6:12 "I've been investing in things like diffusion rags" (for lighting) ... said while squinting into the harshest keylight I've ever seen in this kind of youtube content.
A lot of new photographers won't get the point of the "gear doesn't matter" phrase until out of nowhere it just clicks with them, speaking from experience of course! It always leads to, "of course you're saying that because you have all the best gear". When I look at my old photos 99% of the time my photos were shit because of ME, composition was bad, exposure was bad, and editing was bad. Almost none of the issues were because my gear lacked features or I didn't have an 85mm f1.4 epic compressed bokehlicious image. Back then all I wanted was the biggest camera and lens setup but now I'm looking for something like the Ricoh GRiii as my main camera for everyday/street photography, an absolute Uno reverse from when I first started. Right now I have the Canon R6 and I love that camera but all of those features aren't necessary for a majority of the stuff I use it for. When I'm doing client work I'm glad I have the R6 but I don't want to cart it everywhere for the "just in case" moments when I'm not shooting professionally. Also I've done that 1 month challenge multiple times lmao, I love my 35mm prime!
shot a wedding this weekend and brought an absolute load of gear 'in case I needed it' , ended up pretty much only needing my camera and 24-70 and regretted bringing anything else
This, so hard. 24-105 and 40mm 2.8 is about all I use. No 90mm macro, no heavy 35 1.4 that isn't any better for landscape apertures.. I still use my 150-600, but you know when you'll need that one ahead of time. Not the kind to just carry in case..
i often try to do the "use one camera/one lens a day" thing (honestly it's great to just get out and not have to carry more than that), which is nice, but sometimes i end up with an 0.8 megapixel Mavica and floppy discs in my back pocket..
Back before I slimmed down my collection I always struggled with what gear to take on a hike, etc. Now the choice is simple. Wide lens or long lens - and they both fit in the bag if you can't decide.
In my younger, early life, I took pictures at four weddings. Not a pro.. I just shot these weddings with the only gear I owned. A Konica Autoreflex T, 50mm 1.8 manual focus lens. The flash was a Sunpak. I shot these for friends as a favor because they couldn't afford a pro. I just did my best with what I had. They were glad to get pictures. We all came away happy.
MX-5 loving gang, present ❤ Ok, it's disrespectful to just send that kind of comment without addressing the bang on points you make. I think everyone in their photography career (professional or hobby) end up in a sort of Gaussian bell curve of sorts: • You begin with almost no gear as a beginner. • You start buying a ton of gear because you think you need it, until a peak. • You start learning more and more, getting more experience, understanding your tools and needs, where the shopping spree halts. • To finally start selling things and going a bit more minimalist. My advice to any beginner (as someone just like, 1 step in front of you) would be: try to squeeze the most out of your current gear, to get experience. Then only upgrade or get something else if you SEE you needed it and didn't have it. Don't buy "just in case" or "because I want to do this in the future". Try doing it with what you have before spending. You'll be surprised how much you are really able to achieve with current gear and more creativity, just as Hunter mentions. Keep taking pictures and have a great rest of your day!
Buying the most simple, slow and yet most expansive camera i ever got was my cure to gear swap and experimentation. "Just" an M10, a 28 and a 50, and working hard to be good at it. Stuck with this and no money left, I have no other choice but work and work. You make great videos by the way.
I shot a music fest earlier this year. Three days using a canon rebel g film camera, a digital canon from like 2008 with terrible low light performance, a prime 50 and a old 24-70 and that was some of the best work I've done. I learned on a soviet rangefinder with a 50mil lens and that was some of my favorite work ever. Gear can help, but gear isn't everything just like you said. Get out there, shoot, and share it with people, get feedback, learn to edit your photos, etc. That is where to go. I'd also say get some books on photography, you can find lots of cheap old ones and you can find great info on lighting and composition in them. That and maybe something like a subscription to a photo magazine like apature might be worth it vs a new lens.
I think the most I've enjoyed photography was when I first started in a dark room class. Me, an OM-2 with 400iso film for day shooting, and an OM-1 with 3200iso film for night club photography, both rocking 50mms. Now with more cameras and lenses than can count, I spend more time trying to figure out the "best" to pack or investing time into testing that I'm missing the fun of it.
One time I was getting ready to go on vacation, I thought about taking my 100-400mm "just in case". 2 min after I wanted to punch myself for having such a daft idea lmao
85 is a good lens for portraits because it doesn’t distort the image. 50 mm is okay but not for close up shots, the 85 is a better choice for portraits. I agree with not using too much gear. I was was a photographer in the film era. I did mostly photojournalism work. I don’t like a lot of gimmicks and unnecessary gadgets but cheap filters protect your lenses. I’ve had my lenses banged up on a shoot, the filter broke but my lens had minimal damage, and the glass was fine and not scratched. I didn’t use the most expensive lenses either and I got good results. You don’t need the fastest most expensive lens for everything. Most work is done within a 35-85 range. Telephoto for specific uses like wildlife and sports. Etc. The lens matters only so much, you can drive yourself crazy over sharpness. Some pictures you want to soften up, like portraits. People don’t like to see their imperfections. I had a woman for a portrait ask me if I could not make her look so old. I told her I was way ahead of her and had a soft focus on my 135 mm portrait lens.
