What if I told you, your camera is a waste of money, and spending more money on a better camera will never make you a better photographer?

Well it is all true and today I’m going to prove it to you.

Let’s talk about your camera, your baby. The thing that will unlock doors for you. Lets you explore your creativity, bring smiles to the faces of so many. The thing you treat like a baby. So precious you must protect it.

Yet at the same time... you want to get rid of it. You would throw your camera away in a HEARTBEAT if it meant you could upgrade to a flagship professional grade camera body.

Why you ask?

Oh man, where to start, Its full frame, it can shoot 15fps, max shutter speed of 1/8000th (think of all the humming bird shots you could take!) its weather proof, can survive a bomb explosion, and will SURELY elevate you as a better photographer!

That sounds incredible.

However it is completely false.

A new fancy camera will not improve your photos. It will not win you any awards. No one will come throwing money at you because of the camera you own. Why? No one cares but you. Why? Because the camera does not influence a photo as much as the person holding the camera does.

Plain and simple.

A professional camera does have its advantages sure. The rugged body, faster autofocus, and larger sensor. But which of those will make your photo stand out? None.

Every camera ever has used just 3 settings to expose an image.

Aperture, which is in the lens and not the camera.

ISO which is the cameras sensitivity to light

And Shutter speed.

The cameras sensitivity to light or ISO is determined by the cameras sensor. With the speed at which technology advances, $500 entry level cameras have the same ISO performance as $5000 flagship cameras did just a few short years ago. Where we are at right now, flagship cameras can pretty much shoot in the dark, which is awesome... but its not that practical. You would never really want to use a photo that you shot in the dark.

I still get the allure. When I was shooting with a 8mp canon XT I lusted after the 5dmk2. Now I would rather have a new entry level camera rather than a 5dmk2. And you know what, an entry level camera today STILL cost less than a used 5dmk2.

So what does that mean? It means you are lucky. You are fortunate to live in a time where it is cheaper and easier than ever to take amazing photographs.

Now I know what you’re saying. If its easier than ever to take amazing photographs, how come my camera does not take amazing photographs?

Its because YOU dont take amazing photographs.

Now that was not a personal attack and I’m sure it was an incredibly hard pill to swallow.

What I mean by that is simply that while the camera has some effect on the final image it is YOU who tells the camera how to take a photo. And if you dont know how a camera sees light, and you don’t which setting to change to get the photo you want, and you look at the photos you have taken on the computer wonder why they dont look like the photos you see online or in magazines, then the problem is you and not the camera.

If you don’t believe me, rent your dream camera body. I rent all of my gear from CameraLensRentals.com and you can even get 20% off your order by using the promo code “BeginnerPhotography”

What you will find after spending a few days with your dream camera is that you photos don’t look all that different from the photos you took with your entry level camera. They might even look the same.

But guess what? That is great news. It’s great news because you are in control of what you know about photography and light. Imagine how terrible it would be if the best photographers in the world were just the ones with cameras that did all the work. The best photographers would be the ones with the most money, not skill or talent.

Your camera, your hand be down walmart special, is so much more powerful than you think it is. You just need to learn how to unlock its potential.

So HOW do you unlock your cameras potential? By learning how your cameras settings affect the final image. Then practicing what you learned. Then learn some more. Then practice some more.

If you are interested in unlocking the potential of your camera, I want to invite you to sign up for our free 2 day photography bootcamp video course which you can sign up for at the bottom of the page.

I cover everything I have talked about here today and so much more, like lighting and composition.

Again the course is absolutely free and at your own pace. So sign up!

Learning photography is why you are here right? You want to take better photos of your children, you want to learn how to shoot portraits or weddings. All of that starts with the basics. You wouldn’t expect that just because you have a car means that you are a race car driver. There is more to it than that.

You have to know the basics to be able to grow. Your camera is great, I promise you. I would say if you have been shooting less than 2 years, your entry level camera is just right for you and there is no need to upgrade to a new camera body.

