Take Better Pictures With Better Glass
If you're new here, you may want to subscribe to my RSS feed.
I was shooting a Babe Ruth League baseball game a few of weeks ago and a parent friend of mine came up to me with her brand new DSLR camera. She had been using an entry level DSLR for a couple of years and she thought it was time to invest in a newer more up-to-date body. I asked her how she liked her new camera and she told me that most of her photos weren’t much better than what she was getting with her old camera and that she was a little disappointed.
Over the years she had purchased several photos from me and she thought because she bought this new camera that her photos would look more like mine. I noticed that the camera was sporting a kit lens (a lower cost lens sometimes sold with new cameras). I asked her about the lens and she said she bought it because it was cheaper and allowed her to also purchase another zoom lens with longer reach. The money she spent on these two inferior lenses would have been better applied to the cost of one good lens.
To greatly increase the quality of photos, invest in good glass and not camera bodies.
Cameras are like cars, every year they come out with new models with more bells and whistles that supersede the previous model, therefore causing depreciation in value fairly rapidly. Good glass will not only produce higher quality, more professional images, they will hold their value much longer than camera bodies and should last for years.
One caveat, good glass is expensive, in some cases very expensive. To some the price of a professional grade lens is quite a sticker shock, but if the highest quality photos are the goal, there is no other way to go. These lenses use better high-quality glass and electronics and will produce better contrast, more sharpness, better clarity and truer color in photos. There is a reason that so many photographers rely on these lenses daily to put food on their table.
Not convinced that glass is the way to go? Try it for yourself. Many camera stores rent professional grade lenses for a reasonable fee. There also online stores that rent good glass. There is always the used market to explore but sometimes many of these lenses aren’t a great deal cheaper than new.
I made the decision years ago that to get the best possible images I had to invest in quality lenses. That is one decision I’ve never regretted and haven’t looked back since.