I started making videos with my gf's old Canon 700D. That autofocus was so slow and so loud that I had to manually focus every single time lol. Now I have a Sony ZV-E10 which is far from the greatest camera ever but I've been learning a lot about both video and photography. Also the camera being tiny and mirrorless helps a lot when I want to bring it to random places or ride with it on my motorcycle.
As lenses go, I was ALL over the place, and then I saw a GXAce video about the Fuji XF 35mm f1.4. I bought it. sold nearly every other lens. Then realized I needed a somewhat longer, so I grabbed a Viltrox 75mm f1.2. That's it. Oh. And a TTArtisan 27mm f2.8, that's it. Uh. 30 days on my 35mm is pretty much my life because of what you said earlier on about swapping at the concert. If I'm close enough, 35. If things are far, 75. All done. (The pancake is just here because it probably wouldn't resale all that much.)
How do you like the 27mm f2.8? I'm planning on buying an A7 II and that same lens, along with some older vintage lenses my dad already has lying around (but those are MF and I also want something that is AF), coming from a 35mm f1.8 on a 1.5x cropped sensor.
@@livtown - the pancake makes the camera feel so tiny and manageable. And then the 35 with a better f stop gives you a few other options. I use the 27 almost purely for size not the frame, which is silly.
@@ChrisBrogan Ah okay, is it manageable though? I do landscape and street a lot, sometimes portrait (but that's fine with any of the manual M42 lenses that I can use with a 10 dollar adapter) - I'm a bit scared to get too wide, as I currently have full frame equivalent to a 52.5mm, and so 27mm seems too wide (as my lens now is almost perfect, my body is just not. A decent converter with auto focus costs double a new lens sadly :p)
Going through that process right now. I spent years collecting gear thinking if I buy this then this will happen or if I buy this lens then I can do this. When I should’ve been spending money on actually doing things like traveling with what I had instead of dropping thousands on gear.
TFW I've been doing step 3 because I just can't be bothered to change lenses and would rather sprint to a different position to get the shot I want. My PL 15mm 1.7 practically lives on my GX85 for that reason. It's rare I swap it out.
Since I've got 25mm 1.7, rarely I take it off and switching to anything else feels so weird. I can't imagine using zoom lens - I love being constrained by fixed focal length. It gives massive boost to creativity
One of the reasons I'm returning/selling all my Nikon stuff and getting myself 2 Canon 80D and 2 lenses (135mm and 50mm), since it's what I mostly use while taking pictures anyway, no more wondering which lens to bring hahah, so I also can just leave each lens on each camera and that's all, but I do need a new non-plastic tripod though....
Nikon Z8, 40mm f2, and the only major investment I made beyond the body is a 50mm f1.8 (that I'm heavily considering dropping because I barely touch it over the 40mm) and a 100-400mm S line lens (since I do landscape and sport). Maybe at some point I'll get a 24-70, but I kind of fall into your situation with the 50 where I use my 40mm and I make it work. I have some outstanding portraits with it that if I didn't tell people was made with the 40 they would've guessed it was some stupidly expensive versatile lens.
I used to have 28, 35, 50, 85,135, I changed it to 35-150 and 28 quoting a song from the movie full metal jacket "this is my rifle, this is my gun", 35-150 is for battle, 28 2.8 is for fun :) 99% of the time on the camera lately I have 28mm and photography has become more enjoyable
When you have no budget, its the way you do it - ✨️MINIMAL✨️ and if you chose wisely, it pays off, im glad i didnt bought zoom firstly, and went for fart 50mm prime instead, cause from my experience, limitations - are what makes you moove further, otherwise im afraid that i woudl boost my skill that much, still its always depends on scenario, its just better not to give yourself to much choises to get lost in
I've checked my camera gear and I have 2 lenses that will probably go, 7Artisans 25mm F1.8 and Samyang 35mm F2.8. BTW. Looking for ~75mm vintage prime. Any recommendations? :)
@@huntercreatesthings I have a SMC Pentax-M 75-150mm f/4 which I really like at the lower to mid end, but the primes are rare and way more expensive than zooms :).
Maby something like 24-70, 10-20 and maby one or two of those 35mm/50mm/85mm f1.2 plus one cam body, I guess four lenses to cover it all is still minimal
Hey Hunter! I’m doing some filming this winter, and all I have is a GoPro Hero 8. Would you be able to make a video on cinematography composition basics? I loved your recent vid on establishing shots, and would love to see some more universal techniques that I can use on my limited gear!
Well, I did streamline my gear years ago. For example, I got rid of the 50mm it was an overpriced kit lens terrible for portraits. Yes, I started in the film days.
@@huntercreatesthings Nikon AF NIKKOR 50mm f/1.4 D Autofocus Lens. In my film days I would shoot a GraFlex 4x5. If you want to shoot a simple film camera you should try it. I shot primes for many years I preffer zooms. This is what I shoot these days. Nikon D5 Nikon D4s (2) Nikon D3 Celestron NexStar 8SE 2032 mm F10 Nikkor 200-500mm f5.6 VR Nikkor 300mm F2.8 AF-I Nikkor 80-200mm F2.8 AF-S Nikkor 28-70mm F2.8 AF-S Nikkor 17-35mm F2.8 AF-S Kenko 1.4X adapter My backup lenses Nikkor 35-70mm F2.8 D Nikkor 80-200mm F2.8 ED Tokina 300mm F2.8 (which I have owned since 1998) (2) SB-800 Speedlights
I have done the 1 camera 1 lens thing before, for like 6 ish months? and I honestly found it neither difficult nor freeing. It just was what it was. I think the part of my brain that is supposed to experience FOMO about shots just doesnt work though.
