Team Gear Matters, but also, buying expensive gear won't magically make you a better photographer. Some people think that's the case.🙃

Knowing how to use the gear is as, if not more important than the gear itself. Knowing how to make use or modify artificial light is very important as well.

My take has always been that more expensive gear removes more limitations - if the situation is ideal (eg. great light, close subject) any gear (eg. phone) will do. If it's a tricky situation (eg. fast moving subject far away, poor light), the better gear will allow the photographer produce a better result. Don't bring a stick to a gunfight.

My biggest issue with this is how it impacts people just starting out...I had a friend who wanted to take portraits, he'd never used a camera before but he went all in and got an A7R4, GM 24-70, GM 85 and the GM 70-200...all brand new and on credit. Six months later he sells the gear for a fraction of its cost because "the camera is t taking good portraits", I tried to explain that he just needed time and patience to build his knowledge and get the best out of the gear but he didn't listen. I've seen this story repeated over and over again... people see the reviews for the newest shiny thing and instantly want it.

Well said. My first camera was a Minolta sTr101 way back in 1978. All manual, with a prime 55mm lens. That really teaches you how to be creative within your limitations. But limitations suck. I love gear, but its not worth anything without the artist behind the lens.

One thing that isn’t discussed all the time is budget. I have come to believe for me and I say me not everyone I have come to think it’s better to buy used higher end gear than new lower end new stuff again my choice not picking a fight. I am not in business just a hobbyist so gear does not matter all the time sometimes meaning right tool right job.

It’s a combo of knowledge and gear, and they grow together

Everything is very relative. If you have good equipment, it is undeniable that you can get more quality in your photos. But first, money doesn’t have to be an issue. Second, you need to know what type of photography you want to take. You need to know how to choose the right lenses and bodies. Third, patience, mastering a camera requires a lot of practice and perseverance.

As a hobby no but as soon as you want to turn any type of art into a business, hell yeah!

I wrote an article for my blog titled "When Gear Matters" and I think I made some good points, but I feel like nobody truly read the article before arguing with it, because they weren't arguing against the points I made, they were arguing with the concept of gear mattering at all. The gist was that it matters when you want to do a specific type of photography in a specific environment.

Of course it matters. You can't get a f/1.8 bokeh with a f/5.6 lens. No, post processing does NOT give the same result. But. Skill matters a lot more than gear does for getting images in the first place. But we need both.

Of course gear matters...When you have already learned and become proficient in using a camera, understanding lighting, composition, etc. When you're learning to drive, it doesn't really matter what kind of car you have, but I wouldn't want to take a base model Honda Civic to a Nascar race. And of course you can still take good photographs with an entry level camera (or shitty ones with a Phase One for that matter), but I don't see why a good professional photographer would shoot a wedding or commercial shoot with an entry level. Sporting events? Not happening. Ultimately it becomes a matter of efficiency, convenience, quality and job requirements if proficiency and budget are not limited. And finally, the new technology (Hello eye tracking) has made it way easier to take good shots, even in auto mode as a complete novice.

I watched that video that you shared with Vanessa Joy. What I found the most ridiculous was her hanging off of the tempered glass when the 1.5 to 1.7 degrees of angle for her standing on the flat floor would not have been noticed by anyone; it was all theater (but the theater of Adorama is why it is better viewing than B&H and others). That being that, I have no reason for the A6100, so to whom it shall go is fine with me, I hoping it serves them well.

Yes, I also have that issue where I want just one more piece of gear. It’s something I am is trying to move away from. As a hobbiest, rather than asking what gear to buy I am now asking what projects do I want to shoot that I have the gear for.

Of course gear DOES matter but only if the person knows how to use it. For instance, give me a Stradivarius and I wont do any better than with a $200 amazon Violion. :D

Good gear is necessary but not sufficient. The good gear doesn't matter if the photographer doesn't have any good ideas.

Use and application is everything. Fanboys are pushing their brand fanatically because the material and processes all do matter - but if someone doesn't know exactly how the techniques work nothing will improve mediocrity. TOTALLY appreciate your common sense message!

