Is camera gear a “necessary evil”?

For photographers, cameras are required.

It’s a bit obvious to say, but we literally can’t take a picture without one.

And yet, camera gear can be the very thing that poisons us.

Because photography is so gear centric, people think it matters more than it does, spend hours every day watching gear reviews, and buy gear they never use.

This creates a bubble - one filled with “photographers” who have a bunch of cameras but never take any photos.

In my time making videos, I’ve talked a lot about the downsides of gear, and how it can take our focus away and limit our photography.

Which may have made some of you confused.

Because I also make a lot of gear review videos and that’s how many of you found me in the first place.

So long term readers will know, but many of you might be confused by this back and forth, understandably so.

Today I’m going to clear the air on this and share with you why I do what I do.

This is my love-hate relationship with camera gear.

I Make “Gear” Videos

Gear reviews get views.

That’s the truth.

Scroll through any “photography” channel and you’ll see what I mean.

Save for one or two, many of my most viewed videos are on camera gear.

And I make a lot of videos about photography and the craft itself, but they don’t do nearly as well as these other videos.

So if you want to be a photography creator nowadays, it’s in your best interest to talk about gear.

In the early days of this channel, I made many videos on the different gear I owned and used.

I’d talk about things like why I bought a camera or lens, what I planned on using it for, and what was new or interesting about it.

But as I kept going, much of my content began to lean towards the features.

I found myself talking about the different specs and aspects of the camera and not so much about photography itself.

And it felt like I was becoming a human spec sheet, repeating the same things over and over again, every single day.

I thought this was just what had to be done and people weren’t actually interested in photography.

And many other YouTubers were doing the same, so I followed suit.

But as time passed, I got sick of it.

This isn’t a tech or gear channel, and I didn’t want to be a tech or gear channel.

And talking about the same list of spec and features was a pain in the ass.

So I had to switch things up.

I asked myself:

How can I talk about what I want to talk about and still keep people interested?

How can I explore the real side of photography, the one that actually matters, and get people to watch?

In the past couple of years, I’ve changed the way I play this game.

Nowadays, I still make “gear” videos, but you may have noticed: they aren’t really gear videos.

They’re photography videos masquerading as gear videos.

Because I’m not going down a long list of specs, features, or upgrades.

Rather, I try to keep things as photography or craft related as possible.

Sure if there’s an interesting feature here or there, I’ll mention it, but that’s not the primary focus.

I try to focus on things like:

What did I learn from using this camera or lens?

How did this change my photography and my view of the world?

What are some of the difficulties and challenges I faced?

What can you, the viewer, learn from my experiences?

And of course, let’s show the many photos I’ve actually taken with these cameras.

Now I’m not perfect at this.

It’s still a work in progress, and sometimes I’ll look back at a video and think, “That was way too feature focused”.

And sometimes I don’t have much else to talk about..

Like in the recent X-T5 vs X-T4 video, the point was to compare both cameras - and I didn’t have much to talk about besides the screen and type of camera each was.

So I’m not perfect at it, it’s a work in progress, but that’s the overall direction I’m aiming towards:

Gear videos that are photography and experience focused.

So this is how I learned to play the game.

No matter what I do, I’m not going to change what people click on.

But by framing it this way, I can talk more about what matters and attract the people that are interested in the same things I am.

That will in turn funnel people into my other photography videos which are about the craft itself or improving your photography.

And if I do enough of this over a long enough time frame, maybe I can shift some of the narrative away from gear, and back to photography itself.

That’s at least my current theory.

I Don’t Hate Camera Gear

When watching some of my content, you may begin to think I hate camera gear.

Which couldn’t be further from the truth.

I don’t hate camera gear.

Rather I actually really like cameras - or else why would I do photography?

What I hate, or rather dislike (since hate is a bit of a strong word), is how camera gear shifts my focus away from the art itself.

fujisan andre pel photography — “Fujisan”, 2024

Many years ago, when I was first getting into photography, I was so gear focused.

As a beginner you can’t help it, it’s the first and only thing you see.

You have to start with something, so you start by looking up which cameras to buy.

This sends you down a long rabbithole of watching gear review videos, comparing all the different gear, and paralysis by analysis.

And then the months go by and you realize: Wow I haven’t really taken any photos at all.

I’ve just been in this loop of:

“Should I buy this lens?”

“But what about this lens?”

“That one’s too expensive, but that one’s cooler.”

And you haven’t learned anything or gotten any better and it feels like you’re wasting your time.

I hated this feeling.

Because it always made me unsure of my setup.

I kept thinking about the photos I could be taking with this certain lens or focal length, or what I could do with this certain camera.

And I always wanted to get things “optimal” before I could go out and make stuff.

When I should’ve been focused on just making what I could with what I had.

This in part ruined photography for me - for a period of time.

Because even when I had the “perfect” camera for me, I kept looking outwards for different gear that might have offered me something different.

And focusing on what I didn’t have, rather than what I had, was a surefire way to misery.

Not to mention how expensive this whole process of buying and selling gear is.

I think many photographers have to go through this and get out the other side to realize:

This is not what photography’s about.

This is not what I got into photography for in the first place.

In the beginning I just wanted a nice little camera to take some nice little photos of me and my friends and family on whatever nice little trip we went on.

And now all of the sudden I’m trapped in this loop of bullsh*t.

Let’s get out of this and bring it back.

As we continue along the road there will be temptations to bounce back and forth between gear and photography.

A new camera pops up here and there or something catches our eye.

This again, isn’t a bad thing.

Rather we must learn whatever is the optimal balance for us and keep the focus primarily on photography.

That is of course, if your goal is to get better and make more things.

For me, this means a 90-10 relationship or even 95-5 between photography and gear.

95% photography, 5 % gear.

I try to sway the pendulum as far in the direction of art and as little on the gear as possible.

This will lead to better photography, less money spent on silly upgrades on gear we don’t need, and overall a better time and experience doing photography.

Is Camera Gear A Necessary Evil?

So ultimately, is camera gear a “necessary evil”?

I wouldn’t go as far as to call it that.

Rather, it’s important to understand our relationship with camera gear as photographers, so we can set a balance between photography and gear.

This balance is personal, and how much you want to focus on is up to you.

In my experience, I’ve found that “as much focus on creating and making” is what works for me.

Which is ironic because I used to really enjoy gear videos.

But I stopped watching them long ago because they took my focus away from what mattered.

Obviously, I do still make gear videos.

Some of you will jab and point fingers at the potential “hypocrisy”, but I try my best to do them my way.

Because I understand that if I want to grow this channel, it’s more effective to do so through gear videos, rather than without.

In my experience, the photography videos alone will get several times less clicks.

Whereas making a few gear videos here and there will give more exposure to the photography videos.

Plus, I can make the “gear video” more focused on the photography, the lessons, the experiences, and less on the specs and features.

Which can maybe slowly shift the narrative away from numbers and back to the art.

That seems to be the more effective approach.

So I don’t hate camera gear and they’re not a necessary evil.

This is just the best solution I’ve found over the years to work for both content creation and photography.

I hope this gave a bit of insight to help you more clearly understand how you can balance art and gear.

If you have a friend who struggles too deeply with the gear side of photography, send them this article - it might help.

If you’d like to learn more and build a solid foundation with photography, check out Photography Essentials - it’s free.

Also you can help support me by adding to the travel fund or by grabbing a copy of my latest zine “The Sinking Sun”.

Thanks for reading, happy shooting.