Depends on your style - maybe for more technical stuff like landscapes and architecture, the one lens approach is less fun, but I think for street and documentary stuff it's great fun
Ive been shooting digital for like two years love it, kinda want to try film but I don't have access or the ability to have a red room. Ive only ever had two lenses a telephoto lens, and another one that I havent memorized the name of because I forget to use it. recently ive been looking into gear that I might need or want (I have a scholarship that lets me use the governments money to buy this stuff yay!) but I found myself getting lost in the weeds of what I wanted verses what I needed, my top choices were a polaroid camera(for a nice little dip into the film world), a go pro (because taking my big camera on vacation makes me nervous af), or a new tripod (because mine is like a house of cards cool, but unsteady). Now you've got me curious about lighting gear, all I have is my camera flash, the sun, and a light diffusing/reflecting thing that I never use cuz I hate it and its too big.
Whatever you choose, make sure it's going to unlock a new way of shooting and creating for you! p.s you don't need a darkroom to shoot film! You can send the film off to a lab, or develop it inside of a paterson tank!
I just went on holiday and ive only been shooting a short time and normally have a nikon d700 with about 4 lenses but when on holiday only took a 50mm and a £20 nikon d40x and the photos came out amazing so it is true its not about gear its just experience and knowledge 😊
I have used one lens, I would go with my Sony but I think I will use my old 35 mm Nikon FM camera with the nifty fifty lens.with either TMAX 100, FP4, TriX film. Maybe some Ektachrome 100 slide film. You have to be spot on with that film. Using a mechanically operated manual only camera with a 50 mm prime lens is more of a challenge than using a Digital camera that does most or all the work for you. You really have to know what you’re doing with my setup. Did I mention my light meter on the camera doesn’t work.
I really can't recommend following through with selling stuff. 10 years ago I bought a Leica M6 for 800€ because someone actually sold it for even less to a camera shop. They thought they wouldn't need it anymore because digital, right? I mean, thanks for the bargain, stranger, but whoever sold that camera is still kicking themselves, I'm sure. By all means, pick one camera one lens - in 2014 that was my M6 and a Zeiss 35mm f/2.8 for an entire year because I couldn't afford another lens for it - but you really don't have to sell all your other gear. You're only gonna have seller's regret and buy it again at an inflated price. Recently I went back to a little MFT lens I haven't used in 10 years because it's actually not bad for video. You never know when you're going to kick yourself for selling something you thought you might not need anymore. And from an investor's point of view it's an even worse decision to sell your gear. You can have an old film camera sitting on your shelf unused and it can triple in price in a matter of months because some famous kid made a TH-cam video on it. I never sell gear and I never regretted it. I mean, does anyone ever say, "Oh, I wish I had sold that years ago!" Nope! I hear "I wish I had never let that go" all over TH-cam though, no matter whether it's book collector channels, vintage camera channels or music channels. And of course if you never sell stuff then space will become an issue and you will think twice before buying stuff you don't need.
if you have the luxury not to sell stuff, great - but imho most people simply don't have the disposable income to build up a giant room of dusty gear they don't use
@@huntercreatesthings I appreciate your perspective, but I come from a former soviet country, so I've been brought up a little different. If I have to go into credit card debt or sell stuff to buy something new then in my mind I simply can't afford it. The selling to buy mindset is very capitalist and the easiest form of gear minimalism is not to buy so much stuff in the first place. As for the disposable income: Even if you can only afford one new lens / camera a year then after 20 years you'll have 20 of them and I've been at this for a long time already. And of course vintage cameras and lenses can be quite cheap too. Why would I bother selling an old film EOS that cost me 20€ or a Sigma lens that cost me 45€? That isn't even worth the hassle. And I'm even less likely to sell a camera for which I had to save up for several years. I'll treat it like Gollum treats his precious 😂 Until about two months ago I was still using my 12 year old original Canon EOS M with that cheap Sigma 24mm almost daily. Of course I could have sold the EOS M and 5 old cameras to buy some suboptimal upgrade years ago but I would have kicked myself afterwards for doing something so silly when I could make do while I saved up for the right camera. Took forever to save up but now I appreciate my S5 IIx much more. It's a different mindset and has little to do with "luxury". The opposite actually. For years I was shooting on a broken Zorki and bought my M6 by saving up for it from my food budget. Took years too. Personally I would suspect that only people who have a lot of disposable income treat their hard earned possessions as easily expendable.
I am in the same camp I recently bought myself a Sony A6600 camera with a 18 - 105 lens. It is a great camera and lens A necessary upgrade from my Nikon D3100, but I had 3 lenses a 35mm, a 18 - 55mm and a 55 - 200mm.
I've been thinking about those vintage lenses I got when I was trying to figure out what I needed. And I'm always telling myself I'm going to use but in reality my 24mm and 50mm have been great for me. And now I'm looking at my film cameras like... do I need to keep rotating you all or do I need to purge you too.