What I do is buy good quality camera body, lenses and accessories and occasionally add another lens if something new and improved comes along , the only thing that has to be upgraded on a regular basis is the camera body every four years.

For thieves gear does matter immensely, that is why I gaffe tape out the brand and model on my cameras and don’t wear the original strap. Also avoids having other togs engaging me on gear queries out on the street. Every time I upgraded my gear my photography improved because I was compelled/motivated to justify the purchase so made the effort to learn new skills (raw editing, artificial lighting, etc)

Hello Robert . . in one of your prior videos I asked you a question about your new bag they no longer make. Do you have any suggestions on an different one?

Agree 100% the more you get into the discipline, the less gear you have and the more you get obsessed with light. But then again, you see gear as tools to get the job done instead of something that one would obssess about..

As you note: "It depends". In college, I shot football games with a manual focus Canon FTb and a 135mm lens. Nowhere near as easy as it is today, with multiple frames per second and great autofocus, but it only limited a little--the images were going to be printed small , in black and white, in a newspaper, so cropping wasn't a big deal. But there's no way I could have shot, for example, birds in flight. *I* couldn't focus and follow them fast enough, nor could I get close enough. Pick the right tool for the job, Maybe ac ell phone is all that's required. Maybe it's an 8x10 film camera. Or a medium format digital, APS-C, MFT, or full-frame digital camera.. Identify the NEEDS and use gear that satisfies those needs. Then it won't matter. :)

Gear doesn’t matter until it matters.

4:15 - 100,000% agreed. Unfortunately, a lot of people that get into the photography world think that buying a $3,000 camera will give them the 'best images' but it's FAAAR from that.

Robert, nothing to do with this video but since you are the guru in Godox/Flashpoint gear who else to ask but you. Robert on the Flashpoint R2Mk II trigger is there a reason why they have not upgraded the firmware on this unit to include the TCM function? Seems to be the only thing missing to please everyone if that, apparently, is their goal. Many thanks and keep up the good work.

Hola Rob, thank you for this.

I've got a foot in each camp, and largely because I think the debate gets centred around the wrong thing. Does specific gear matter? Yes. Does the quality or cost of that gear matter? Not so much in my opinion. There is, definitely, such a thing as the right tool for the job. The quality of those tools has less of an impact on ones ability to get the shot at an appropriate quality. A professional photographer will get very much the same results out of budget equipment as they will with professional equipment, across most (not all) photographic ventures. What professional gear tends to do, and indeed should do, is make attaining those results much easier in practise. For studio based work this might be the difference between having tethering, remote usage, good previews on the LCD/viewfinder etc. For work in the field this might be the difference between having reliable auto focus, better AF point focus, manual focus aids (zebra striping), better and customisable controls etc. So much of photography is not actually taking the photo and while, as photographers, we tend to get really caught up in detail and sharpness there is definitely a level of diminishing returns on how much of that will be perceived in the final images, ESPECIALLY after publication. A budget camera and lens is just as capable in that 2 seconds we click the photo as the equivalent professional versions. Its the other 98% of the photographic process that makes the real difference in your photography, and gear plays such a minor part in that. Invest in gear because it helps streamline your approach, not because you think it takes better photos. Invest in gear because you need the reliability of equipment that is less likely to fail, not because you think with it you are more likely to succeed. If you are firmly in the camp of 'better gear = better photos', then I feel sorry for you (as someone who has been there myself). I find nothing more deflating than the perception that the only reason I take great photos is because I have great gear. Where is a sense of pride in your own work if you believe that the quality of your photography is based entirely in how much money you've chosen to invest in it?

I’m moderately invested in an older Pentax DLSR system. I was going to use it in a new good paying gig through the wife’s talent gathering business, but she told me I needed better gear. So I bought a Sony system. It wasn’t that expensive; I had some extra cash and bought most of it used. The only thing new was a Tamron lens. The gig IS PAYING OFF what I invested in the newer gear, but I’m going to sneak my Pentax body and one of my primes into the next shoot and use black tape to cover the name. I’m using it slightly for a couple of clients along with the Sony stuff, and I’m going to compare the pics. So I’m putting the gear thing to the test like you did with Vanessa.

