This traveling pro switched to Sony: What makes a certain camera right for you?

 

 

Photographer Sean Tucker got his start with a Canon APS-C DSLR and did mostly portrait and food photography. As he became more experienced and started taking on additional work, he wanted to move up to a full-frame camera, so he bought a Canon 5D and started upgrading his prime and zoom lenses to higher-quality full-frame optics. Then he began doing more video for work, but he needed something with better autofocus, such as a newer Canon APS-C DSLR with Dual Pixel CMOS AF. Tucker also began doing more street photography and feeling a bit burnt out with the technical demands of a big photographic kit, he purchased a Fujifilm X100, which proved to be a great choice for him to put in a bag and carry wherever he went. However, missing the flexibility of interchangeable lenses, Tucker purchased a Fujifilm X-T20 and a few lenses. This still provided a much more compact option than a full-frame Canon DSLR kit.

At this point, you might be thinking, "that's a lot of cameras." It is. Tucker realized he had too many different needs and was addressing them all separately. In the studio, he had full-frame Canon DSLR cameras with four lenses. Video work was done by the Canon 80D and a trio of lenses. Street photography was handled first by the X100F and then the Fujifilm X-T20 and three fast prime lenses. For clients, Tucker does almost equal amounts of stills and video work, which makes him a true hybrid shooter and means he needed to take multiple kits of gear with him on jobs. He began to wonder, "is there a way to get a small enough kit that would fit in one bag that will fulfill all my needs across the board with a much smaller amount of gear?" Let's find out if Tucker addressed his needs in his video below.

As you can see above, Tucker made a big switch and moved to Sony. He has some words for Fujifilm and Canon as well. He credits Fujifilm with reigniting his passion for photography and hopes that one day their video features will meet his needs and he'll be able to consider switching back. As for Canon, like many of us, Tucker has a soft spot for the company that he started with. Canon is where he began his photographic journey. With that said, he has found their products disappointing lately.

Tucker doesn't suggest we all switch to Sony, even if we are hybrid shooters. He has his own needs and he determined that Sony's current gear best addressed his needs in the most efficient way. It may very well be the case that your own needs are best met by a different company, including ones not mentioned in the video, such as Nikon, Olympus, Panasonic or Pentax. The best thing you can do for your photography is not only choose the right tool for the job, whatever that may be, but find creative ways to utilize the gear you have access to. There are photographers creating amazing work with every kind of camera and lens out there.

To see more videos from Sean Tucker, head over to his YouTube channel. For more of his photographic work, follow him on Instagram.

(Via Sean Tucker)