You’ll Need A Better Lens

There is a rather large Facebook group for amateur photographers that I am a member of. I’m no longer an amateur, but I’m not a professional either. I am trying to get back in to an amateur mindset, one of a photographer with new things to learn, and I had hoped that joining this group might aid with that. It has been frustrating as hell, to be honest.

There are definitely some green folks in the group looking to learn their way around their cameras and editing software, and that’s awesome. They should be the primary audience. There is also a cohort of older, more experienced photographers who seem to be there to police the work and the equipment choices of the less experienced members.

One recent post really stuck in my mind. A young lady bought herself a used, circa 2018, Canon EOS 2000D body and it came with the revised Canon 18-55mm EF-S IS f4-5.6 STM kit lens. Said lens is a subject of derision with the “experienced” crowd and the most common comment was, “you’ll need a better lens.” Hogswallop.

I own two versions of this kit lens, and while I don’t own the 2017 model that was bundled with the aforementioned 2000D, I have used it and know it to be a quality lens. It has a few additional refinements over and above my lenses and a smaller maximum aperture of f4, which allowed Canon to shrink the package a bit. Reading all of the trash talk posted about the poor Facebook user’s new kit lens inspired me to take my own older version for a walkabout today, and I enjoyed myself.

My version I used for today’s entry dropped in 2011 with the release of the Canon EOS 600D. It came bundled with the circa 2004 Canon EOS 350D I purchased on the cheap earlier this year. It was one of the cameras I hoped that Ray and I could play with before he passed. It was that 8 megapixel 350D I used with my 18–55mm EF-S IS f3.5–5.6 II kit lens this afternoon.

It’s a nice little lens that any owner of a Canon camera with an APS-C (cropped) sensor should be happy to have in their kit. It lacks the status of Canon’s L-series glass and it won’t impress as such at a camera club meeting, but the optical quality is top shelf.

Looking at a crop from the full resolution version of Overlooking the lake shows just how sharp my version of this lens is, and it’s a less refined version of the 2017 release. Honestly, you’re kind of a stuck up idiot if you don’t appreciate this cute little piece of glass. And that’s the problem with the toxic bunch trying to rule the roost in the Facebook group.

Using the wrong lens? They’ll tear into you. Using an older camera body? They’ll tear into you. Making fine-art images with a used point-and-shoot camera with an underrated smaller sensor? They’ll tear into you. Are you committing the worst sin of all by being content shooting with your phone’s camera? They will tear into you and then they will tear into your corpse. And then they’ll tell your corpse it needs to look into getting a real camera.

A camera is a device that captures light and converts it into a visual image, either chemically (film) or digitally (electronic sensors), allowing us to record and preserve moments, scenes, and subjects for observation, memory, and expression.** Going by this definition my first camera, the Kodak No. 2 Brownie, was a real camera. My high end Canon EOS R5 is a real camera. And so is my mobile phone’s camera. These are all real cameras.

No photographer should feel ashamed, or be shamed, for their choice of camera or lens. If either is capturing the images you want and telling the stories you need them to, you’re doing photography right. The best camera to use is the camera that inspires you to pick it up and make some images. It doesn’t matter if it is film or digital, a phone camera or a camera camera, low or high resolution, fixed lens or interchangeable lens, or if the lens you’re using is craptastic or optically perfect. If you’re getting photographs (and perhaps video) you like from it then it is the perfect camera for you.

I had thought of leaving the Facebook group, but I’m sticking around for now. The main reason is that it is a genuine pleasure to help out newer photographers. Experienced photographers did this for me when I was new, and now it is my turn to lend help and encouragement to those who are following along behind me. I am also sticking around to correct the poor advice given by the toxic cohort who are so intent on policing the gear and style of other photographers.

I am also offering my own gear advice…

Enjoy the camera you own now and don’t upgrade until you’ve reached the limits of what you have. Look for used before you look for new, especially with lenses. Don’t worry if someone else isn’t happy with your camera, lens, or print quality, only worry when you are. Don’t get pressured into buying the latest and greatest because the latest isn’t always the greatest. If you’re happy with what you’re using to shoot with, that is what matters. Don’t obsess over megapixels. If you have five you’re good, if you have ten you’re great, and if you have twelve you’re golden. Over that you’ve got storage issues. Be happy if someone thinks your camera or lens choice is ridiculous because that means you’re now in the fun zone. Don’t let someone tell you that your camera isn’t a real camera because they’re all real cameras.

Most importantly, enjoy yourself when you’re using your camera, whatever it may be. Photography should bring joy. If it doesn’t, is it because you’re hanging with a crowd who aren’t happy unless you’re unhappy? Every photography club or forum has this bunch and they are vampires who will suck the pleasure out of you and your craft if you let them. Don’t.

Images made using a Canon EOS 350D with the 2011 release of the Canon 18-55mm EFS IS f3.5-5.6 II kit lens. My camera also does not have a battery grip even though a certain bunch of tossers like to add battery grips to their own camera bodies so they look more impressive to inexperienced photographers. **Photography definition provided by Meta AI.