the last 10-15 years can produce spectacular results. Same goes for lenses. Before that, the issue is more complicated, but I am not going to go into that. By the way, lenses make far more difference to your images than the camera body. So, if you are planning on upgrading your equipment, leave enough money for good quality lenses (though again, what constitutes good enough today may surprise you).

Lenses were the biggest reason why I haven’t switched earlier. Although I knew how to work around my camera’s limitations, sometimes it was annoying. However, switching to comparable quality lenses would have meant a lot of money. So, I dealt with the annoyance.

Here is the point where gear does matter. If your gear limits you or annoys you, you are less likely to use it. Much of the issue where gear matters is in quality-of-life situations. If you know that your gear will not fail you or that it has the features you need, it makes your life easier as a photographer to focus on your craft and creating great images.

There are two more issues for which gear matters. First one is weight and focal length coverage. For example, after upgrading recently, I have far more focal length coverage (meaning I can shoot comfortably in more situations) and the equipment weighs about 2-3 pounds less, which makes it a bit easier for me to carry on hikes. All this, without losing any quality (actually improving in some cases).

The second issue concerns more specialized features for specific uses. For example, if you are a wild life photographer and your camera doesn’t have good autofocus, it is still possible to take good images, but it is difficult and frustrating. If your camera is not great in low light, and you don’t have wide enough, and fast enough lenses, you probably not going to take Milky Way images.

Generally, I am not specializing in either of these, but this weekend I went to Cape Cod for a couple of days with my new kit, and I did both. So, gear mattered! More to the point, it was a joy to use, and as such, I was more likely to get out of bed and go shoot the Milky Way and then a sunrise. I will try to post a few images from this trip next week.

To summarize, gear matters when it makes your life easier and when it limits your craft. However, learning the craft and getting out to work on your photography matters more, especially if you are only starting out.

Have a great week!