THIS Is Awkward: Why Pro Photographers REALLY Have the Best Kit
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- čas přidán 23. 01. 2024
- Come and find out more of the Non CZcams pro photography jazz over here / tinhouse
Ever wonder why pro photographers have the best equipment? In this video, we'll uncover the untold story behind why professional photographers invest in top-of-the-line camera and lighting gear. From studio photography to outdoor shoots, we'll show you the difference quality equipment can make in your photography. Don't miss out on these secrets from the pros!
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I am asked about this all the time, and its a tricky subject as it comes down to money, which us Brits do not talk about. But hopefully this explains things well.
Do you ever have customers request using 35mm vd dslr?
To summarize...you can use cheaper kit and most of the time get great (or good enough) results, but when you are getting paid 150k pounds for a shoot, you can't afford "most of the time".
you forgot to mentioned this is the 5% or the 1% of The PRO's that they are NOT CZcamsRS guys from Art & Commerce to name a few. Your statement is not much relevant this days because "Best Gear" is always accessible by hiring and not necessary own a high end kit.
This mind set still on the early and mid 2000's
@@GizmoMaxx he talks extensively, in this and other videos, about rental versus ownership.
Real talk from a real, working professional photographer. How important, how refreshing. Amazing. Hopefully, young photographers will listen and stop chasing every piece of the latest gear. I have fifty years in this business, and I'm still going. Some of my kit I've owned for 30 years. Maybe some of it's a bit ragged by now, but so am I after a half-century of grinding.
I like your comment. I've been in the business for 40 years. I still use some lights from the 60's and other things from the beginning of my career. I do have some newer stuff, but I use what I have and buy new when I have a 'nice to have' moment.
Absolutely!!!!!❤
@@sidestreetvideoproduction7278 I teach workshops and mentor a lot these days. One question that always comes up is the "secret" to being a professional photographer. No secret, just hard work; keep learning, growing, grinding, testing, and stop wasting money on stuff you want but don't need. When teaching, I recommend only a few CZcams channels. Yours is at the top of the list, so please keep up the great work.
I did assignments for years. Then got tired of photography. Sold all my gear. After a break I got back into photography. This time I got myself second hand camera body, 50mm lens and a flash. I had enough of reading about tests and buying the expensive lenses just because. Now I don't put a lot of thought into gear. Instead I focus on the whys and hows of taking a photo.
Would love to understand how you found your retoucher - nobody talks about behind the scene teams that help take a raw image to a final product. Can you do a video on behind the scenes workflow & how to build a team?
Incase you're looking for a retoucher, I'm a retoucher.
I could share my portfolio with you.
Very close parallels to the film industry Scott.
Many youngsters coming into the industry are convinced they need to buy EXPENSIVE camera kit. In fact, I've NEVER bought my own digital camera & the last camera I did buy was in '93 & it was 20 years old then.
I advise them to invest their money in property & RENT whatever they need.
Rental companies will even let you "play" with their kit in their test rooms for as long as you want to familiarise yourself.
One rental company even allowed me to take a piece of kit home with me to practice, only returning it when they needed it for a rental job.
The benefit to us is that we can use the best kit for the job (two Arri 35's + Panavision Primo lenses next week) & not have the associated cap ex to worry about.
My $0.02
I purchase used equipment because I want good equipment and can't afford new sometimes. I got a killer deal on a used ARRI ALEXA a few years ago and paid less for it than a new Blackmagic camera. What a dream to use good equipment at a used price. It will last me the rest of my life. I like Scott's comment on never borrowing money to buy something. I think borrowing is a waste of money. Look at the economics of buying equipment with your earned money and saving the interest. That's money in 'your' pocket not the bank. I think it's better to justify purchases with your earned money. If you are making money it's easier to justify a purchase, so you don't get what you can't afford. I love this channel.
Reliability is so underrated when it comes to evaluating a purchase. Hence I love the saying "if you buy an expensive piece of gear, you only cry once". Great video 🎉
Interesting conversation. Here is a nice little story for you guys. Some of the magazines would let me bill them for any thing I needed for a shoot. So I called one of the magazines I had a shoot for that month (Penthouse) and informed them that I need to use a 85mm lens for there shoot and they told me to just invoice them for it. I still have that lens today paid by Bob Guccione.
