Choosing the Right Gear When Getting Into Professional Photography ft. Dinesh Gaur

Vineet

Hi everyone and welcome back to Photosynthesis, individual's podcast where we talk to some of the best photographers and videographers across India and we discuss everything from how they got there, where they think the industry is heading and just very practical stuff. So, today I have with us a very special guest, we've been trying to organise this session for a while now. Dinesh Gaur calls himself an advertising photographer. But actually he's too modest. He does a lot more than that. Hi, Dhrish. How are you doing?

 Dinesh Gaur

Hi everyone. Hi. I'm good, I'm good.

 Vineet

So we're going to get today into multiple areas and both again the practical aspects of it and also where the industry is heading. But let's begin and I want to begin with just the very practical aspect of gear. Dinesh, you've been now doing this for so many years. You've got a good handle on how the industry has also evolved, how gear has also evolved. So...

 Dinesh Gaur

Yeah.

Vineet

Someone who's starting out, let's start with that. Someone who's starting out getting into photography or has done it for like, you know, through his phone because phones are also getting advanced now. But now wants to look at professional gear. How should they look at it? How should they, should they look at full frame, APS-C? Should they look at second hand, new? Where would you begin?

 Dinesh Gaur

Yeah. I think I can say right now this is the best time to buy second hand gear specially when the whole technological scenario changes now the whole world is running from DSLR to mirrorless in that case this is the best time that instead of buying a downgraded mirrorless take any pro DSLR and that too in throwaway prices so that will be better for next three I can say. You can work with them for 3 years.

 Vineet

That's interesting. So, we were talking about beginners or let's say Actually their first pro camera and by pro I mean like even APS-C is a pro camera effectively Right, I mean better than a point and shoot and better than the phone So Ha

 Dinesh Gaur

Exactly. But I think, sorry to say, but I think you should go full frame.

 Vineet

You shouldn't take APSE

 Dinesh Gaur

If you want to buy FUJIFILM APS-C then no problem. Otherwise in DSLRs, the discounted prices are full frames. Especially the depth of field you get on full frame, you don't get it on APS-C.

 Vineet

I was thinking of downgrading to an A6700 but I guess not because it looks like a fantastic camera actually but it's an APS-C

Dinesh Gaur

 No way! Sometimes he tells you about the assignment, where you are shooting, sometimes those small things are very useful.

 Vineet

These are beginners, these are people who are getting into photography, they don't have assignments yet They will also come But these are hobbyist photographers They don't have assignments We will come to the pros also, the professional photographers who come with assignments But let's say I have an interest in photography Let's say I have been doing this for 6 months to 1 year from my phone Like phones now have fantastic cameras but you know, they are small sensors Right, so you don't get the depth of field, it doesn't look

 Dinesh Gaur

Yeah. Exactly.

 Vineet

really professional it might look really professional if everything is perfect lighting is perfect, setting is perfect but otherwise phone is not possible now I am looking at buying a camera should I, because even a full frame a good full frame let's just get into models what would you recommend because considering price points people can spend 2 lakhs, people can spend 1 lakh, people can spend 50,000 right and lenses also have to be taken so how would you actually structure the kit

 Dinesh Gaur

Exactly.

 Vineet

For a beginner.

 Dinesh Gaur

If I talk about the DSLR I think Nikon 750. It's a wonderful camera It's a wonderful camera and you can get a very good discount on it. Second is if I go to Canon then there are Mark 3, Mark 4 all DSLRs and specially Mark 4 is a beautiful camera. I still have a 5D Mark 4. I still have a body and I am using it and it is a beautiful camera. So specially

 Vineet

Where is the mark 4? Do you mean 5D mark 4? 60 mark 4? 5D mark 4, yeah.

 Dinesh Gaur

You can take any full frame camera even Canon 60mm is good It is a little small in size but it is a capable camera basically

 Vineet

And Sony may so what budget are we looking at? If you want to buy used, where would they roughly fall budget wise? Just the body for now.

 Dinesh Gaur

Yes, I will tell you right now. I had an assignment and I have total canon gear.I have full canon gear and for a long travel assignment I needed 2470 and that 2470 canon F2.8 L series I bought for 65k and if I talk about the new Canon 24-70mm f2.8 then it will cost around something around 1.5 lakhs

 Vineet

Yeah, and that's Sony's similarity. So...