30 days of 1 lens is going to be very interesting for me im going to take a sony a7riii the fun part comes in with my only prime being a 14mm lens this will be fun love the video :D as allways
@@huntercreatesthings Yeah, for a lot of pictures I always feel i need more fov because i'm too close and when I'm farther away I think the picture looks less interesting. I really want to learn to like it, so i'll continue trying :) I love vignette at 1.2 and it baffles me lens correction disables it, like it is some kind of flaw hah
Gear minimalism is certainly a nice philosophical talk. I do understand the appeal, something like "try to shoot only with 1 lens for a year to train your eyes". In reality.... just give me 2 lens: 24-70 & 70-200. Anything wider or longer isn't something I do everyday. :D Sure not a super extremely minimalist setup... but at least size and weight-wise are still pretty reasonable.
24-70 and a 70-200 is the default "work" setup for me (and many others) but I find locking myself into a prime is much more fun when I'm shooting personal work :)
@@huntercreatesthingsYep, I still use my 40mm 2.8 adapted to mirrorless. I got a fancier sigma art 35 1.4, but it worked out worse for me, maybe some field curvature or failure to focus near infinity but my landscapes always seem meh in lower lights, especially near edges, 40mm is pretty much sharp to the corners at 2.8. Going to sell that sigma. I use an EF 24-105 f4 for everything else run and gun but lesser image quality, or a tamron 150-600 G2 for wildlife. Been wanting a better quality normal lens but maybe a sigma 50 1.4 would do better. Or maybe splurge on the 40 1.4 or Tamron 35 1.4. heavy as hell comparably but at least you'd get the image quality great at any aperture value. I pretty much use that focal length for everything anyways, 35-50mm. Overall it doesn't matter as much as just getting out and taking the pictures with whatever I got.
Joke on you I do have one camera body and one lens XD Yes, do have more but they are 3 old manul lenses and Sony Nex C3 that I was using until this summer..
Another lens simply makes the pain go away
Hahaha. I >feel< this reply.
And you always tell everyone that you can stop anytime but deep down you know that you need that another lens... ohh, the rush...
Guilty as charged
For a little while...
6:12 "I've been investing in things like diffusion rags" (for lighting)
... said while squinting into the harshest keylight I've ever seen in this kind of youtube content.
It's called ✨ personal style ✨
Making the something work with limited gear is so much more rewarding.
Yes! It feels like you actually made it rather than capturing it
A lot of new photographers won't get the point of the "gear doesn't matter" phrase until out of nowhere it just clicks with them, speaking from experience of course! It always leads to, "of course you're saying that because you have all the best gear". When I look at my old photos 99% of the time my photos were shit because of ME, composition was bad, exposure was bad, and editing was bad. Almost none of the issues were because my gear lacked features or I didn't have an 85mm f1.4 epic compressed bokehlicious image.
Back then all I wanted was the biggest camera and lens setup but now I'm looking for something like the Ricoh GRiii as my main camera for everyday/street photography, an absolute Uno reverse from when I first started. Right now I have the Canon R6 and I love that camera but all of those features aren't necessary for a majority of the stuff I use it for. When I'm doing client work I'm glad I have the R6 but I don't want to cart it everywhere for the "just in case" moments when I'm not shooting professionally. Also I've done that 1 month challenge multiple times lmao, I love my 35mm prime!
Filling the mind with gear acquisition noise helps you avoid more difficult creative questions…
that's the one
shot a wedding this weekend and brought an absolute load of gear 'in case I needed it' , ended up pretty much only needing my camera and 24-70 and regretted bringing anything else
Happens to the best of us 😅
This, so hard. 24-105 and 40mm 2.8 is about all I use. No 90mm macro, no heavy 35 1.4 that isn't any better for landscape apertures.. I still use my 150-600, but you know when you'll need that one ahead of time. Not the kind to just carry in case..
Wow, it’s been a while. I haven’t watched Primer since later this afternoon.
Hahahaha you're welcome
i often try to do the "use one camera/one lens a day" thing (honestly it's great to just get out and not have to carry more than that), which is nice, but sometimes i end up with an 0.8 megapixel Mavica and floppy discs in my back pocket..
Back before I slimmed down my collection I always struggled with what gear to take on a hike, etc.
Now the choice is simple. Wide lens or long lens - and they both fit in the bag if you can't decide.
Amen
In my younger, early life, I took pictures at four weddings. Not a pro.. I just shot these weddings with the only gear I owned. A Konica Autoreflex T, 50mm 1.8 manual focus lens. The flash was a Sunpak. I shot these for friends as a favor because they couldn't afford a pro. I just did my best with what I had. They were glad to get pictures. We all came away happy.
100% - I bet those photos are treasured memories!!
Loved the little Radiohead bit, btw.
Hahahaha thank you that took far too many tries 😅
@@huntercreatesthings see? It's those kinds of things that we fuss over, when no one notices but us.
MX-5 loving gang, present ❤
Ok, it's disrespectful to just send that kind of comment without addressing the bang on points you make.
I think everyone in their photography career (professional or hobby) end up in a sort of Gaussian bell curve of sorts:
• You begin with almost no gear as a beginner.
• You start buying a ton of gear because you think you need it, until a peak.