Upgrading to a new lens will do soooooo much more for the quality of your photos than any new camera would. I promise.

So lets do a quick exercise. Pick up your camera for a moment. Look at it, appreciate it. Say “You are enough, camera. I may have been frustrated by you in the past but I now know you were just doing what I told you to and I cant be mad at you for that. Today is a new day and we are going to become tighter than bark on a tree after going through the 2 day photography bootcamp. I’m excited to see what we produce together”

You don’t have to give it a kiss or anything but I’m sure it wouldn’t mind a hug.

If you gave your camera a hug you are awesome.

That’s it for this week. I hope you have a new found respect for your camera. A renewed lust for your camera and will take learning photography seriously.

Did you enjoy this episode? Check out more recent interviews with other great guests!

Full Episode Transcription:

Disclaimer: The transcript was transcribed electronically and may contain errors that do not reflect accurately what the speaker said. Because of this, please do not quote this automated transcript.

Raymond: 00:02 What if I told you that your camera is a waste of money and spending more money on a better camera will never make you a better photographer? Well, it's all true and today I'm going to prove it to you.

Intro: 00:19 Welcome to the beginner photography podcast with Raymond Hatfield, the podcast dedicated to helping you grow your photography skills. Raymond interviews the world's top photographers in their field to ask questions that will get you taking better photos today. Now with you as always, husband, father, Home brewer, La Dodger Fan, an Indianapolis wedding photographer, Raymond Hatfield.

Raymond: 00:49 Oh, okay. Welcome back to today's episode. I am your host and Indianapolis wedding photographer, Raymond Hatfield. Let's talk about your camera for a second. It is, it's your baby. It is the thing that will unlock doors for you and let you explore your creativity. It lets you bring smiles to the faces of so many people. It is the thing that you treat like a baby. It is so precious that you must protect it and put it in. It's a little bag and protective case and everything like that, and yet at the same time you want to get rid of it, you would throw your camera away in a heartbeat, right in the trash. If it meant that you could upgrade to a flagship professional grade camera body. Why you ask, why would you want to upgrade? Oh man, where to start? Well, first of all, the large sensor, it can shoot a, you know, 15 frames a second and it has a max shutter speed of one 8000th of a second.

Raymond: 01:48 Think of all the sweet hummingbird shots that you can take with that. It's weatherproof. I can probably survive a bomb explosion and it will surely elevate you as a better photographer. Ha, that all sounds incredible. How could you not want that camera? However it is, it is completely false and new fancy camera will not improve your photos. It will not win you any awards. No one will come throwing money at you because simply the camera did you own. Why? Because no one cares about the camera. But you why? Because the camera does not influence a photo as much as the person holding the camera does. It's plain and simple. Now a professional camera does have some advantages. Sure, there is a, a rugged camera body, faster autofocus and of course a larger sensor. But none of those things will make your photos stand out.

Raymond: 03:03 None of them. Well, every camera ever has used to just three settings to expose an image aperture, which is actually in the lens and not the camera itself. ISO, which is the camera's sensitivity to light and shutter speed, which controls how long the light coming in the lens exposes the sensor. So the camera sensitivity to light ISO is determined by the camera's sensor and is, is not upgradable in the camera. Now with the speed at which technology advances a $500 entry-level camera today has the same ISO performance as a $5,000 flagship camera did just a few short years ago. So where we are at right now, a flagship camera can pretty much shoot in the dark, which is awesome, but it's not that practical. You would never really want to use a photo that you shot in the dark in any sort of professional sense. But if you give a time in a few years, entry-level cameras will have that same ISO performance, but I still get the allure when I was shooting with my eight megapixel Canon and STI lusted after the Canon Five d mark too when it first came out.

