If you've been following my work for any length of time, you'll have heard me say that the best camera is the one you have with you... that gear doesn't necessarily matter. A new camera will not improve your photography, you'll just be taking higher resolution and maybe sharper versions of the same photos you're currently taking.
With that all said... I've been working with broken gear for a few years now, trying to save up to replace the gear... here is a quick run down of the broken gear:
- Canon 5D3 - crack across the top of the body, has some nice waterproof black tape across it to keep dust out. Camera works fine
- 8-15mm - I scratched one in Karijni, drowned one in a leaky underwater housing, drowned another one...
- 16-35mm - Manual focus is jammed, which makes it useless for Astro Photography, Auto Focus works most of the time, it also needs to be aligned as well
- 24-70mm - Works, but the auto focus is a little sluggish now
- 70-200mm - autofocus has a mind of its own, manual focus doesn't work 98% of the time.
- Canon 5DS - works 100% perfectly when matched up to a good lens.
I've not been posting all that much in new photos as a result.
Now for the good news. I reached out to Sony Australia late last year to see if they'd support my trip to Japan in Jan / Feb. They very generously loaned me an amazing kit. It was great to be back on Sony (I was shooting with the A7R years ago), the image quality out of their sensors is incredible.
Yesterday I managed to buy a secondhand Sony A7R2, with a battery grip, matched with the 24-70mm f4 and also picked up a 16mm f1.4 (ASTRO LENS!). The gear is well looked after and very clean.
To buy the equivalent gear brand new would not leave me much change from AUD$5K, but instead I spent a little over AUD$2K and that is enough for me to get back to work with some commercial shoots booked in already.
As I book in more work, I'll expand my lens collection with an ultra-wide and a zoom lens.
My point of all this is to say, you really don't necessarily need the latest and greatest, the A7R2 is an excellent camera and even at about 4-5 years old, it will make a perfect work horse for now.
On my way home from Perth I stopped at one of my local beaches at sunset and took a few test photos (all hand held as I didn't have my tripod foot or an L bracket yet).
I think you'll be seeing some more frequent posts from me now as I get out and take photos more often. It feels good to be "back".