The Camera Doesn't Matter As Much As You Think

Every photographer knows the obsession: chasing the best gear you can afford. Multiple times a day, someone on Reddit asks which camera they should buy — factoring in budget, shooting style, and genre. I've been there myself. Over my 20-plus years of taking pictures, I've owned five interchangeable lens cameras. And even though I'm not actively shopping for a new one, I still watch camera reviews from time to time.

Here's something I've noticed, though.

As part of promoting my work, I post photos on Instagram every three days. Because of my workflow, I often post images taken years ago — I just started sharing a series from my first trip to New Orleans back in 2011, alongside photos from 2020. I select and edit each one carefully before posting. But I almost never think about which camera I used to take them.

Let me take that even further: not only do I rarely think about which camera was used — I'm pretty sure I couldn't tell you even if I tried. When I look at one of my photographs, my mind goes to where it was taken, what was happening in my life at the time, who was with me, what the weather was like, the mood and conditions of that moment. I might even recall which lens I used. But the camera body? Almost never.

For all the time and energy I've spent researching and buying cameras, I can't look at my own photos and tell which one made them. Brooks Jensen explored this exact idea in his Lenswork podcast (episode HT2585 — New Is Not Necessarily a Virtue), and he was absolutely right.

So the next time you're agonizing over which camera to buy, ask yourself: will this decision show up in your photos — or just in your head?