Raymond: 04:30 And frankly today I would rather have a new entry level camera than a used full frame five d mark two and you know what? An entry level camera today still costs less than a used canon five d mark too. So what does that mean? It means that you are lucky. You are fortunate enough to live in a time where it is now cheaper and easier than ever to take and share amazing photographs. Now I'm sure that I can hear, I can hear you coming right through the screen exactly what you're thinking. You're saying Raymond, if it is easier than ever to take amazing photographs, then how come my camera does not take amazing photographs? Well, it's because you don't know how to take amazing photographs. Now that was not a personal attack by any means, and I'm sure that it was an incredibly hard pill to swallow.

Raymond: 05:35 But what I mean by that is simply that while the camera has some effect on the final image, it is you who tells the camera how to take a photo. And if, if you don't believe me, spend some time with your dream camera you can rent it. I rent all of my gear from camera lens rentals.com they're just the nicest people in the world and you can even get 20% off by using the Promo code, beginner photography, one word, not an ad. This is not an app. I'm not getting paid to save this. I just love them and truly want to spread the word of camera lens rentals to the world. That's it. So once would you get the camera and you spend some time with it. What you will see after spending a few days with a, with a pro body is that your photos, they don't really look all that different from the photos that you were shooting with your entry level camera.

Raymond: 06:30 They might even look exactly the same. And if you don't know how a camera sees light and if you don't know which settings to change to get the photo that you want and you look at the photos you have taken on your computer and wonder why they don't look like the photos that you see online or in magazines. Well that's just proof right there that the problem is not the camera, it's you. But guess what? That is great news. It is great news because you are in control of what you know about photography and light. Imagine how terrible it would be if the world's best photographers were just ones who let you know their cameras do all of the work. The best photographers would be the ones with the most money, not skill or talent. Your camera, your hand me down. Walmart special is so much more powerful than you think that it is.

Raymond: 07:34 You just need to learn how to unlock its potential. So how do you unlock your camera's potential by learning how your camera settings affect the final image and then practicing what you've learned and then learn some more. And then practice some more and then repeat forever until you die. If you are interested in unlocking the potential of your camera, I want to invite you to sign up for our free two day photography boot camp video course over at beginner photography, podcast.com or by clicking the link in the show notes or the description for this episode. I cover everything that we have talked about here today and so much more like lighting and composition. And again, the course is absolutely free and at your own pace. So sign up at the beginning of photography, podcast.com learning photography is why you are here, right? Otherwise, there'd be no point in you listening to me right now.

Raymond: 08:39 You want to take better photos of your children or, or learn how to shoot portraits or, or weddings and all of that starts by knowing the basics. You wouldn't expect that just because you have a car. That means that you are now a race car driver. Would you? That would be ridiculous. Or they'd because you own a football, but you can just join the field. You know, with the NFL it, there's more to it than just owning the gear. Why, why is it different? With photography, you have to know the basics to be able to grow your camera is great. I promise you. I would say that if you have been shooting for less than two years, any entry-level camera is just right for you right now and there is no need to upgrade to a newer camera body. In fact, I would say that upgrading to a new camera lens will do so much more for the quality of your photos then any new camera body would.

Raymond: 09:52 So let's do a quick exercise. Okay. Pick up your camera for a moment and just looking at it just to appreciate it. You can look at your camera and say you are enough camera. I have been frustrated by you in the past but I know that you are just doing what I told you to and I can't be mad at you for that. Today is a new day and we are going to become tighter than bark on a tree. After we get through the two day photography bootcamp, I am excited to see what we produce together. Now you don't have to give your camera kiss or anything like that, but I'm sure that it wouldn't mind a hug. In fact, if you give your camera hug, you are awesome. So that is it for this week. I hope that you have learned that the perfect camera just simply doesn't exist. I hope that you have a new found respect for your camera right there or mine right there next to you. I hope that you have a renewed lust for your camera and we'll finally take learning photography seriously. All right. Until next week, get out there, keep shooting, focus on yourself, stay safe, and I love you all.

Outro: 11:12 If you enjoy today's podcast, please leave us a review in iTunes or your favorite podcast player and continue the conversation with Raymond and other listeners of the podcast by joining the beginner photography podcast Facebook group today. Thank you. We'll see you again next week.