• You start learning more and more, getting more experience, understanding your tools and needs, where the shopping spree halts.
• To finally start selling things and going a bit more minimalist.
My advice to any beginner (as someone just like, 1 step in front of you) would be: try to squeeze the most out of your current gear, to get experience. Then only upgrade or get something else if you SEE you needed it and didn't have it. Don't buy "just in case" or "because I want to do this in the future". Try doing it with what you have before spending.
You'll be surprised how much you are really able to achieve with current gear and more creativity, just as Hunter mentions.
Keep taking pictures and have a great rest of your day!
Great advice!
Buying the most simple, slow and yet most expansive camera i ever got was my cure to gear swap and experimentation. "Just" an M10, a 28 and a 50, and working hard to be good at it. Stuck with this and no money left, I have no other choice but work and work.
You make great videos by the way.
Thank you! M10 is a superb choice
I shot a music fest earlier this year. Three days using a canon rebel g film camera, a digital canon from like 2008 with terrible low light performance, a prime 50 and a old 24-70 and that was some of the best work I've done. I learned on a soviet rangefinder with a 50mil lens and that was some of my favorite work ever. Gear can help, but gear isn't everything just like you said. Get out there, shoot, and share it with people, get feedback, learn to edit your photos, etc. That is where to go. I'd also say get some books on photography, you can find lots of cheap old ones and you can find great info on lighting and composition in them. That and maybe something like a subscription to a photo magazine like apature might be worth it vs a new lens.
1 million percent yes
I think the most I've enjoyed photography was when I first started in a dark room class. Me, an OM-2 with 400iso film for day shooting, and an OM-1 with 3200iso film for night club photography, both rocking 50mms. Now with more cameras and lenses than can count, I spend more time trying to figure out the "best" to pack or investing time into testing that I'm missing the fun of it.
Sometimes it's easy to forget that we love the process, not just the results
One time I was getting ready to go on vacation, I thought about taking my 100-400mm "just in case".
2 min after I wanted to punch myself for having such a daft idea lmao
It's a core photography lesson when you pack loads of heavy gear and then have to carry it hahaha
85 is a good lens for portraits because it doesn’t distort the image. 50 mm is okay but not for close up shots, the 85 is a better choice for portraits. I agree with not using too much gear. I was was a photographer in the film era. I did mostly photojournalism work. I don’t like a lot of gimmicks and unnecessary gadgets but cheap filters protect your lenses. I’ve had my lenses banged up on a shoot, the filter broke but my lens had minimal damage, and the glass was fine and not scratched. I didn’t use the most expensive lenses either and I got good results. You don’t need the fastest most expensive lens for everything. Most work is done within a 35-85 range. Telephoto for specific uses like wildlife and sports. Etc. The lens matters only so much, you can drive yourself crazy over sharpness. Some pictures you want to soften up, like portraits. People don’t like to see their imperfections. I had a woman for a portrait ask me if I could not make her look so old. I told her I was way ahead of her and had a soft focus on my 135 mm portrait lens.
I don't like how 85mm looks and prefer the way my portraits look with a 50 or a 35 :)
I started making videos with my gf's old Canon 700D. That autofocus was so slow and so loud that I had to manually focus every single time lol. Now I have a Sony ZV-E10 which is far from the greatest camera ever but I've been learning a lot about both video and photography. Also the camera being tiny and mirrorless helps a lot when I want to bring it to random places or ride with it on my motorcycle.
Sony autofocus is borderline clairvoyant compared to DSLRs in Live View hahaha, nice one!
8:45 Everybody loves a miata
I had a 1990 in British Racing Green with the Nardi interior and it was the best car I've ever owned
@@huntercreatesthings we called those "skates" in New England, because snow.
@@huntercreatesthings That's absolutely the most beautiful spec for an NA
Gear minimalism = Mental peace
10000%
nah, not true.
As lenses go, I was ALL over the place, and then I saw a GXAce video about the Fuji XF 35mm f1.4. I bought it. sold nearly every other lens. Then realized I needed a somewhat longer, so I grabbed a Viltrox 75mm f1.2. That's it. Oh. And a TTArtisan 27mm f2.8, that's it. Uh.
30 days on my 35mm is pretty much my life because of what you said earlier on about swapping at the concert. If I'm close enough, 35. If things are far, 75. All done. (The pancake is just here because it probably wouldn't resale all that much.)
That's the way to go - having a giant closet of lenses that barely ever get used is a job for the rental house!
How do you like the 27mm f2.8? I'm planning on buying an A7 II and that same lens, along with some older vintage lenses my dad already has lying around (but those are MF and I also want something that is AF), coming from a 35mm f1.8 on a 1.5x cropped sensor.
@@livtown - the pancake makes the camera feel so tiny and manageable. And then the 35 with a better f stop gives you a few other options. I use the 27 almost purely for size not the frame, which is silly.
@@ChrisBrogan Ah okay, is it manageable though? I do landscape and street a lot, sometimes portrait (but that's fine with any of the manual M42 lenses that I can use with a 10 dollar adapter) - I'm a bit scared to get too wide, as I currently have full frame equivalent to a 52.5mm, and so 27mm seems too wide (as my lens now is almost perfect, my body is just not. A decent converter with auto focus costs double a new lens sadly :p)
@@livtown I use the 27 on an aps-c so it's a 35mm full frame equivalent. It's wide. But my 35 is a 50 equivalent and I love it.
