do you make the most of your gear?

AshleyC

AshleyC

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Just thinking this over, i've a D750 which by all accounts is a quite capable camera, but all i ever do is stick it in Aperture priority, single focus point that I move around if need be and manually adjust the ISO to something if i think i need more speed. And that's it. I think im missing out on about 70% of the camera's capability. I know there are some cool focus modes which would help when trying to shoot my sisters kids when they're tearing around the park but i haven't read up about them yet and the auto ISO think sounds good. There is bound to be some other options in there which would be useful but i've never really sat down and read the manual. I think its mainly down to being predominantly a film shooter with some quite aged gear and i use my Nikon in the same way i use them.

Anyone else feel like they're not really using the gear to the best of its ability?
 
I'm pretty sure my camera would say I am the limiting factor when we go out to take photos, and I'd have to agree. I just do exactly what you have described (and also come from using film) and don't delve into the menus much.
 
I used to, but now certainly not.

600mm - pretty much a waste of space
backup body - rarely used
35mm f/1.4 - what do you even use one for?!
Lighting bits - just not using it enough

The rest gets pretty good use.
 
I think there are times when I get pretty close to a camera's capability tbh, especially in terms of the autofocus system and the shooting demands I put on it. However, a camera is only a tool and cannot help compose, choose the subject or shoot in an artistic way and it is this area that lets me down far more than the technical aspect of photography, and unfortunately for me it is this aspect that generally (imo) makes a good photograph.
 
snerkler said:
I think there are times when I get pretty close to a camera's capability tbh, especially in terms of the autofocus system and the shooting demands I put on it. However, a camera is only a tool and cannot help compose, choose the subject or shoot in an artistic way and it is this area that lets me down far more than the technical aspect of photography, and unfortunately for me it is this aspect that generally (imo) makes a good photograph.
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b******t I've seen your photos could take those f***ers on a disposable kodak wind on ;)
 
I guess if anything does the job I'm consider good. Aperture mode, manual iso, single point focus is what I use 90% of the time. I only use manual mode and manual focus when I shoot landscape or manual mode when shooting sports.

With my XT1 I shoot everything auto except aperture if the light is crap otherwise I adjust iso manually.
 
Nuzik said:
b******t I've seen your photos could take those f***ers on a disposable kodak wind on ;)
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Totally agree, and kind of what I was alluding to ;)
 
its like TV remotes,i just use on/off vol up/down programme up/down.about 10% of its capabilities.

Camera manufacturers put all the functions in because they have to compete with other manufacturers but for about 90% of the people they are features never hardly used.

I bet film cameras didn't have all this lot in and people managed ok then.
 
AshleyC said:
Just thinking this over, i've a D750 which by all accounts is a quite capable camera, but all i ever do is stick it in Aperture priority, single focus point that I move around if need be and manually adjust the ISO to something if i think i need more speed. And that's it. I think im missing out on about 70% of the camera's capability. I know there are some cool focus modes which would help when trying to shoot my sisters kids when they're tearing around the park but i haven't read up about them yet and the auto ISO think sounds good. There is bound to be some other options in there which would be useful but i've never really sat down and read the manual. I think its mainly down to being predominantly a film shooter with some quite aged gear and i use my Nikon in the same way i use them.

Anyone else feel like they're not really using the gear to the best of its ability?
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Ashley,if you want to learn more about your cameras capabilities I can highly recommend Thom Hogans D750 pdf book from his website
http://www.dslrbodies.com/books/bythom-complete-guides-/nikon-d750-guide.html
 
You're probably only making use of about 5% of your PC/laptop even phone's capabilities too. I wouldn't stress out on it, once you are pleased with the end results, that's what matters most. As cliché as that may be, it is for good reason.
 
I always read the manual of new camera right through a few times, at least one time with the camera in my hand trying things out. Even so, it's not unusual for me to discover after a year or two, and thinking that I'd completely mastered it, that the camera has a novel feature or two I'd forgotten about which would significantly improve some of my shots.
 
