RETURN to AlphaUniverse.com
Jump to content
Welcome To Our Community!

Discuss, share & explore photography, video, vlogging and making the most of your gear.

Upgrade your camera or lens?


jasonvong
Go to solution Solved by pm-r,

Recommended Posts

With the holiday season coming up, I know I'm itching to grab some new gear for the new year but before that I always have to ask myself...should I upgrade my camera or lens first?

If you’re doing strictly photography, upgrade your lens. While photo tech has changed a lot over the last few years, photo quality actually hasn’t improved all that much. It has always been exceedingly good especially if you have invested in a DSLR or mirrorless camera in the last decade. 

A new lens, esp fast aperture ones like f/1.8 or f/1.4 will always breathe new life into your camera and motivates you to capture more moments. 

What do you guys think? What are you hoping to get as a nice holiday treat? 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Replies 13
  • Created
  • Last Reply

Top Posters In This Topic

  • 3 weeks later...

Personally, I would go with the body upgrade depending on how much improvement there is in ISO sensitivity, MP, Stabilization. Many newer cameras have significant improvements in buffer size, writing speed to the memory card and software features and improvements.

I feel like lens technology has relatively stayed the same due to the limit of physics.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

The optimal answer be: it depends. Whether shooting stills, video or both. I agree that lens will always be at the top. But if the body you own is falling behind (by a lot) with respect to available technology or features that can help your work, I would say a body would be first. If and only if those features will elevate the work by at least 50%.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Personally, I would go with the body upgrade depending on how much improvement there is in ISO sensitivity, MP, Stabilization. Many newer cameras have significant improvements in buffer size, writing speed to the memory card and software features and improvements.

I feel like lens technology has relatively stayed the same due to the limit of physics.

100%! That is also true as well, ISO performance on the newer cameras have gotten so much better in the recent years.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

What about logging/youtubing? My DSLR is really loud while in AF...Is that simply a lens issue or should I switch to mirrorless? 

Aliya, that is simply the lens. I believe it's the ones with focus by wire that creates the loudest sound. The new GM lenses use magnetic servo motors, they are fast and quiet, not to mention optically superior. If you are hesitant about what you might need to upgrade, try renting a lens and see how it works. For vlogging and YouTubing, I recommend the 20mm f1.8 G lens. It's not a GM but it is amazing for vlogging.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Since we already have some A7IVs with great lenses and some ZV-1s, I elected to upgrade some peripherals this year. I added Smallrig cages and triple cold shoes for the ZV-1s, and a very heavy duty 8' tripod for our A7IVs. We shoot both stills and video at weddings. The cages allow us to change batteries on the ZV-1s without taking them off the tripods. The triple cold shoe allows us to mount 3 LED lights on top of the camera and use the cold shoe on the bottom of the cage for a mic. The 8' tripod puts the A7IV over everyone's heads and lets my partner stand right in front of it to shoot stills. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Please sign in to comment

You will be able to leave a comment after signing in



Sign In Now

  • Trending Content

  • Featured Products

  • Topics

×
×
  • Create New...