Looks at drawer full of lenses...stares in to the void... one more. Just one more
Going through that process right now. I spent years collecting gear thinking if I buy this then this will happen or if I buy this lens then I can do this.
When I should’ve been spending money on actually doing things like traveling with what I had instead of dropping thousands on gear.
TFW I've been doing step 3 because I just can't be bothered to change lenses and would rather sprint to a different position to get the shot I want. My PL 15mm 1.7 practically lives on my GX85 for that reason. It's rare I swap it out.
I'm a bit of anti-"24-70" photographer. It's a weird to hill to die, but I do believe it's a creatively stifling lens.
I've had a few 24-70s and they've always been great work tools but immediately shelved when I was doing any personal work
Since I've got 25mm 1.7, rarely I take it off and switching to anything else feels so weird. I can't imagine using zoom lens - I love being constrained by fixed focal length. It gives massive boost to creativity
Right! I have so much more fun with a prime
One of the reasons I'm returning/selling all my Nikon stuff and getting myself 2 Canon 80D and 2 lenses (135mm and 50mm), since it's what I mostly use while taking pictures anyway, no more wondering which lens to bring hahah, so I also can just leave each lens on each camera and that's all, but I do need a new non-plastic tripod though....
Keeping it simple is key! I use a Travis tripod by 3 Legged Thing and it's pretty solid and I can recommend for stills :)
9:32 jokes on you, i only got a GRIII.
Yup, watching only to prevent myself from going rouge on gear because I've noticed the urge to buy more stuff.
It's preventative 😅
Nikon Z8, 40mm f2, and the only major investment I made beyond the body is a 50mm f1.8 (that I'm heavily considering dropping because I barely touch it over the 40mm) and a 100-400mm S line lens (since I do landscape and sport). Maybe at some point I'll get a 24-70, but I kind of fall into your situation with the 50 where I use my 40mm and I make it work. I have some outstanding portraits with it that if I didn't tell people was made with the 40 they would've guessed it was some stupidly expensive versatile lens.
I used to have 28, 35, 50, 85,135, I changed it to 35-150 and 28
quoting a song from the movie full metal jacket
"this is my rifle, this is my gun", 35-150 is for battle, 28 2.8 is for fun :) 99% of the time on the camera lately I have 28mm and photography has become more enjoyable
Hahaha, 100%!
When you have no budget, its the way you do it - ✨️MINIMAL✨️ and if you chose wisely, it pays off, im glad i didnt bought zoom firstly, and went for fart 50mm prime instead, cause from my experience, limitations - are what makes you moove further, otherwise im afraid that i woudl boost my skill that much, still its always depends on scenario, its just better not to give yourself to much choises to get lost in
50mm prime was my first lens and it taught me so much! Definitely the way to go imo
Love ur vids!!
Thanks so much!
I've checked my camera gear and I have 2 lenses that will probably go, 7Artisans 25mm F1.8 and Samyang 35mm F2.8. BTW. Looking for ~75mm vintage prime. Any recommendations? :)
75mm is harder to find - depends on mount but canon, nikon, and pentax all made great 85mm lenses :)
@@huntercreatesthings I have a SMC Pentax-M 75-150mm f/4 which I really like at the lower to mid end, but the primes are rare and way more expensive than zooms :).
What's the most amount of gear you can have that's still minimalist?
Maximum minimalist?
Maby something like 24-70, 10-20 and maby one or two of those 35mm/50mm/85mm f1.2 plus one cam body, I guess four lenses to cover it all is still minimal
You can have as much gear as you like so long as you use it at least once every couple of shoots hahaha
Hey Hunter! I’m doing some filming this winter, and all I have is a GoPro Hero 8.
Would you be able to make a video on cinematography composition basics? I loved your recent vid on establishing shots, and would love to see some more universal techniques that I can use on my limited gear!
Hey! GoPro 8 is a great bit of kit - when it comes to composition, there's a lot to cover. Let me see what I can rustle up....
@@huntercreatesthings Awweeesoome! It would be so helpful man. Big fan of your channel, I’ll be watching regardless. :)
THE RADIOHEAD LOL
Couldn't help it
Well, I did streamline my gear years ago. For example, I got rid of the 50mm it was an overpriced kit lens terrible for portraits. Yes, I started in the film days.
Which 50mm?
@@huntercreatesthings Nikon AF NIKKOR 50mm f/1.4 D Autofocus Lens. In my film days I would shoot a GraFlex 4x5. If you want to shoot a simple film camera you should try it.
I shot primes for many years I preffer zooms.
This is what I shoot these days.
Nikon D5
Nikon D4s
(2) Nikon D3
Celestron NexStar 8SE 2032 mm F10
Nikkor 200-500mm f5.6 VR
Nikkor 300mm F2.8 AF-I
Nikkor 80-200mm F2.8 AF-S
Nikkor 28-70mm F2.8 AF-S
Nikkor 17-35mm F2.8 AF-S
Kenko 1.4X adapter
My backup lenses
Nikkor 35-70mm F2.8 D
Nikkor 80-200mm F2.8 ED
Tokina 300mm F2.8 (which I have owned since 1998)
(2) SB-800 Speedlights
Time to clean out that gear that I never use! (I have one camera with a lens and two batteries)
Love this guy!