 Dinesh Gaur

New is like almost everyone in the same boat basically Sony Canon

Nikon, all their mirrorless lenses are around 1.5 Lakhs

 Vineet

Hmm.

 Vineet

And 6D is a DSLR, right? But is there, by the way, is there lens commonality? Because, or yeah, you have to do it through the adapter. Because they had M series in between, then there is R series, and R series both on the APS-C and the full.

 Dinesh Gaur

Hehehe. No, R series is mirrorless basically Now if we are talking about 2nd hand gear then basic DSLR is

But the only thing is, a body or a lens never works. Whenever someone works professionally or even starts working professionally, then they should think about its extendability beforehand so that later you don't have to sell that gear like garbage.

 Vineet

soon.

 Dinesh Gaur

If you think about its extendability, you can add a body, lenses etc. Then we can use the old body as well So that extendability is a big thing

 Vineet

So if someone is starting out, they are also confused between Nikon, Canon, Sony, Fuji and I will consider Panasonic and Lumix as they have come in a separate niche So if these four are considered Sorry

 Dinesh Gaur

No, we have a big market issue here. People buy things like a crowd. If the whole world is running towards Sony, then it is running towards Sony. Especially in India. Panasonic Nubiaz's S2 and S2 Mark II are very good cameras. Wonderful cameras. But their biggest problem is that the lenses in it, their collaboration

 Vineet

Maybe.

 Dinesh Gaur

Panasonic was planned to be released with Sigma and they were planning to introduce some new lenses for this basically but it didn't happen in last 3 years so even after having a good camera you had a shortage of lenses so that's why it didn't work that much otherwise camera was great actually

 Vineet

So right now I have no opinion I want to go to any one ecosystem Should I look at feature sets? I'll give you an example I shifted over to Fuji And I bought a used X-T2 Amazing camera Absolutely amazing camera And I loved the dials Full control But the feature problem I found Which was the lack of IBIS

 Dinesh Gaur

Exactly.

 Vineet

inbuilt stabilization basically for newer listeners now that destroyed so many of my photos that if I were a better photographer I would have taken that I would have had better control but I missed those photos right so I was like I need to go back to something that has IBIS more than the APS-C vs full frame this is one feature I was missing the X-T4 onwards. So what are the features that someone should look for? Because it is an ecosystem choice. I can't buy a Sony camera and a Canon lens. Unless there is an adapter in between. So how can someone choose an ecosystem?

 Dinesh Gaur

Exactly.

 Dinesh Gaur

I think the biggest gain in that is how you want to go in it If you are video oriented then you have to see the features accordingly If you want to see photography, purely photography then you have to see all those things And in video also you have to go on a little pro level You want raw format, how many bits

 Vineet

So what, so let's say I want to get into videography. First of all, for videography, yes.

 Dinesh Gaur

They've been looking. Sorry, for the video, all the people I know, they all recommend Sony.

 Vineet

So, yeah Dinesh, so basically if you're saying Sony is better for videography Why? Like What are the features which make it better? Why should someone opt for a Sony if they want to get into videography? And again, their video series is different for vlogging as well as ZV series For professional video then you would need a There's also the A7S III which is the most expensive And now the A7R V So, what are these features that one should look for while entering?

 Dinesh Gaur

It is difficult to say but the functions of many videos, especially the cannon and the cannon, which makes the body different, especially the previous bodies that came in it, all of them had a heating problem

Vineet

So if someone is deciding the ecosystem, so there are two things. One is the ecosystem, second is the model. So what is the feature set? What are the necessary features if someone wants to make a video?

What features do you need if you are picking a model because there is a lot of range you can start from the X-T100 which is also used for good videos and you can go all the way up to the Sony A7S3 or A7R5 which is like 2.5-3 lakhs just for the body alone so what are the features that someone should look for

 Dinesh Gaur

Beautiful, beautiful. Exactly. I can say that camera companies have their own feature in one particular model and other features in another model. Otherwise how will the product sell? It's as simple as that. And this happens many times. If I talk about Sony in video, then Sony is like the flatness of its color.

 and in that video they try to do all the work in post but inbuilt contrast of Canon is more than that of Nikon if i am going to technical then you see shadows you will find a lot of details in any of Sony shadows you will feel that everything is open and Canon and Nikon you will see the actual contrast in the dark so there are many such differences and sometimes they are personal choices what you buy, if i see a small example professionally as far as i know sony still does not have tilt shift lens which are perspective control lenses, sony does not have it If you want to do something specific like this Suppose you are into jewelry photography or high end product photography Or you are shooting in refrigerator or you are doing this kind of architecture photography Then we don't have any lenses like this in Sony So you have to go to Nikon or Caren

 Vineet

architecture photography.

