My Photography; The Past, Present, and Future
It's no secret, I love photography.
My first digital SLR was an Olympus E-500, which I bought... gosh... I forget how long ago. I bought it as a kit shortly before it was discontinued. I had two kit lenses with it, and I remember it taking very nice shots for being fairly inexpensive. I then upgraded to a Canon Rebel XSi, mainly since I wanted more choices for lenses. This was my first foray into the land of the bigger-brand cameras.
I shot on the Canon platform for many years, and I'd done all kinds of shoots; engagement, casual portraits, travel... and had great results. I also had many fellow photographer friends who constantly sung the praises of their respective cameras each time we talked about what we were using. Nikon guys loved their Nikons; Sony folk loved their Sony's, and so on. Being the inquisitive and curious individual that I am, I wanted to see what life was like on the other side of the pond.
Some would say the grass was greener with a Nikon. Others say it was so with a Canon. Some said one brand's lenses were better. Some say the tech is best in a Sony body. Some said one brand was better for certain types of photography. Some said ergonomics were better on one than another. I made the jump to Nikon in 2013 to find out for myself what it was like.
It was actually a lot of fun.
I sold my Canon 5Dmk3 and all of my Canon stuff to make the jump to a Nikon D7100.
I shot with my trusty Nikon for 4 years. We traveled together, we did portrait shoots, and lots of fun and casual shoots. I found that the grass wasn't greener, it was still just as lush and green as it was on the Canon side, it was just...a different feeling grass.
The tech wasn't any better or worse, and the ergonomics weren't any better or worse. The sensor on the D7100 is a crop-frame size, versus the 5Dmk3 being full-frame, but the images I got were just as good with plenty of detail and dynamic range.
In the end, I learned that the grass isn't greener switching to a different camera platform. There are technical differences between them, if you want to take the time to find them out, but photography (like any art form) is very much about "feel" for me. The grass is still just as green and lush if you know how to properly maintain it. Lawns don't take care of themselves, they have to be cut, watered and maintained, much like someone's skill in photography. Switching over got me excited about shooting again, and it forced me to "focus" on the craft, and not so much what gear I was using.
Fast forward to this year, and I'd been wanting to look at upgrades for my trusty Nikon. For technical reasons I needed to make a change in camera bodies to be able to take my images to the next level. I'd been looking at the Nikon D810, because I wanted to upgrade to a body with a full-frame sensor. I'd had one in the past, and remembered what was possible with that versus what I'd had. Once I'd heard about the recent financial news from Nikon, I started looking at the company in a different light; something just didn't feel right about the whole situation.
I knew from years back that making the jump from one platform to another isn't all that easy, so I spoke to a few fellow photographer friends what they thought, and got mixed opinions. I asked if they thought Nikon's news would mean the company would go under, or if it was just a bump in the road and they'd rebound. In the end, they're a huge company with a huge following, so it's quite possible nothing awful would come of this, but I still wasn't feeling reassured. Maybe this was the signal I needed to start looking at some other options.
After running some numbers and seeing where I was at, I figured out now was just as good of a time as any to make my upgrade to a full-frame camera, by going back to where I came from.
With the Canon 5Dmk4 out now, the price on the 5Dmk3 was right within my budget. So, as of now I'm back in the Canon camp with the kit that I had before I switched over to Nikon. I've got a Canon 5Dmk3, with the 24-105 f/4L lens.
I remember the reasons I made the switch in the first place, and am enjoying those all over again now. I'm excited about photography again. I now have a camera that gives me the technical upgrades I've been looking for to allow for more possibilities with my future photography. I don't regret making this jump, or any of the jumps I'd made, because it's all a matter of gaining experience. In the end, it's a matter of cultivating the grass so it always stays green.