❤️❤️❤️
I have done the 1 camera 1 lens thing before, for like 6 ish months? and I honestly found it neither difficult nor freeing. It just was what it was. I think the part of my brain that is supposed to experience FOMO about shots just doesnt work though.
Depends on your style - maybe for more technical stuff like landscapes and architecture, the one lens approach is less fun, but I think for street and documentary stuff it's great fun
Ive been shooting digital for like two years love it, kinda want to try film but I don't have access or the ability to have a red room. Ive only ever had two lenses a telephoto lens, and another one that I havent memorized the name of because I forget to use it. recently ive been looking into gear that I might need or want (I have a scholarship that lets me use the governments money to buy this stuff yay!) but I found myself getting lost in the weeds of what I wanted verses what I needed, my top choices were a polaroid camera(for a nice little dip into the film world), a go pro (because taking my big camera on vacation makes me nervous af), or a new tripod (because mine is like a house of cards cool, but unsteady). Now you've got me curious about lighting gear, all I have is my camera flash, the sun, and a light diffusing/reflecting thing that I never use cuz I hate it and its too big.
Whatever you choose, make sure it's going to unlock a new way of shooting and creating for you!
p.s you don't need a darkroom to shoot film! You can send the film off to a lab, or develop it inside of a paterson tank!
Ive been shooting a bunch on my olympus 17mm 1.8. its one of my comfort lenses.
Comfort lens describes it perfectly
I just went on holiday and ive only been shooting a short time and normally have a nikon d700 with about 4 lenses but when on holiday only took a 50mm and a £20 nikon d40x and the photos came out amazing so it is true its not about gear its just experience and knowledge 😊
simple gear means you can spend more time IN the experience vs documenting it :)
Don’t throw out those 49mm filters… they come in handy later when you pick up film photography again and need filters for vintage lenses 😜
Hahaha I have a giant stack of them 😅
Yeah filters are expensive to buy but no fun when selling. They don't take a lot of room luckily
Your vid is the best antidote to G.A.S. This will be saved ready for any time I start to think about looking at eBay! 😊
hahaha glad I could help!
I have used one lens, I would go with my Sony but I think I will use my old 35 mm Nikon FM camera with the nifty fifty lens.with either TMAX 100, FP4, TriX film. Maybe some Ektachrome 100 slide film. You have to be spot on with that film.
Using a mechanically operated manual only camera with a 50 mm prime lens is more of a challenge than using a Digital camera that does most or all the work for you. You really have to know what you’re doing with my setup. Did I mention my light meter on the camera doesn’t work.
Yes, I also started with a fully manual film camera. Keeps things simple!
Do you have any advice for concert or band photography
I really can't recommend following through with selling stuff. 10 years ago I bought a Leica M6 for 800€ because someone actually sold it for even less to a camera shop. They thought they wouldn't need it anymore because digital, right? I mean, thanks for the bargain, stranger, but whoever sold that camera is still kicking themselves, I'm sure. By all means, pick one camera one lens - in 2014 that was my M6 and a Zeiss 35mm f/2.8 for an entire year because I couldn't afford another lens for it - but you really don't have to sell all your other gear. You're only gonna have seller's regret and buy it again at an inflated price. Recently I went back to a little MFT lens I haven't used in 10 years because it's actually not bad for video. You never know when you're going to kick yourself for selling something you thought you might not need anymore. And from an investor's point of view it's an even worse decision to sell your gear. You can have an old film camera sitting on your shelf unused and it can triple in price in a matter of months because some famous kid made a TH-cam video on it. I never sell gear and I never regretted it. I mean, does anyone ever say, "Oh, I wish I had sold that years ago!" Nope! I hear "I wish I had never let that go" all over TH-cam though, no matter whether it's book collector channels, vintage camera channels or music channels. And of course if you never sell stuff then space will become an issue and you will think twice before buying stuff you don't need.
if you have the luxury not to sell stuff, great - but imho most people simply don't have the disposable income to build up a giant room of dusty gear they don't use
@@huntercreatesthings I appreciate your perspective, but I come from a former soviet country, so I've been brought up a little different. If I have to go into credit card debt or sell stuff to buy something new then in my mind I simply can't afford it. The selling to buy mindset is very capitalist and the easiest form of gear minimalism is not to buy so much stuff in the first place. As for the disposable income: Even if you can only afford one new lens / camera a year then after 20 years you'll have 20 of them and I've been at this for a long time already. And of course vintage cameras and lenses can be quite cheap too. Why would I bother selling an old film EOS that cost me 20€ or a Sigma lens that cost me 45€? That isn't even worth the hassle. And I'm even less likely to sell a camera for which I had to save up for several years. I'll treat it like Gollum treats his precious 😂 Until about two months ago I was still using my 12 year old original Canon EOS M with that cheap Sigma 24mm almost daily. Of course I could have sold the EOS M and 5 old cameras to buy some suboptimal upgrade years ago but I would have kicked myself afterwards for doing something so silly when I could make do while I saved up for the right camera. Took forever to save up but now I appreciate my S5 IIx much more. It's a different mindset and has little to do with "luxury". The opposite actually. For years I was shooting on a broken Zorki and bought my M6 by saving up for it from my food budget. Took years too. Personally I would suspect that only people who have a lot of disposable income treat their hard earned possessions as easily expendable.
