A New Bit of Equipment

I’m sure I’ve said before, I’m a recovering gearhead, which I think all photographers, I think we always like shiny new toys and it’s often how we get into the industry. ‘Oooh that’s nice,’ and then you’ve got to do a bit of work to kind of pay that off and you end up with new kit here, there and everywhere! 

I mean, I’m good now, for probably 10 years and since it became a business rather than a hobby, I think I’ve transitioned very quickly and very well into only buying equipment when I need it. And having justifiable reasons and KPIs to justify decisions. Because it’s dead easy to not evolve with the kit you’ve got and not to shoot things with the kit you’ve got, but to think, ‘Ah, I need this thing as well.’ And you end up with a garage full of kit that is great for those one-off times, but if you’re actually only using something you know, once a year, is it worth it? Is it not just better to hire it, than have a grand’s worth of lens sat on the shelf when you don’t really need it? 

I’ve very much been even tighter with that approach over the last few years, not out of finances the business has got money in to buy the kit that I need, but very much thinking on a cost basis that, ‘How much am I actually going to use it after?’ And from the many of my friends that shoot the same systems as me, can I borrow something rather than actually having to buy it? I think the days of buying every bit of kit for every bit of job are completely gone out of my life.  

So it was a bit of a surprise to myself when I decided to buy a new lens a few weeks ago. It’s a lens that I’ve had an eye on since I started photography really. I used to shoot Primes from kind of when I started. So I started with Nifty 50 back in around 2007 and I shot Primes on my weddings for a good seven or eight years shooting Primes at weddings and commercial jobs. And I knew my 24/50/135 set-up was very much a good set-up for me and actually I knew where everything was. But for some reason, a few years ago, when I realised that I was just shooting on my 2470 and my 7200 more than anything else, I ended up getting rid of a couple of my Primes to Neil Jackson for video projects and stuff that he was doing. And it felt like the right decision at the time. 

Literally the day after, not that I told him (don’t laugh, Neil), but I regretted getting rid of my 51.4, because as much as I don’t want to be swapping lenses much, that lens, that focal length just always resonated with me and it was always a lens that I really enjoyed shooting with. So, roll forward to this year and a lens that I’ve kind of coveted for many years was a 50mm 1.2. For most of my stuff I feel 85’s a little bit long. 50 just gives that flexibility of doing things and keeping a bit of space around things, so it’s just my eye on things. And 35’s a little bit wide for a lot of things that I shoot, kind of event-y stuff-wise. And I know when photographers used to shoot 35 and 85, whereas I brought up on the 50 kind of, just where I lived. So, this 50mm 1.20 floated round and I toyed with getting an EF version of it for years and there was a load of second hand ones going round, because they’re a kind of an old, defunct lens now. 

Then I saw the price of the new Canon RF 1.2 and shooting the RF bodies, I’ve got an R5 and an R6 that, seeing as I’m fully into RF, it seems silly to buy an EF and lose a little bit of the connectivity with an adaptor, as opposed to running an RF lens direct onto the camera. I bit the bullet, I didn’t realise that I kind of wanted it as a bit of kit, I bought the 51.2. It’s a big lens. It’s not that heavy, but it’s big. But it’s stunning. I mean I do also have a Sigma Art 135 F1.8, which arguably, for feel-wise and things, isn’t too far away stylistically. So, shooting those two lenses is a really interesting combination for events and things. And yes, I know I’ve just said that I haven’t bought much kit; there was a reason I had the one at 35 when I had a catastrophe and I managed to damage my 7200, so as a short-term measure, I pick up a longer lens for a few bits of work where the other one was getting repaired and subsequently, not repaired. And replace that. 

But, I do love my Primes. I think the way my eye works, I can see the world in Primes and see my focal distances a little bit easier. So I’m really looking forward to the experience of shooting a lot more on the 50. I’ve shot four or five jobs with now and the feel of it… and that’s not just necessarily shooting at 1.2, don’t worry, I’m not one of those ones that shoots wide open at my focal length. 1.2 has not got any scope whatsoever with the focus. But, as in depth, I might have something in focus, I can easily miss things and they’re never as sharp. It’s always, you know, a stop, two stops out of your wide open’s always going to be sharper. 

Being able to shoot 1.4, 1.8 and be happy that the images are going to be sharp and really get that nice feel and depth to it. There’s been some great shots recently, where Guy Oppenheim shot on the bus for Go North East, jump that straight away is a shot that I really like. Some of the Go North East Awards really jump out and some for recently for the Global Conference at Northumbria University have just been, they jump out straight away, as images that are like, the VC of Northumbria, through a load of people at the Conference was just something that jumped out straight away, it was a shot I really liked and it brings me back to you know, 10 years ago, when I was shooting Primes more regularly. 

It’s just been great. So yeah, as I say, recovering gearhead, trying not buy too much kit at all, as and when I need it. But this was a good one. I like it and I’m looking forward to shooting some more with it. So, see if you can spot in my future posts, of when I’ve started using it, when’s the photos from that lens have started to sneak through onto my socials. See if you can spot the difference, as one of those funny things is photographers will be able to spot it, whether the client does is another matter, but if it makes me feel that I’m getting something, over and above for myself, it’s all happy days, isn’t it? I win, client wins, everybody’s happy.