For me Gear does matter and I am on my way to purchase a new old used a6500 camera using credit.. why? I recently started my photography and wedding film path, shot one prenup wedding video and stills and after uploading the video on facebook I got two more wedding clients and one baptism.. The prenup, the deal first was I am going to do video only but their photographer was not available so they asked me to take the stills as well.. So With only one camera my sony A7ii and a very cheap 40 dollars manual 50mm lens I take the task but I also explained it to them that I will be shooting all manual even the stills and it might take long for me.. There are times that I can see my couple giving me the face that I am taking to long to take the shot as I use the stitching method in LR because I have no wide angle lens and there are shots that you cannot simply walk couple of steps back.. Well the outcome was pleasing for them so I can say that with my minimal gear that I used gear does not really matter and I also shoot the video hand held with no gimbal.. But for me I know I can do more if I have the right gear (a much better camera and wide angle lens, a gimbal) so I can say in the back of my mind is that gear does matter.. So if you where me? should I go and purchase the a6500 using credit knowing that I can book more and do more with that camera pair up with a sigma 30mm f1.4? thanks

Ok, no matter what equipment you got. First, look for the limits of it. When your creativity reach that limit, is when you should consider a step up.

Gear Matters, if it didn't then people would just use cheap equipment. It's always the person with the expensive camera that tells you that it doesn't matter.

Umm as long as you’re not shooting for A0 prints with a point and shoot with a 1” sensor, no.

Got a k50 pentax and used older lense smc f series 35-70mm first time out for event 90% success. So yeah gear and knowing how to use it is important

It does but it doesn't. Literally depends on what kind of photography you do and what kind of level you want to work at.

gear matter if you know how to use it..and it is really matter if you are making photos that use specific gear to achieve it, but don't doubt your self to not be able to do amazing work by only using gears that you have. i shoot with only with 600D and 80D so check out my work ig herbon_photos

Gear does matter. If you don't know how to use it that's when it doesn't matter.

Fast pace is another point. If you have 3 photo shoots in one day , buy the gear that improve your workflow. For example if you like softbox so, but collapsible ones, and if those photoshoots are well pay go and buy a Broncolor para with the proper adapter. Also light , don’t buy to much but buy above your light requirements to increase recicle time if that will help (you do a lot of movements ) if you don’t and your subject is static , go with size. So it’s a common sense approach combined with creative vision and business acumen. Finally rent , rent rent. Having a lens peeking dust is non sense when a good rental will do. Don’t buy an 800mm if you go to photograph animals at dawn one a year.

5:44 to 5:49 - That's my answer too. 🙂

Better gear can give you more options IF you know how to use it, and IF you know what to use when, why and wether you want to use it at all. Most and i mean 99.999% of people arent good enough to be able to justify the extra expenses for all these extra features a camera might have. New gear is great, though also some featues are utterly useless as a professional photograoher and are just there fir the hype and to help new ohotogeaphers so they dont have to practice certain skills because the camera will do it for you. I think too many people think you meed a newer and more expensive "better" camera or gear to take better picture, but in all honesty its your own responsibility as a photographer to learn, to practice, to experiment and to learn how to use the camera you have in any situation blindfolded and to sqyeeze tge very best out of a shitty camera you can. Once you can fo that and you can improve your picture only with better gear then yess upgrade. Not to say you can't upgrade when you know it would be easier with another piece of gear, but kost people dont even know how to get over 50% of their camera's potential out of it, let alone a newer camera with another 50 extra features. Now if you shoot sports or wildlife then definitely pick the canera with the higher fps, but the whole Megapixel rat race for examole is stupid because if you frame properly you shouldn't have to crop your image too much and most people don't make professional large scale prints for museums, exposition spaces or for sale. So yeah gear is important but only if the photographer is able to utilise it to his or her advantage, which most actually can't. And think about it, new cameras come out every year but before the new model came out the camera you had was top of the line, it didn't just magically become shitty now that a new model is on the market. Legendary and amazing photo's have been taken with gear that gear reviewers would now call inadequate, obsolete or a bad camera, even though it was top of the line before. To know how to practice photography and use the camera you have is a lot more valuable, hell even in the Himalayas I used an old Canon Powershot G10 (2009 i believe?) In manual mode for most shots, even though i had a professional full frame camera with me and multiple great lenses. But the altitude is killing, the hiking tough, not much room on the old little motorcycle to carry or store a lot of gear and the little canon i can squeeze out the very best results with that little 15mp CCD sensor. I wasn't going to lug that heavy gear with me all the time and the G10did everything i needed it to do so that old shitty powershot was the best camera i had with me that trip. Because in the end the best camera for you as a photographer is not the best one money can buy, its the one you know how to use best and the one you have with you.

