Stupid photographer cliches....

I have learned five years into this hobby semi-pro obsession of mine, I have found some interesting photography cliches which make little sense.

Here's one: A photographer should only own one brand of camera equipment, i.e. you are either a Canon man or a Nikon man or an Olympus man or etc.

Why? I have an Olympus E1 and a Canon 30D. Both cameras are used for different reasons. I shoot the Canon for sports photography. The Olympus comes out for portrait shooting. Sometimes I use both cameras during a photo shoot. The color of both cameras are so different. I personally love the Kodakchrome look of the Olympus, but the E1 is not a good sports camera.

I can see if you are on a budget and need an array of lens, it helps to have one brand. But if you are on neither what difference does it make if you have a Canon 30D and E1 or a 30D and MarkII?

Do you have any other photography cliches that you think should be blown to pieces?

Your observations are not really a cliche in that manner. Its more the way that a true professional needs to operate. As you said yourself you are not a pro.

There are a million and one reasons why we all do things this way, and its all do with professional conduct, flexibilty and most importantly - ulimately satisfying the client.

riddell said:

Your observations are not really a cliche in that manner. Its more
the way that a true professional needs to operate. As you said
yourself you are not a pro.

There are a million and one reasons why we all do things this way,
and its all do with professional conduct, flexibilty and most
importantly - ulimately satisfying the client.

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In my case, I use equipment from the same maker so I can buy ONE set of lenses (with appropriate back-ups), one set of filters, etc. It also lets me take my aging mind and use it to develop muscle memory for one set of controls, meaning I get more successful shots out of my cameras. Too, it saves time in general, as you are not (or shouldn't be) fumbling around looking for settings on one camera with the commands for the other.

As an example, this weekend, I'll shoot some vintage sports car races, plus pit activity. My main camera will usually have a 24-200 lens in place, while the back-up has a 70-300. My 10-20 stands by for some pit work. Three lenses, two bodies, and I'm covered, in 35mm terms, from 15mm to 450mm, with bodies I knew very well.

Could I do the same job with two different camera brands? Sure. But why? What's the point? I'm not saving anything, and I maybe losing familiarity with one camera or the other, thus slowing down my response time.

I'll stick to a single brand and let the OP do it the more complicated (to me) way.

--
Charlie Self
http://www.charlieselfonline.com

I think that standardization is a good thing, it gets me more up to speed and use the same workflow with each camera. But if the your main brand won't meet your requirements, then a second brand isn't always a bad thing. I wouldn't mind adding a P45 to my Canon range just for studio work ;-)

Ronald

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http://www.studio-sl19.com

Usually one maker´s lenses behave and reproduce color in the same way. Other differencies, like the focus and zoom rings turn in the "wrong" direction and different camera bodies have different UI´s - just makes your life less easier if you are a pro who gets paid for what he/she does.
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Regards
Mikael

It's not a cliche, it's just common sense, for most people anyway. As already stated, you only need to buy ONE set of lenses and they will fit on all your camera bodies, if you stick with a single brand.

I use different brand cameras, but only where the cameras are different formats - ie: 35mm and medium format.

--

The greatest of mankind's criminals are those who delude themselves into thinking they have done 'the right thing.'

• Rayna Butler

at least i never heard of it

But of course it makes sense to invest in one system if the second system doesnt gain you anything for financial reasons

if another brand would gain me significant advantage in any of my shooting over what i currently use i wouldnt hesitate to buy/use it.

CueballKS said:

Here's one: A photographer should only own one brand of camera
equipment, i.e. you are either a Canon man or a Nikon man or an
Olympus man or etc.

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Just because one shoots a single brand doesnt mean he or she is a canon or nikon or olympus man/woman now thats plain stupid.

CueballKS said:

Do you have any other photography cliches that you think should be
blown to pieces?

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Well not a cliche but the insecurity in many about brands sure is crazy ...

--
Michael Salzlechner
http://www.PalmsWestPhoto.com

CueballKS said:

The color of both cameras are so different.

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In the pro world. This is an extremly bad situation. If you are shooting and using two cameras you want everything to look the same.

Example: lets just take clothing. It doesn't matter if its a wedding, fashion shoot, or even a sports team.

You want to be able to supply a series of shots that are all the same. How would it look as a fashion spread for example with 3 images all depicting a dress with a different shade or hue? or a wedding album where the brides dress changes colour on every page?

When you use a camera a lot, it becomes intuitive and almost part of you. I do weddings full time and I have recently gone from Fuji (ie Nikon bodies) to Canon. This takes quite a bit of getting completely used to, but if I were to pick up the Fuji again, I would be hopelessly out of practice with it, which would definately affect my more informal work.
It's not a stupid cliche - it's the thread that's a bit silly!

PC writes:

It is NOT a cliches like asking for a smile by saying "Cheese". Staying with one brand saves photographer some much needed cash. You can have let say one Canon 1.2L and swarp it among Canon bodies that you own instead of buying two lenses of the same focal lens. If you have 10 lenses for two cameras of the same brand is so much cheaper than 20 lenses among the two cameras of different brand.

Sure there are many excellent cameras out there but money is always an issue at least for me.

Got it ?

Paul

I've heard a good one, " Why are your unframed 10x8s £100 "?
Jules

--
Black moles do not destroy information.

I have 3 same type of Canon, guess why?

Ryszard

hehehe i agree!

my first ever wedding i shot, my cameras were a D200 and pentax K100D, photo colours and rendition turned out different after raw conversions for each body, and some fiddling around during shooting too - if i had 2 exact or similar bodies i could have used them blindfolded as I would be more than familiar with it. Not to mention that the photo results would be more uniform too.

why do so many countries use the 5.56 round in their assault rifles? why do so many allied countries signed up for the F35 aircraft project? why shouldnt a soldier be allowed to use whatever weapons he wants to use or carry?

familiarity and uniformity is a boring thing to many, but when ur work or livelihood depends on it - u cant go past it.

John Motts said:

When you use a camera a lot, it becomes intuitive and almost part of
you. I do weddings full time and I have recently gone from Fuji (ie
Nikon bodies) to Canon. This takes quite a bit of getting completely
used to, but if I were to pick up the Fuji again, I would be
hopelessly out of practice with it, which would definately affect my
more informal work.
It's not a stupid cliche - it's the thread that's a bit silly!

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http://jackietran.myphotoalbum.com/albums.php - my temporary website