Dinesh Gaur

but I think for beginners it is not that much of a problem if we are talking about beginners then it is your personal choices and whose menu I feel that the menu system of Sony is the most. You have to see the things in it, and you don't know where it will go and what will happen.

 Vineet

Yeah, agreed, agreed. I mean, even on the A7 IV, it is... I think Canon is better than even the Sony A7 IV, which is a very improved menu system. Agreed.

Dinesh Gaur

And then sometimes you are using the same system from before. Sometimes you like it or not. I am comfortable with this. I will upgrade in this only.to ask exactly.

Absolutely. Easy one and second is good.

 Vineet

Yeah, which makes because lenses get collected Lenses also get collected Then you can buy something in OLX Which is also not an easy one Right And the other thing is the mobile app Which should be very important nowadays Mobile app, I don't know how Canon is

 I used to use Canon before but I haven't used it now and whenever I am shooting in the studio then I directly attach the system so Canon's DPP, Digital Photo Professional the system for tethering the camera, sorry the software of Canon is very simple and very good the good thing is it's very simple

 Dinesh Gaur

you can download the program and start working in 10 minutes from download to setup

 Vineet

Nice. it's a question of ecosystem and a question of features which, even now if I am a beginner what should I look at let's say we have decided to go for full frame because of, you know it is of course more expensive but if you want to become a professional over time full frame is necessary because background separation is a huge deal

 Dinesh Gaur

I think I will say the same thing that full frame the focal length system and photography is not that you will get it in a day present generation they think it is a 2 month kind of job but to understand that 50mm lens, 80mm lens and 120mm lens what they behave in that

 Vineet

What else are the full frame benefits of APS-C?

 Dinesh Gaur

Depth of field depends on many things its not a single aspect how much blur will be there whether you are using 2.8 with 35mm or 70mm both are different things and how much depth of field you will get, how much blur you will get, its totally different. And I think that when you work, you understand these things.

 Vineet

Agreed. So, okay. So now let's come to the question of that we have decided that we should take a full frame. And secondhand. Start with a secondhand till you understand that what are your own, you know, expectations and likes and dislikes. So, what lenses should you take for a beginner? One is said to take Nifty 50, finish it. Take a standard zoom.

 Dinesh Gaur

I think in the beginning 2470 is must

I have used Nikon and Canon.

 Mostly, the optical results of 2470 are very good.

 But if you are shooting travel. If you are shooting travel, I sometimes take 24-605mm focal length in travel But that's not my favorite That's because you get a single lens with 24-105mm focal length. That is all.

 Vineet

and background compression at 105 is amazing My 24-105 is either used on 24 or 105 It doesn't happen in between It is either extreme It is just very convenient

 Dinesh Gaur

It works.

 Vineet

So then this is the standard zoom 24-70mm 2.8 and this is also second hand I think there is enough of variability whatever system you are on In fact Sony I can talk about The Sony 24-70mm Gm is a very expensive lens I think it is more than 1.5 lakhs Even used that's an expensive one The good thing about Sony is the third party support Samyang has a 24-70mm new one

 Dinesh Gaur

It will be very good.

 Vineet

Tamron 2875

 Dinesh Gaur

Tamron 28-70mm is a very good lens and I have used it myself and it's a beautiful lens and it's a very good lens

 Vineet

It was fantastic. That was at one point, I think two years ago, it was the highest selling lens in the world across any system.

 Dinesh Gaur

Exactly, exactly.

 Vineet

And its availability is quite good on OLX You can get a good copy for 35000 sites. My experience with Sony has been very good Honestly, the pricing for support is great Their speed is very decent I wouldn't say it's the best but it's very decent So service center is another thing you should absolutely consider when you are thinking about ecosystem This is actually a very important point

 Dinesh Gaur

Exactly. And in this case, Canon's service center is very good.