The seemless Magic Mind ad was 🔥 😅
Hahaha thank you
I am in the same camp I recently bought myself a Sony A6600 camera with a 18 - 105 lens. It is a great camera and lens
A necessary upgrade from my Nikon D3100, but I had 3 lenses a 35mm, a 18 - 55mm and a 55 - 200mm.
18-105 is literally the only lens you'll ever need for 99.999% of situations
5:28 your zooms look organic/mechanial but I suspect it's just good keyframe editing.
Yes indeedy, all done in post
I've been thinking about those vintage lenses I got when I was trying to figure out what I needed. And I'm always telling myself I'm going to use but in reality my 24mm and 50mm have been great for me. And now I'm looking at my film cameras like... do I need to keep rotating you all or do I need to purge you too.
You should!
30 days of 1 lens is going to be very interesting for me
im going to take a sony a7riii
the fun part comes in with my only prime being a 14mm lens
this will be fun
love the video :D as allways
As an ultra wide fanboy I support the 14mm entirely hahaha good luck!!!
I bought a 50/1.2 and I can't get used to it. I'm so used to 24mm prime.
Longer lenses can give you tunnel vision at first! Spend some time getting used to it, but in the end if you don't like it, you don't like it.
@@huntercreatesthings Yeah, for a lot of pictures I always feel i need more fov because i'm too close and when I'm farther away I think the picture looks less interesting.
I really want to learn to like it, so i'll continue trying :) I love vignette at 1.2 and it baffles me lens correction disables it, like it is some kind of flaw hah
Gear minimalism is certainly a nice philosophical talk. I do understand the appeal, something like "try to shoot only with 1 lens for a year to train your eyes".
In reality.... just give me 2 lens: 24-70 & 70-200. Anything wider or longer isn't something I do everyday. :D
Sure not a super extremely minimalist setup... but at least size and weight-wise are still pretty reasonable.
24-70 and a 70-200 is the default "work" setup for me (and many others) but I find locking myself into a prime is much more fun when I'm shooting personal work :)
@@huntercreatesthingsYep, I still use my 40mm 2.8 adapted to mirrorless. I got a fancier sigma art 35 1.4, but it worked out worse for me, maybe some field curvature or failure to focus near infinity but my landscapes always seem meh in lower lights, especially near edges, 40mm is pretty much sharp to the corners at 2.8. Going to sell that sigma.
I use an EF 24-105 f4 for everything else run and gun but lesser image quality, or a tamron 150-600 G2 for wildlife. Been wanting a better quality normal lens but maybe a sigma 50 1.4 would do better. Or maybe splurge on the 40 1.4 or Tamron 35 1.4. heavy as hell comparably but at least you'd get the image quality great at any aperture value. I pretty much use that focal length for everything anyways, 35-50mm. Overall it doesn't matter as much as just getting out and taking the pictures with whatever I got.
"You spend all.your time thinking about gear, and not what you love"
But what if you really love gear?
That's fine and valid, but I think most of us love making stuff, not the tools themselves
Shoutout Miata
It's always the answer
Joke on you I do have one camera body and one lens XD
Yes, do have more but they are 3 old manul lenses and Sony Nex C3 that I was using until this summer..
So you only used 50mm prime and 24-70mm for concerts? What body do you have?
I now use a 16mm Fisheye as well as the 50mm - I shoot on Nikon D750 :)
I agree with you, but I'm still going to buy all the gear. nomnomnom
😂 I can't help it either
I watched this video and bought a new lens within 30 minutes. I’m so sorry
how could you do this to me
@@huntercreatesthings I only have two lenses and it was $50 for a gimmick lens on lensbaby. I couldn’t pass it up 😭
Easy, I own one camera and three primes (28, 35, 50), out of which I use 28 mm for 95% of the time. I don't need anything else.
I'm so proud of you
I get the “one extra autofocus point,” but I’m so used to manual focus on a rangefinder that the last time I used autofocus I found it a hassle.
Honestly it took me some getting used to as well - but once you adjust your brain it does get easier. I still prefer manual most of the time :)
Like for Radiohead, hah
hahaha thank you!
1 camera..1 prime lens for the next 30 days.....x100v....😅
That's genuinely one of the reasons that the x100 is so popular!
another video telling people what to do, hurray
You do realise you can attach the mic in a way it's not visible in the frame? Weird shit mankind comes up with...
I have an MKH50 and a boom arm that sit gathering dust because the spoon mic is more fun
Here's a like for radiohead
Appreciate you!
You put up a comment at around 7 min and left it up for maybe One second. Thanks a bunch.
If you want to read it you can pause, otherwise, it's not important enough to interrupt the flow of the video with :)
@@huntercreatesthings well excuse me.
Minimalism is good for some. But thinking and preaching it is good for all is not good at all.
Do a line every time he says gear
Legal said I'm not allowed to encourage or condone this
bros gonna runn out of shit to yap about at this rate
You underestimate my yapping potential
Magic mind is satire right?
No
I am taking on the challenge. Canon New F1 attached to a FD85/1.2L. See you in 30 days.
Sounds great!