It seems that folks want a camera to take a few pictures.  And then once they get a camera, they want a BETTER camera to take BETTER pictures.  Camera lust has drawn many, many photographers down the path of knowing and understanding more about technology than they have ever wanted to know before!

In a lot of my presentations, seminars and workshops, I talk about the fact that we don’t really “need” all that new gear to create images.  I talk about the fact that I regularly use a couple of old, manual-focus lenses.  Sure, new gear with better high ISO capability, larger sensors, vibration reduction and more makes creating images easier in many cases, but it often isn’t something we HAVE to have to create an image.

I had an afternoon and an evening meeting one day last week. I took my cameras inside the day before to download cards and recharge batteries.  Since I knew that I wouldn’t have a chance to take any pictures, I purposefully left them when I went to the meeting. Well, suddenly I had an extra hour before my meeting – just enough time to go home and turn around and come back OR just enough time to take a few pictures (except for the not having a camera part). So, I found a nice parking lot to catch up on some e-mails in (I did have my laptop and WiFi card). I looked over and saw a large flock of roosting black skimmers and mentally kicked myself many times over for not having put my cameras in the truck.

I mentally went through my camera bags and realized that I had Annika’s camera with me!  Now, Annika’s camera is a Nikon D70 that I owned before she was born!  I almost didn’t get it out, but I thought about how often I’ve said that you don’t have to have the latest and greatest to get a decent shot, so I dug out the D70 and the longest lens I had with me (a 200 mm lens).

So with an old DSLR and a very slow-focusing lens, I attempted to take some bird pictures, and I ended up with a few that I kept.

One of these is not like the rest! (Lone juvenile laughing gull resting with a flock of black skimmers) Nikon D70, Nikkor 200 mm, f/5.6, 1/1600th second, ISO 320, handheld, existing light, slight crop.

I was feeling rather happy with myself as I went into my meetings.  After I got out of my last meeting, I was ready for food.  I agreed to meet a colleague at The Reef – a relatively new seafood restaurant on the beach in Biloxi.  I’ve enjoyed watching a much larger than life-size marine mural on the side of the restaurant come to life as it is created by marine artist, Marty Wilson – http://www.martywilson.com/.  I’d watched the sketches appear, and then the color begin to appear, but I’d never seen Marty at work.  As I pulled into the restaurant parking lot late that evening to see the scissorlift and lights, it hit me that he needed the same calm wind conditions that are needed for foliar herbicide application.  Again, I wished that I had a camera with me.  I mean, a Nikon D70 is not exactly renowned for it’s low-light capability.  I thought about trying to return another night to get a shot, but decided that I’d better go ahead and shoot with what I had.

So, I dug out the D70 and that wonderfully light-weight, plastic y 28-80 kit lens that is Annika’s main lens and put it on a tripod to see what I could come up with.  The irony of my old tripod legs costing about what the camera body and lens sell for now wasn’t lost on me…nor the real irony that the tripod head cost about two times the amount it would take to buy the tripod legs, camera body and lens!

I took a couple of shots, checked the back of the camera, put it away, and ate a shrimp po-boy.  When I downloaded that card several days later, I was pleasantly surprised at how nice the image quality was in my quick grab shot of Marty Wilson working his magic and making the ocean come alive on the side of a building (it did make me wish that I’d spent a little more time setting up the shot and getting a better angle & composition though…).

Marty Wilson, marine muralist, working his magic
Nikon D70, Nikkor 28-80 @ 28mm, f/5.6, ½ second, ISO 320, tripod, existing light, slight crop.

So, the next time you think that you can’t get the shot because you don’t have the latest and greatest camera gear, shoot it anyway!