Great video - I'd also add clients expectations are important too. If you've got big expensive kit, clients assume you are good.
Yeah, i work for tv station, sometimes companies buy not only commercial on air, but production of it. We go there with Arri cameras or Sony Venice knowing that Sony FX9 or FS7 or even FX3 would do the job, but when your client pays 100k you can't show up without cine lens. In fact why would you tell your client that it can be made with 20k instead? Just grab unnecessary equipment and do it with 100k.
Well done Scott! In the States, (Seattle) Profoto is the rental brand of choice- but in my own “man cave” I use Norman gear- from the 1980s-90s. It just works. Still. And back in the 80s-80s, Norman was THE rental house favorite.
This translates well to anyone starting out in any business - do your best with what make do you have and can afford. Plug away long enough and you will see what you really need.
Can’t tell you how much I value your honest and forthright approach.
I totally get what you're saying. So consider this.. I have a Nikon D3s, a Nikon D3X and a Bronica ETRSi. They are, without doubt, the best kit... for me. All of them do exactly what I want them to do. Now I'm not a pro photographer, just a very keen armature, however it's the end result. If you are not happy with it then it really doesn't matter what camera you used. I'll stick with my cameras until the fall apart. Keep up the good work, your videos are informative and entertaining.
Kit does matter. Period. Anyone who says it doesn't is naive or lying to themselves. You don't need to the top bleeding edge but you need the right gear for the job and you need gear that is reliable. It doesn't replace skill, it compliments skill. Its a limiting factor. A great photographer with shit gear probably can still do good work but they will do better work with high quality gear that is right for the situation.
I fully agree with having relaiable kit (plus backup options). Sounds obvious, but old kit- that indeed, is 'right for the situation' is great- however as soon as there is even a small recurring electronic or mechanical issue it needs to be fixed or the camera replaced. We rely on cameras as tools for the trade, not fancy toys.
In a middle market, having the right brand pays. I was in tv sound (docs, factual etc) 0:01 and one recordist didn’t have radio mics of a ‘go-to’ brand for that genre and I kept the gig because I did - in the opinion of the director who was feeding back to the prod co. Having the brand that’s recognised is reassuring to decision makers even when you know you can get the results from cheaper kit.
Your lighting looks good. Your audio is great. I can hear you and understand what you say, with very little background sounds. Your mic must be good, even if it is older. Audio is extremely important. Keep doing what you are doing. I like your message, but I do like the 'nice to have' comment. It's so much better and economical to work with good equipment you can trust and with less stress. I like new stuff once in a while just to give me a little motivation. Plus, it's fun to learn new things.
I just bought a 5D Mkii. I had a $6000 budget, but went with the 5d2. I really enjoy using it! Takes great photos. Best $330 I ever spent!
Agree 100%. I am an employed photographer and I have access to three different systems (plus my personal kit, which I'm still building out). Mix of new and old stuff. I can absolutely do everything on the cheapest and oldest gear, no worries. But I'll use the one that will save me time during post-production.
‘This is my mancave’, brilliant. That’s how I think about my own studio as well LOL
Hey now... LOL. I shot an amazing concert with a 5dmkii two weeks ago. :) I've tried to go another way, with more megapix... or advance focus system... but like an ex who you just can't seem to move on from, I keep coming back.
very interesting ... your man cave is great - I wish I had that much space ;)
Can you please do a video where you interview your retoucher and have your retoucher explain how their skills, software, and billing all come together on handling a post shoot ?
I'm sure the information can be revealing for your channel viewers
How do you deal with switching from one brand to another?
Well done. You’ve described the difference between an actual working professional and a working professional hobbyist.
I used to know a photographer who printed his customer's photos in 600dpi when most people were doing 300 or 450 and when I said "Do you think anyone actually notices the difference?" - he answered, "They pay me because I notice differences that they don't."
I have taken this into my own work with everything and found it to be a great mantra. Be a bit better and even if people don't know that they know... they still know.
