WHY IT DOESN T MATTER WHAT CAMERA YOU SHOOT AIRH

Transcription

1 WHY IT DOESN T MATTER WHAT CAMERA YOU SHOOT AIRH

2 WHY IT DOESN T MATTER WHAT CAMERA YOU SHOOT WITH Dear friend, As a word of encouragement: it doesn t matter what camera you shoot with. Why? No matter how good or bad your camera is, you will get used to it (what psychologists call hedonic adaptation ). My personal story For example, when I started photography when I was 18 years old, my first real camera was a digital point and shoot camera, I think it was a 1.3 megapixel Canon SD 600 powershot digital point and shoot camera. I remember how amazed and positively overwhelmed I was having the camera just imagine the initial enthusiasm we all had when we first switched from having the disposable film cameras (which took you days of waiting before you saw your photos). When I got my first digital camera with an LCD screen where you could instantly see and review your photos, I was so amazed! Now, we take digital technology and photography for granted. I still remember the days of dial up Internet (my 28.8k modem on AOL 3.0), and how it was such a privilege to access and use the internet. I still fondly remember the days my mom would yell at me for hogging up the phone line so much, in order for me to play Starcraft or download something really big online (I remember it took me literally two straight days to download 1/30 RAR files for the original pirated version of Grand Theft Auto on my first PC, an Acer Aspire with Pentium I processor (with MMX technology, whatever that meant). Anyways nowadays with instant and ubiquitous WiFi and 4g Internet, we are spoiled. Whenever something on YouTube takes longer than 3 seconds to buffer, I get annoyed. Or when Google maps takes longer than 2 seconds to identify my position on my personal GPS coordinates. 1

3 Digital photography is the same: we are spoiled with cheap full-frame cameras, with a bajillion megapixels, and enough bells and whistles to confuse and distract us for the rest of our lives. At this point, there are no longer any bad digital cameras. They are all good. This includes all iphones, and most Android devices as well. I ve pretty much shot with all the high-end, expensive, and fancy cameras out there, and to be honest, all cameras are more similar than dissimilar. At this point, the only meaningful differentiation that cameras and certain camera systems have are aesthetics (how the camera looks), ergonomics (how big the camera is, and how it fits in your hands), and the user interface (simplicity of menus, buttons, and logic of the layout of shutter, exposure dials, ISO, focusing, etc.) This means, no matter what camera you own, no matter how many times you upgrade the camera the experience will be more similar than dissimilar. Ask yourself the question, What is a camera, and what does a camera do? Fundamentally, a digital camera is a metal box with a lens and a sensor, and you click a button, and it captures light and records a photograph onto a memory card. Hedonic adaptation/treadmill Hedonism: pleasure Adaptation: getting used to something Treadmill: you keep running faster, just to keep up Hedonic adaptation is an important psychological and philosophical principle: no matter how good (or bad) something is, sooner or later, we will get used to it or adapt/become accustomed to it. 2

4 For example, let s say I buy a new $7,000 digital Leica. The first month is awesome, but after that first month, I get used to it, and no longer feel the initial thrill/pleasure I did when I first bought it. Or when I first upgraded my ipad Air to an ipad Pro. I can first note the differences (brighter screen, faster with less lag), but I soon get used to it and no longer appreciate the upgrade. The same goes with phones, laptops, cars, homes, lifestyle, food, clothes, and almost everything in life. The hedonic treadmill means that in order to keep feeling good/pleasure is to keep on upgrading whatever you have/own. That means you re on a never ending treadmill, that keeps going faster and faster. You just always have the newest newest iphone, car, camera, and whatever trendy something in order to keep up with the Joneses. Practical takeaways What s the consequence of all this? My thoughts: 1. Because you will adapt no matter how good or bad your camera is, it almost makes sense to opt for the cheaper camera, pre-anticipating your hedonic adaptation. By spending less money on the camera, you will have more cash to do more fun/meaningful things with your money, like experiences (traveling, meeting friends for dinner/food/coffee, attending educational photography classes/conferences/workshops) or buying photography books that will inspire and motivate you to make more and better photos. 2. When you do eventually upgrade your digital camera or device, you re realistic that the upgrade won t be that dramatic. That means, buying a new camera or upgrading won t suddenly re-inspire or transform your photography for the better. 3. Not making your camera the excuse of your lack of motivation to take photos. 3

5 It isn t your fault that you feel dissatisfied with your camera gear To be honest, if you ve ever felt gear acquisition syndrome (GAS) it s not your fault. Blame it on instagram (people making you feel envious because of their #cameraporn), blame it on the camera companies/blogs/industry (who want to brainwash you to perpetually be dissatisfied with your camera equipment, in order for you to keep buying new gear), and blame modern-day capitalist/consumerist society. If we as consumers stopped buying new stuff and cameras, the whole photography and capitalist economy would fall apart. Know that it is hard to eradicate the urge or desire to buy new shit you probably don t need. The only way I ve been able to reformat my mental hard drive is by fasting from the Internet (I haven t used/read Reddit since 2010, not reading modern-day news, deleting my Instagram, installing adblockers on all my browsers for all my devices, no longer checking my Facebook, getting rid of my phone, and no longer checking my ). I ve become a digital monk/recluse of some sorts, in order to refresh my brain, which I felt was being hijacked by modern technology, social media (what Jaron Lanier calls behavior altering empires ), and modern advertising/marketing. Now, the upshot of all of this is that I m now more productive (productive as producing more blog posts, articles, books, videos, photos, etc not productive as answering s), I shoot more photos, I walk around more (and thus have an improved mood), I feel less unnecessary stress and anxiety on a daily basis, I eat and sleep better, have deeper and less interrupted conversations with friends/family/cindy, and overall am a lot happier and more fulfilled in life. True happiness in photography is to shoot more! For example, recently my RICOH GR II broke (the aperture blades are now stuck when I turn on the camera), so I m just using the Lumix LX100 that my friend Dav gave to Cindy. It s not the best camera out there, but good enough for me 4

6 small, compact, light, wide angle 24mm lens, quick to autofocus and shoot, close macro functions, and fun to shoot. The high iso or image quality isn t the best, but good enough. Now that I don t care to have the best camera, I make fewer excuses for myself, and therefore end up shooting more photos. And the more I shoot, the happier I am! JUST SHOOT IT. ERIC **HAPTIC INDUSTRIES: Creative Tools to Empower You on Amazon 5