***WHATS THE BEST CAMERA FOR A PRO?***

This is a question I get asked a lot, even at weddings there's always somebody coming up to ask me what camera I use or what I would recommend.

The difference between a successful photographer who makes money and turns their hobby into a profitable profession has nothing to do with the camera equipment.

It’s down to marketing your business correctly, building a great name for your brand and becoming a likable and followable person on social media and your blogs.

Have a read and let me know your thoughts too, what camera do you use?? Jeff

***THE BEST CAMERA FOR A PRO PHOTOGRAPHER?***

I' ll probably upset a few photographers by saying this, but I believe it doesn’t make a difference what model or brand of camera you choose, but obviously a Digital SLR is the preferred choice on that I would agree with most photographers. I personally use Canon and have done for over 25 years going all the way back to my Canon A1 film camera that was my first serious SLR. However during my time serving as a Royal Navy Photographer we were all issued with Nikon Kit.

These day’s cameras are changing so fast it’s impossible to keep up with the latest models. But to be honest I truly believe you don’t have too. I’ve personally photographed over 750 weddings to date plus around 10,000 portraits, not to mention the 100’s of nurseries and schools I’ve photographed over the years.

When my business entered its second year and I turned over ￡100,000 from my wedding photography, did I go out and buy a top of the range Canon Camera? No I certainly didn’t. However I did invest in some really good Canon Lenses and today still have them in my camera bag, to be honest they are pretty much the same price now as I paid for them 12 years ago, because you’re paying for the quality of the optics and that’s the business end of the camera. Buy the best DSLR on the market today and in 12 month it will have lost half its value and be out dated by an even bigger mega pixel monster that you really don’t need.

Last year I took some portraits of two little girls at their home, they were the daughters of a bride whose wedding I’d photographed 11 years ago. After the shoot we had a coffee and a catch up and she brought out her wedding album, “Remember this Jeff?” she said. I did because it was one of my first digital printed albums I’d sold for ￡1695 that was 11 years ago. Now looking through it the quality was perfect and the photos looked as good to me now as they did then, but more importantly the bride still loved it. Those images were taken on my first DSLR a Canon 10d which I’m sure at the time was only a 5 mega pixel camera.

My point is that was 11 years ago and the images were good enough then to charge ￡1695 for my work and the bride and many more brides like her still love their albums. So is there really any need to be spend ￡3,000 or ￡5,000 on a camera when a ￡800 or less body will do as just a good a job for you, you can even pick up some great second hand bargains with warranties too.

If you’re just starting out my advice is don’t go for the top of the range, you don’t need it, that money would be much better invested in marketing your business. When you start thinking of marketing as an investment not an expense then you’ll realise that’s how you’ll make big money out of photography.

I’d much rather have two ￡800 camera bodies in my bag than just one ￡3000 model. If you’re serious about photography and making money from it make sure you have at least two full sets of equipment, because one day out of the blue your camera will just stop working, its happened to me on several occasions but each time I’ve been fortunate enough to have a spare set in my bag all loaded up and ready to go - panic over! But imagine if you just had your one all singing all dancing top of the range model at a wedding, then suddenly it stopped working….it doesn’t bear thinking about.

I used to do a lot of trout fishing years ago and there was a saying about fishing tackle shops, they sell more equipment to catch the fishermen than they do to catch the fish, very true, and the same applies to photography. If, like myself, you’ve done very well out of photography and really do want the latest top of the range camera, then great that’s your preference and you’ve earned it. I’d rather take the money out the business and book a nice holiday somewhere hot!!

Hope you’ve found this post useful, I know a lot of people may disagree with me, but to me my money has been better invested in marketing my businesses than upgrading my kit every year and if you are just starting out I can’t stipulate enough how important it is to invest in your marketing as well as have a good back up camera system in your bag.