Lesson 2- Skate Photo Lessons- The Camera
Cameras
Everybody wants to know what camera to buy?
Answer: A manual camera, film or digi, whatever.
Here is a photo of my first camera, a Minolta SRT201. My daughter is using it now. I bought it 28 years ago and it still works killer. Don't get hung up on gear, it's just a box with a piece of glass on it. It's just a machine, it's not the Car, it's the driver, crappy driver in a hot car still loses the race.
You still want to know what camera to buy? A Canon or Nikon. Film or digital? Either, in the long run digi is cheaper than film. Film is more OG and you learn a lot about photography by shooting it.
The pro shooters use the Canon Mark II and III, or use a Canon Rebel to save money. Atiba just bought a Nikon D3, so I guess that's the best since he's using it.
I helped start another mag 25 years ago with a Pentax K1000 and that Minolta I was bragging about. They are ancient compared to today's standards.
I could shoot a photo with my newer Canon EOS1n film camera and a photo with that old Minolta and you probably would not be able to tell which camera shot what photo? In the end, nobody cares what camera took a photo as long as it's a good photo. You can have the best $7000 camera, but if you lack skills, it's all wasted.
To be continued...
1 year ago Jane said:
you are so right!
1 year ago Aaron said:
Words of wisdom.
SRT201 was the first camera i even owned also.
1 year ago Ivo Janssen said:
I just bought a Nikon D40 DSLR a couple for months ago. For ~$650 it's an amazing camera and really lightweight. Makes great photos and is easy to carry around and bust out.
I'm so happy with it.
1 year ago Grant Brittain said:
Sounds good, it's got a lot of numbers and letters in its name.
Thanks Ivo!
1 year ago John Lytle said:
My Nikon FE2 went south on me... so bummed. The EOS5D is nice. I'm liking it, despite being a tank. I wish some more skaters would get in my way though.
1 year ago Matt said:
Thanks for the tips! Keep em coming.
1 year ago Khalid said:
My first camera was a Canon A1 with a broken light meter. After that it was the Rebel. I loved that camera. I haven't shot in a long long time. I used to keep up with all of it. Consumed my life. The camera in my closet now is a 620 (shutter syncs at 250th/second) and a 630 (5frame/mtr drive...although that's waaay too slow nowadays). I still have the radio slave 4i's. Some Metz handle mounts. 15mm fishey, long lens and regular. This stuff still works good and gets good photos. It's all fun now though. I used to send my slides to you Grant. You had real good tips. Your the best. I can't belive digital is screwing film but whatever..i'll always be shooting 35mm. It's more of a hobby now than something i wanted...you grow up and end up with crazy bills and a 9-5 job. It sucks but i still skate it up almost everyday! ha.
My problem was setting the flash speed on the off camera flashes. For a while i didn't know anything about that. So sometimes my photos came out awesome and sometimes they looked like crap. Any useful information on the flash spee settings Grant? Thanks.
1 year ago PooP WaR said:
Thanks Grant. This helped amazingly. I'm looking forward to your next entry
1 year ago Christa said:
My first camera was a Petri FT (circa 1960) that my dad gave me. It came with a huge metal light meter that clipped onto the body. I have not thought about it in many, many years... Thanks for bringing back some good memories.
1 year ago max bacci said:
i started with a minolta too i still have it somewhere...went trought eos 1n and hasselblad of course and now i'm with a eos 30d but i think i need some flashes for digital cameras...which you suggest to buy???? 430ex or 550ex thanks Grant....
1 year ago radar said:
..I use to eos 1n rs 10 fps !maaan!woow! now I've got 20D with some stuff. fotoradar.deviantart.com Grant you are my favorite skateboard photographer.5.
11 months ago jordan said:
what kind of Cannon Rebel
9 months ago GP said:
When I was a kid, in 1988 or so, I wrote a letter to you. You told me what I needed to do to become a proficient photographer. It was handwritten on Transworld Skateboarding letterhead. I still have that letter somewhere. Anyway, you took the time out of your day to write some kid (me) a letter. As an adult in my 30's, I'm still shooting and still admire your work. You are one of the true pioneers of skateboard photography. I'm happy to have run into this site. JGB, you're the shiz.