I never RTFM, I have tried in the past, but get bored after 2 minutes :D I'm mostly a full on manual control shooter. When I get a new bit of gear [to me] I just ... play with it for ages, until I feel like I've had it an age. It just works better for me personally.
 
chris malcolm said:
I always read the manual of new camera right through a few times, at least one time with the camera in my hand trying things out. Even so, it's not unusual for me to discover after a year or two, and thinking that I'd completely mastered it, that the camera has a novel feature or two I'd forgotten about which would significantly improve some of my shots.
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Cagey75 said:
I never RTFM, I have tried in the past, but get bored after 2 minutes :D I'm mostly a full on manual control shooter. When I get a new bit of gear [to me] I just ... play with it for ages, until I feel like I've had it an age. It just works better for me personally.
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I do both, I like to know everything that the camera does and how to use it, even if it's a feature I think I'll never use again ;)
 
I could not care less how much of the camera's abilities I use. I care about producing the pictures I want. That means Av, spot metering and centre focussing - and using an appropriate lens helps as well.
 
A lot of tech gear has features and abilities that the vast majority of owners wont use regularly, if at all. I think it was the boss of Alfa Romeo who when commenting on BMW's idrive said something to the effect that most of his customers couldn't use all the features of the cars stereo. Such will probably always be the case now that stuff has got so complex and feature rich.

I have no interest in using wifi, geo tagging, auto uploading to Friendface or any other such bells and whistles or any of the JPEG enhancement and filter modes. The kit sometimes just comes with features I'll never use so I just turn them off or ignore them. Like others here I use Aperture priority most of the time and when the light drops and the camera selects too low a shutter speed I switch to manual. I only ever use one focus point and move it around and I use evaluative or spot metering as appropriate. Modern things I do use are those that come with mirrorless cameras such as the in view histogram, magnified view, peaking and WYSIWYG. That's about it.
 
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I probably use about 50-60% of the capabilities of my DSLRs... and it's only that little because I don't like how some things work (i.e. S priority, highlight metering, etc) or I don't want to give up control (i.e. P mode) to something I don't quite understand.
TBH, I think it is harder to use all of the features optimally/fluently. And it's very easy to fall into/develop a comfort zone and not take advantage of much/any of it, especially as technology advances... we tend to stick with "what works" and fall behind.
 
No, but I can't buy a simple camera with just the basic functions I use, nearest I had to that in digital form was the original Canon 5d.

Mobile phone is the same, only have one for emergency use, don't need radio,light,camera and Internet access, but can't get one without all that stuff.
 
I'm largely ignorant of my cameras technical features. I'm aware that the D810 has a few more things in the menus than my D700 but have little interest in checking them out. I did find out from TP recently that the D810 is 'ISO intolerant' and that it has some kind of highlight weighted metering, which could be useful, but the technical side of photography, while I understand it, bores me rigid.
 
i'm continually wishing i could pull the trigger on selling some of my lenses. The top of the hit list for me is my nikon 24-70....yes, it's a lovely lens but i just don't use it. I occasionally bring it out at a wedding but that's usually just if i'm being a bit lazy and playing safe. The truth is, i far prefer using a 35 and 85 together and like that look. I also aspire to live up to the quality of other photographers who use primes and not a 24-70 for example.

Should just sell it right....! The 14-24 is a real luxury one as well...thinking i could get a 20mm 1.8 instead which might be wide enough and would just be soooo much easier.

105 macro...again, don't use, should sell.
 
rampanthamster said:
i'm continually wishing i could pull the trigger on selling some of my lenses. The top of the hit list for me is my nikon 24-70....yes, it's a lovely lens but i just don't use it. I occasionally bring it out at a wedding but that's usually just if i'm being a bit lazy and playing safe. The truth is, i far prefer using a 35 and 85 together and like that look. I also aspire to live up to the quality of other photographers who use primes and not a 24-70 for example.

Should just sell it right....! The 14-24 is a real luxury one as well...thinking i could get a 20mm 1.8 instead which might be wide enough and would just be soooo much easier.

105 macro...again, don't use, should sell.
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I bought both the 24-70 2.8 and the 70-200 VRII at one point, thinking they would sort all my photography needs. They didn't ... in fact, I hated both of them :D I can't even put a finger on why exactly. I think I just expected the sun, moon and stars after I had saved enough for these ultra-hyped lenses. They felt heavy, awkward and not outstanding to me for the money. I sold both not too long after and got me a Sigma 35mm 1.4 'Art' and Nikon 85 1.8G. I was so much happier. perfect lenses for my style, they were fun to use, and I didn't need much more ... oh, I bought a 300mm F4 for those odd times I pretend I'm a wildlife tog! :LOL: - So I'm all set for any years right? ... nope. Fwd on and see I'm not even shooting Nikon anymore, sold those 3 lenses plus the camera and still not sure wtf I actually want! :rolleyes::wacky:
 
Not even close my camera must feel like it came to me to ease into retirement the previous owner made much better use of it!
 
