Regular readers will have noticed I’ve gone through a year of pain and bleeding cash whilst searching equipment-wise whilst trying to figure out the best creative and professional fit equipment-wise. After a discussion with Pascal Jappy – the founder of DearSusan – first at a Zeiss event last year and then more recently; we came to the conclusion that it might be useful to offer a little guidance for those still navigating the process (which includes Pascal, actually). Choosing the right gear is important for two reasons: you want the most suitable tool for your creative objectives and shooting style, whilst avoiding expensive experimentation and system swaps. The logic is pretty simple: the less you worry about the hardware, the more time you want to shoot and the more time you actually spend doing it – which presumably is the objective of photography for most people.
The nice but confusing thing is of course that we have choices: the same thing isn’t ideal for everybody, and no, I’m not going to say medium format is the only long term answer. 🙂 Pascal and I have come up with a framework to help objectively determine the best setup for your creative and personal needs – and will guide you through it, with live interaction in a webinar format.
There are two available dates for the webinar:
A spot in either session costs US$27. Sessions will last approximately 1-1.5 hours and the number of participants will be limited to allow maximum interaction for everybody.
Thanks and see you this week! MT
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Ming Thein | Photographer 
Whats that sigma lens?
nevermind its the 18-35
fid you like it?
There’s a 20/1.4 and an 18-35/1.8 in there.
Did you like the 18-35mm?
Ming – I am very interested in attending, but the website that asks for confidential information (credit cards, etc.) doesn’t show up on my browser as being secure. As much as I want to attend, I don’t want to risk having confidential information being non-secured. Is there a PayPal option?
I’m afraid that part is been handled by Pascal – can I suggest you shoot him an email?
Still no solution to the payment problem: no secure way too handle credit card numbers. No paypal option (for those who do not have a credit card which is not uncommon in Europe where direct money transfer is free of fees). I would like to participate next oportunity when the payment issues are sorted.
Sorry about this. Working on it for the next one!
Quick update: we’re using Stripe, which is supposedly more secure than Paypal. Just FYI 🙂
Unfortunately Stripe is being used behind-the-scenes, not in the webpage itself, which is where the SSL error is.
People: the SSL error is not malicious, but a misunderstanding on the part of the website owner. The two ‘Search’ boxes (in the header and footer) are submitted over HTTP, and web browsers detect that and flag the page as insecure. Not good, but your credit card details have a high probability of being safe 🙂
On your webpage it says the second Webinar takes place Saturday 2am. But I can only book for Saturday 2pm. What is correct? Knut
It’s 2PM – sorry, got the timezones messed up! Amended and corrected.
I’m intrigued, as I’ve long been contemplating seeling my 600D and switching to Fuji/m43, or just getting the Sigma 18-35 and upgrading the body later.
Will you guys just be covering the high-end, or will you cover multiple levels/price points?
We’ll be covering everything: the right tool for the job isn’t always the most expensive. 🙂
Ming, how do hide the camera spend from the wife? Do a technical seminar on that, trust me loads will sign up, it’s a critical gear selection and purchasing issue.
Do it as a job – either be a trader or a photographer. It then becomes either inventory or tax deductible 🙂
Isn’t gear changing as we progress? You have moved your focus from micro-four thirds, full-frame to medium format. Hence now is a really good time for you to hold this event 😉 Personally, I enjoyed full-frame DSLR and analog medium format – only micro four thirds for still was a disappointment – though not sure what to blame, maybe the less capable sensors and optics, and haptic feeling of my camera. The robust DSLRs are also great 2nd hand though I had a bad lens – but through your blog learned to recognize it and it made me think about it. Finally, I could still use the lens prefocusued and with sufficiently large aperture. The autofocus (motors) did not work correctly in this case. Now, more experienced I bought a new high quality lens – it makes life easier but would not have me made so much effort to work on my shooting discipline. Thank you for the blog.
Yes – and knowing oneself and one’s objectives is extremely important, too: otherwise how do you select a screwdriver instead of a hammer? 🙂