What I find People don't understand is that when a certain company knows they produce professional equipment, they think about who's gonna be their final customer. Do you really think that your Hasselblad is expensive? Ohhh check the broadcast equipment like Sony PXW-Z750, four times more expensive! Check the sachtler 10k dollar tripod, just anything, those are really the cheaper ones, you can spend 1 milion on one lens. After working for 10 years in live shows, would i be able to make a tv show on canon mirrorless cameras? Yeah for sure, hdmi, some video cards etc, no problem, one camera will cost lest than current tripod, so why television uses so expensive equipment? Because single commercial break of this tv show is worth hundreds of thousands or milions. Nobody cares something works 99% of time, it has to be 100% and redundant. There are milions put into shows and you can't fuck it up. So camera producers know it, i genuinly believe they could sell broadcast equipment cheaper, but they won't because they know that broadcast has so much money in it, they will pay anyway.
Just wondering about equivalencing expensive with best quality. How strong is this correlation for finding "the best kit"?
Almost always spending more is better, but you get diminishing returns
What was that third brand of light you mentioned?
I want to know too.
Briese
Makes total sense, not awkward at all.
Another reason to use expensive gear - the client expects it (and hopefully pays for it!).
Chase Jarvis explained this very well. Sure, any half-decent gear will do the job just fine. But when you're on a high-paid commercial shoot with a client breathing behind your neck, do you really wanna be shooting with a Canon rebel?
i still shoot on a speedlite and a 10 year old camera. depending on the budget.
with the equipment renting to yourself? this may sound a stupid and dump thing to ask but how do you do manage to rent it to yourself?
I second this.
Commercial photographers use expensive kit for one reason only - reliability. When being paid to shoot a project, you want to be sure that it delivers the shot you want EVERY TIME
The best kit is the one that meets the budget and the client's needs and deadlines. Period.
I remember being warned about Chinese light… +/- 300 Kelvin difference per burst, multiply that by 2 or 3+ lights, especially when doing really sensible stuff. Hard to fix. But at least they managed to bring down my go to flash company since the 90ies. Made in Germany just couldn’t compete anymore, and of course for various reasons of mismanagement etc the brand that invented the multi use flash tube kicked the bucket😢
Yeah the big problems when one head is +300 and the other is -300 😂
@@TinHouseStudioUK exactly. And that’s even in their specs… Godox isn’t so bad though, but some things have a terribly flimsy feel to it. Anyway, enjoying your show, quality is hard to come by on YT
Lets just sum it up, because of market conditions, the competition has been pushed so far up that photographers need to be the best of the best to get a job, a big Corporation needing some new photos for their latest product, is not gonna go to Mr Bill and his Sony A9m3, they are gonna go to Joshua with his fancy medium format 600mp camera, cause the reason is simple, they are in business of competition and if their competitor shows up with pictures that look better for a competitive product and theirs look a little dull, in the shareholders eyes, thats not good enough.
Private business works a little different, if they can get away with 2000 dollars to shoot product photography, they are gonna do it, but multi million dollar publicly traded companies, they serve their shareholders, they serve nothing else.
And yes this sounds awfully complex, because it is, but it trickles down to the point the man in the video makes, the best, it has to be the best, or you wont get the job, because those requesting the job, they need the best, or they are gonna go to the next guy. Simple as that.
I don't see any contradiction in your words/actions. We have to separate the issues and separate the worlds we work in. It all makes good sense.
Listen, at the heart of it, you’re just a passionate nerd with a sweet man cave… that has been able to build it because of your business acumen… and that’s why I dig ya
With Photography, price buys consistency in results. Not the results themselves.
I don't have the best kit; what I have is the best kit I can afford and what's best for business, what gets the job done while making me money. But the best kit? Nope, I'm neither a billionaire nor do I get sponsorship.
I take into consideration how much I can reduce my tax bill when I decide to buy or rent. Its a lot easier to rent expensive kit than to buy it and depreciate it. And my bookeeper thanks me.
You buy and then rent from yourself.
@alexandermasters7827 That too. It shifts all the book keeping to another business entity if you do it right.
Better tools make for an easier job.
So you're telling me, don't become a photographer, start a company leasing equipment.
2030: AI does it all. But pro photographers are still in business because of their mojo.
So why is your skin tone blown out?
🥳🎂🎉
also bcz u dont drive a range rover or full spec bmw ix with the first job u got and u started acting like billy willy all in in debt that u could use pro lights in the studio..haha
Sometimes you contradict yourself. I love your videos and watch them all the time. But sometimes you say something and another time you say the opposite. Bit confusing messaging.