AshleyC said:
but all i ever do is stick it in Aperture priority, single focus point that I move around if need be and manually adjust the ISO to something if i think i need more speed. And that's it.
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That's pretty much what I do with my mine. I know it does a lot more but every time I try and get clever with my camera, a D300S, my photos go to sh1t. (mainly focus related).
 
My camera is far better than my skills. But it's good that way, as find there is always new things to learn!
 
TBH most cameras are fully of useless functions that no-one but a tiny minority will ever find useful - it's all junk to aid marketing - the only really useful changes that come with each iteration are a better sensor and better focussing. What do you need from a camera, other than something to help you take a well exposed and focussed picture at the right time? For most of us spot metering, aperture priority, central focus point and single shot only are perfect for the task, and couldn't easily be improved. For those other occasions there's shutter priority or manual exposure and manual focussing. Certainly those who shoot sports and birds are an exception, but for most of us this covers everything we need.
 
I don't make he most of any of my gear to be honest. I don't use my XPro1 or XE1 anywhere near enough really but can't part with either for a number of reasons. The XPro1 gets used entirely manually though so in that regards I do make he most. The XE1 however is used more as a point and shoot pocketable camera to which I'd probably be better off with an X10 or similar.

My XT1 gets hammered but it's usually set to auto ISO and auto shutter with auto focus.. a different kind of use and not used to its ability really.

The XPro2 is treated the same as the XT1 (but with primes) however I tend to slow down again and go full manual on everything with it when the time suits. It's certainly used with the most versatility!

Taking a step back it does show me that I should probably trim back a bit and perhaps I'd use the remaining kit a little better.
 
i think you have it the wrong way round, sticking with manual means that you are ignoring all the features that <insert camera company here> took time effort and research to put into the camera. Putting it in auto mode is using more of the camera's functionality.

I think focussing modes are the one thing i really need to read up about, as mentioned, trying to shoot my sisters 2 and 4 year old's tearing around the place is an exercise in futility with one spot focussing. Im aware there is some mad 3d tracking face recognition focus mode in my d750 that would probably nail it every time, but i havnt got round to reading up about it yet!
 
I wonder if my perception (and that of Simon Ess above) is a reflection of our film photography heritage, where the camera was little more than a box containing a film with a lens on the front, rather than trying to partially take over the image capture process?
 
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at the end of the days its an image, does how it got there make it any more or less desirable. But thats a discussion for another thread i spose :)
 
AshleyC said:
i think you have it the wrong way round, sticking with manual means that you are ignoring all the features that <insert camera company here> took time effort and research to put into the camera. Putting it in auto mode is using more of the camera's functionality.

I think focussing modes are the one thing i really need to read up about, as mentioned, trying to shoot my sisters 2 and 4 year old's tearing around the place is an exercise in futility with one spot focussing. Im aware there is some mad 3d tracking face recognition focus mode in my d750 that would probably nail it every time, but i havnt got round to reading up about it yet!
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can recommend this book Ashley
http://www.rockynook.com/shop/photography/the-nikon-autofocus-system/

they usually have a code to get the ebooks for about £9
 
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Probably not is the short answer, and that applies to pretty much all of my hobbies/interests I guess. Not quite 'all the gear and no idea', but sometimes uncomfortably close to that. I try not to worry about it though.
 
GeeJay57 said:
Probably not is the short answer, and that applies to pretty much all of my hobbies/interests I guess. Not quite 'all the gear and no idea', but sometimes uncomfortably close to that. I try not to worry about it though.
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It's handy to have more gear than you know to use. That way whenever you get bored there's something interesting and useful you can learn without having to spend any money :-)
 
chris malcolm said:
It's handy to have more gear than you know to use. That way whenever you get bored there's something interesting and useful you can learn without having to spend any money :)
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Never gonna happen. Just go out and buy a camera with the features you're missing.
Discover later that your old one could've done that !!
 
As per everyone else...not even close to using all the things the cameras do. I am a manual shooter - tried AP once and got all confused. I just use aperture, shutter speed, ISO controls, sometimes the timer, and very occasionally the setting that gives about 5 fps and that's it. I leave it on average metering and generally auto-focus (unless its hunting when I try manual). I'd be happy with a camera with just those controls
 
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