I read an interesting story the other day about an iPhone.
It involved the latest model and the stabilisation abilities in the camera. Now I have never used an iPhone so cannot vouch for its veracity, but the content regardless is food for thought.
In this article, it explained how someone with mild Parkinson’s could still take photos and video as the on-board stabilisation of the camera in the iPhone negated his hand shaking.
It showed how a specific feature was a major bonus for someone – and of course, conversely that also means it may be of less use to someone else.
Is It Important or Necessary?
Of course, this would apply to any decent camera, so the iPhone part is somewhat moot, but I accept the point that something everyone could use every day satisfies a specific need that is out of the norm. In the case of stabilisation, for the person with Parkinson’s, it is vitally important his camera have that, but for someone who shoots motor sport and always on a tripod, it is not that important.
In my day-to-day activities involving Creative Content / Australian Videocamera, I come across all sorts of weird and wonderful requests about things; SD cards to SSD’s, GoPros to Mirrorless cameras, drone to tripods and everything in between.
Most questions are valid (“what drone is recommended for a beginner”, “when should a tripod be used” and so on), but a lot are showing the asker has not thought through what they are really asking eg “what is the best brand SD card for an action camera” when the question should be “what specification SD card should I get for my action camera”.
Does It Do What You Want
In a similar vein, when looking for a camera, drone, tripod, microphone or whatever, it’s not so much about what features something has as to how those features will assist you get the result you want, or indeed, is a specific feature absolutely imperative to your needs while others are not.
In other words, what does the feature offer that is useful, and how do you use it?
A good example is the Zhiyun 5 Ray light I was sent for review some time back (pictured). There are all sorts of wizardry built into this thing including changing intensity, colour temperature, actual colour and a whole bunch of special effects lighting I can call up among other things.
I’ve had this light nigh on 2 years now, it is used at least twice a week and apart from on occasion amusing my 5-year-old granddaughter, I have never used a single special effect. And apart from white, only ever used blue. So why would I buy something like this when all I needed was a light? But a lot of people do buy more than what they need.
It’s a bit like fishing; lures are designed more to catch fisherman than fish, if you get what I mean.
So, if you are looking at a new camera or drone for example, before you shell out your hard-earned dollars, – especially in this day and age – ask yourself and then write down what you want the camera or drone to do and get something that matches that specification.
Use A Specialist Store for Advice
This is another reason that dedicated camera stores are so worth your visit as against the JB’s HN’s etc of the world. These folk live and breathe camera gear of all types, and are not switching from a camcorder to a pizza oven to a robot vacuum cleaner at the drop of a customer.
If your thing is to shoot flowers and insects, you don’t need a long lens but you DO need a wide aperture; if you only want to fly a drone to get some family video and therefore don’t need a range of 20km (which is illegal in this country to fly without certification anyway), then a DJI Flip or even a NEO is all you need as against a Mini 5 Pro.
If you want to shoot your kids playing soccer, then an action camera is entirely the wrong thing to get in most cases is another example. You’d be surprised – or maybe not – at what things people buy a GoPro for only to find out they have utterly wasted their money. I’d suggest the most common question asked in that area is “how do I get the zoom lens on my GoPro to work”. (Answer: there isn’t one).
Feel free to contact me if you have any questions by the way. I am always happy to help.