Finally, thanks for this video 👍

Way to be one with the model at 1:28 🤪😜😆. In all seriousness, sometimes it helps immensely.

Every camera / lens / lighting kit can be used to create great images. And yes, even if the lens smudges your images beyond recognition. You just need to identify what TYPE of images your kit is suited for (abstracts, maybe?) and focus on that. If you want to photograph a specific type of image, then you need the proper gear for that type of photography. However, just because you have access to every pot, pan, stove, and ingredient used by a world-class chef, you're not going to produce world-class dishes until you learn how to USE the equipment.

I think the whole gear argument is not aimed at a particular shooting situation but if better gear elevates the competency of a photographer

I would say gear only maters to a master photographer

Depends on the situation. In my opinion the more extreme the situation the more gear matters.

Gear matters, but by far not as much as you think, and people don't get the priorities right. *An understanding of lighting* is paramount, you can get the bestest camera and the bestest lens, and might be outdone by some chap with a cheapo camera, a cheapo lens _and a flash._ The word “photography” literally means (the art of) writing with light! So, yes, gear matters, better equipment may make your photographic life easier, but it won't live it for you, so it matters by far not as much as you think, and your light (be it natural or a strobe) is _way_ more important than your lens which itself is way more important than your camera. This, in my opinion, is what people do not understand.

it doesn't matter until it does ...

yes, the answer to does gear matter is yes!!!!!

Yes. Gear matters.

Gear doesn't matter.. depends on who's saying that..

The never ending argument

Hi Rob

It doesn't matter and it does. Mostly, a camera doesn't matter, but a lens does.

belive me, gear doesn't matter as I only own 7 cameras :D But what matters that my a9 was very good till a1 came out :D I tend to shoot in very difficult situations and I can tell which of my gear would perform and which wouldn't Once I shoot a party that requried me to shoot iso 8000 to 12800 at f1.4 and shutterspeed 1/160 which otherwise would not be possible without specific expensive gear or without flash at least, but with flash those photos would look awful. Client loved images and I got hired for many more gigs by them. Atm I belive for shooting people r6 and r5 are the best cameras, you need to shoot 100% silent go for sony a1 and a9.

Gear doesn't matter, but the right gear does...

Gear matters. Also: Gear is not a Win Button.

I think it is time to upgrade my potato to something decent

Gear is critical if you are a youtuber.

Team gear matters; but those limited by funds just have to absolutely do their research and purchase with intention.

Cameras and glass are photography tools, years ago when you could work on cars having a tool box with the proper tools would allow you to be able to repair and maintain your vehicle, photography is much the same, if you want to photograph wildlife your choice of camera and lens matters ,if you want to photograph events such as weddings and portraits, skills and gear matters, if you're a casual photographer and only doing basic photography then gear matters less, the notion that to be a good or serious photographer you have to use a Full frame camera is BS. The quality of the camera and functionality is more important than any thing else. You can buy a basic full frame camera but if it has a single memory card and a low shooting rate it is not the choice for serious photography. The choice of glass is also important if you're getting into event photography. So in a nutshell gear matters depending upon how serious of a photographer you want to become. Even if you don't plan on getting real serious a midrange camera body and lens will serve you better than a basic one because of the build and functionality that you get with a prosumer camera.