The Break of Dawn

A Different Film–

Merry Christmas, everybody!

Yes, this is a little late but that’s what happens when you correspond with people just once a week. Hopefully, the season has been good for everyone so far. Let’s all keep praying for the people who live around the Mayon Volcano and those of us who can help in a more direct way really should.

Erick Lirios

Things are getting even faster now that we’re deep into the holidays. Christmas has already passed but people are still definitely in the shopping mode. Hopefully, even while we buy stuff for ourselves, we still do the more important things like buying for other people and buying wisely.

First of all, and this may just get me in a little trouble with some camera manufacturers and dealers, do consider not buying stuff. Why? Well, maybe the better Christmas gift for the photographer in you is new skills and not new stuff. Use the stuff that you already have and try to learn as much as you can with the extra free time the holidays bring. We’ve been featuring a lot of old film stuff lately and this is not meant, in any way, to belittle digital technology or photography done using it. It’s just being able to present a definite option and, for those on a budget but do want to get into photography more seriously, this is something worth considering. After all, some old film cameras with lenses can be had for as little as Php1,500 if you’re lucky or industrious enough to try and find it.

What about if you have an “old” DSLR? Old right now seems to mean almost a couple of years old which, if you really think about it, isn’t old at all. Do you really need the newest camera, lens or flash? Want maybe but not necessarily need. There may some other thing worth buying before these things and reaching out to other people is really part of the reason for the season. The partying is great but there are more important things.

But what if…?

Okay, granted, you’ve been a good person and have really been saving up for your camera stuff and now is really the time. (Do take note that Photoworld Manila is a few weeks away and there may just be some good deals to be had there also. Check them out at photoworldmanila.com.) So, what do you get? One of the problems of being new at this is that you tend to ask so many people about what they suggest you get and you get a multitude of answers very few of which really mean much. How does one sift through all the muck to get at helpful answers?

One good thing to do first is to see just who shoots the way you would want to shoot. Also, take a look at what the person has actually done in terms of images shot. That way, when you ask what stuff you should get, that person can give you a good idea of what he/she used to generate those images. After you get really familiar with the stuff, then you can start experimenting with new stuff. Don’t just buy stuff even if you have the money to burn. Burning money means eventually ending up with stuff you may not use and then would have to try to sell to buy the stuff you really end up wanting/needing. Been there done that. Don’t waste time doing it. It can really be a headache trying to sell stuff you don’t use or want anymore.

A good question that usually gets asked is if it’s okay to buy non-Canon, Nikon or Sony stuff. The answer is, well, it really depends. For lenses, there’re options from (alphabetically) Sigma, Tamron, Tokina, Vivitar, and more recently from Carl Zeiss! Yes, even for Canon and Nikon. For flash units, there’s also Metz, Nissin, Quantum, Sigma (again), Sunpak, Suntax, and Vivitar. (Did we leave anybody out?)

Which are okay? In general, the advice is still to stick to your brand. Really. The reason is this: The electronics are very specific and Canon, Nikon, and Sony do not reveal anything about their electronics. So what the third party manufacturers have to do is to take a lens or camera apart and then figure out just what to do to make their stuff work with it. Most of the time, there isn’t any problem with this but sometimes there is. For example, I use a third party macro lens. It was working fine when I was using film-based EOS cameras but when I went digital, it just wouldn’t work. A chip had to be changed inside the lens to get it to work. It did but when the EOS 40D came into the picture, some error messages would sometimes show up. So far, it’s just a little irritation but it may just get worse. Stay tuned.

Another lens from the same manufacturer didn’t even last longer than a year and three months. Its aperture would open and close rapidly even if nothing had been pressed yet. Result? Had to buy a Canon L lens early. Good thing the zoom lens that went bad was a wide-angle zoom and the cheapest L lens is a wide-angle zoom. Oh, was this an isolated incident? As soon as other photographers heard about it, they said the same thing about the same lens. At least three others. Honest.

More on this next week. There are good points about third party stuff so it’s not a bad decision to buy them either.