How to Get the Most Out of Your Old Photography Gear
- National Geographic Photo Basics: The Ultimate Beginner's Guide to Great Photography
- Photography: The Definitive Visual History
- Read This if You Want to Take Great Photographs
Photo by lucas Favre on Unsplash
In an age where new cameras, lenses, and tripods are dropping nearly everyday, it’s really hard to fight new gear acquisition syndrome.
But making good use of your old photography gear is an incredible way to save money and to challenge yourself.
In this quick guide, learn how to get the most out of your old photography gear.
Bring Your Old Camera With You Everywhere
photo by anandaBGD via iStock
As soon as you put your old photography gear on the shelf the chances that you’ll put it back into your bag diminish.
I know I’ve got a closet full of old photography gear that I just slowly stopped using until I never used it again. Sometimes I put something there because I got a better version, but oftentimes I just moved on to a different category.
For example, I put my old DSLR in my closet once I got a mirrorless, but that doesn’t mean my old DSLR doesn’t deserve some love.
Photo by Matthew LeJune on Unsplash
Every once in a while I will head back into that closet and pick out some old photography gear I haven’t used in a few months (or years) and put it in my camera bag just to see if it comes in handy.
Spoiler: it almost always does. And if it does, then I won’t get rid of it yet. It challenges me to become a better photographer with all types of equipment and saves me money in the long run.
Something else to do with old photography gear is to trade it in to buy new-to-me gear on Gear Focus.
Gear Focus makes it easy to trade in your old photography gear because you’re in charge of the sale from the beginning to the end, and Gear Focus takes a very small percentage of your sale (just 3.5%) so you can use the rest to buy something new for when you just have to.
Better still, you can invest that savings in getting a used camera body or lens to add to your collection of gear.
Since Gear Focus is made by photographers, for photographers, there’s no hassle dealing with scams like you find on Craigslist. And as I mentioned earlier, with low seller fees, you don’t feel like you’re getting ripped off, as is often the case when you list items for sale on eBay.
It’s tough to resist the urge to get a Sony a7R IV, but think of the money you can save by getting a used a7R III (or even an a7R II!) instead. For me, I’d rather have more money in my pocket, and buying used gear on Gear Focus allows me to do just that.
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Use a Tripod
photo by primeimages via iStock
Whenever I use a tripod, which is admittedly not as often as I should, I love the outcome. Tripods help me learn how to save money in photography because they open entirely new avenues for my photography career.
When I first started out in the industry, I was terrified to work at night. Everytime the sun went down, I went home. Looking back it was the worst mistake I made as a beginner photographer because I could have gotten so much better at my craft so much faster if I had pushed myself in this way.
photo by filistimlyanin via iStock
Tripods allow you to do all sorts of fun things, like shoot at night or in low-light situations, and they let you chase incredible things in nature, like animals or long-exposure shots of the stars.
My tripod helped me to reconnect with photography numerous times; maybe it will do the same for you!
Best of all, your old tripod that you’ve had for years and years is all you need. Sure, there are fancy tripods that cost hundreds of dollars, but if your tripod still works and stabilizes your camera, why not save money and put it to use chasing new photography adventures?!
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Use Manual Mode
photo by ArisSu via iStock
I’m not suggesting you can’t use all of the incredible things new camera technology gives to us, but shooting manually, much like shooting with old film cameras, can be a blast.
Plus, once you learn how to shoot manually, you can handle almost any camera that is handed to you, which opens up a ton of opportunities if you travel in photography circles.
Photo by Markus Spiske on Unsplash
There’s a reason we are seeing such a push for old film SLR cameras right now. They force you to participate in the act of photography more than newer cameras do since those newer cameras offer so many features and tools that automate the process of taking a photo.
Again, this is all about getting to know your current gear better. If you learn to shoot in manual mode, you have much more control over the outcome, and the results you get can be much, much better.
Scout Locations for Your Next Shoot
photo by RichVintage via iStock
I think scouting locations is my favorite part of any photoshoot and most of my friends think I’m insane because of it.
Scouting locations makes you see the world around you like you otherwise never do, with the eyes of an artist.
When you’re scouting photography locations, you can do incredible things like see your morning commute route in a completely different way or rediscover your city you’ve lived in for three decades.
photo by MichaelSvoboda via iStock
Plus, scouting for locations oftentimes means traveling. Maybe you aren’t traveling across the world, but you could travel an hour outside of your city tomorrow and find something beautiful.
And you don’t need any new equipment to do it!
There are so many opportunities to put your current photography gear to the test...take those opportunities to learn, explore, and find new ways of enjoying the gear you already have.
Not only will this benefit you from a budgetary standpoint, but you stand to learn more about yourself as an artist as well.
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