 Dinesh Gaur

They have an office in Barakamba road, main service center, so I think they shifted to Noida But there is still an office in Barakamba road, that is a collection center basically You can go there and submit your lenses and camera there basically

 Vineet

Nice. Where is it? In NCR? So third party lenses, so cameras of course are coming from one of these top 3-4 guys. Third party lenses have 2-3 considerations

 Dinesh Gaur

I think Sigma Tamron is the best in third party lenses. And the question is, is Sigma hard?

 Vineet

Sigma is fantastic. I am using Samyang which has improved a lot in the last few years. So I have a Samyang 85mm 1.4mm new version. It's amazing. It is my favorite lens I would think. The problem with Samyang is always inconsistency. A lot of people have said that you might get a fantastic copy, you might get a bad copy.

 Dinesh Gaur

See you.

Dinesh Gaur

Exactly. I have some lenses. I have also tested some lenses of Semiang. And one of them 24mm was a very good lens.

 Dinesh Gaur

Yeah, one point.

 Vineet

24-1.8mm? Yeah, I have used that. Amazing. I have the 35mm 1.4mm and the 85mm 1.4mm. Both are absolutely stunning lenses. But there is an issue with the consistency.

 Dinesh Gaur

Mm-hmm. yes that is an issue I have a 20mm f1.8 I don't even remember if it is f1.8 or f1.4 20mm fix

 This stunning lens is amazing lens and same 35mm lens I used

 Vineet

So Sigma on Sony side at least has a 20mm 1.4 so I guess same yoga Canon baby and in car so my goal is to buy my next lens will be a Sigma 24-70 art for Sony absolutely amazing lens so third party lens support is important and here one important point against Canon is that Canon has said that our series their mirrorless series they are not going to support third party lenses at all in the future

 Dinesh Gaur

Yeah. Obviously, it is our market and they will say this for everyone.

 Vineet

But for the user that is a huge hit when it comes to options available in the market. Because for example I have the option of Samyang 85 1.4 which is less than half the price of a Sony 85 1.4. But I am still happily using my Sony camera. So Sony wins. Sony wins if I buy their camera and a Samyang lens because I am still in their ecosystem and I have two Sony lenses also.

 Dinesh Gaur

Yo.

 Vineet

lens choices back to lens choices for a beginner one standard zoom ho gaya 24-70

 Dinesh Gaur

For beginners, one is 2470. I think every beginner should start the things with 50mm. It's the cheapest thing.

 No, no, 50mm on a full frame. Basic lens. This is the basic lens. And it should be with all of them. Means you can learn photography from this basically. It is almost equivalent to human eye basically. Although human eye, sometimes we say that it has an angle of view around 45mm. But still let's go.

 Vineet

50mm full frame or 85mm full frame?

Tell me more. Yes, sir.

 Dinesh Gaur

45 to 50mm lens is like and I think this is the cheapest lens in 10,000 rupees you are getting lens 1.8 and what else do you want? in 10,000 rupees you are getting lens

 Vineet

Sony is 20.

 Dinesh Gaur

and the most important thing is that if you are shooting travel suppose you are shooting a Holi function even if your lens is not good, you won't get a big shock which can happen in a 1.5 Lakh lens

 Vineet

Soni Menga.

 Dinesh Gaur

So that is one thing. And apart from this, 35mm lens and especially Canon's Pancake Lenses are also a very good lens.

 Vineet

Canon has a 27mm Pancake No, it's a 40mm. 27mm was on Fuji That's a good lens On Pancake, that is another thing If size is a factor Sony does not have any full frame Pancake lenses Samyang has a 35mm 2.8 on Sony But I don't think there are any other Pancake lenses on the Sony platform

 Dinesh Gaur

No. Yes, it is in Canon.

 Vineet

Hmm. Yeah. So these are the factors to keep in mind. And now as you grow, lens choice, how should it be altered? As now, let's say you are an intermediate photographer.

 Dinesh Gaur

The best choices totally depend on the work basically. What kind of work you are doing. As a beginner you are shooting everything. But slowly your choices are defined. I want to do wildlife, sports, advertising, I want to do some other style photography or architecture. So when it is slowly defined and you get to know the things of your taste. and I think it takes a couple of years to understand what I have to do so when I get the situation of what I have to do then I understand that I need such lenses for this particular work

 Vineet

Fair enough, so if you are getting into architecture then ultra wide is good Interior specially If you are getting into landscape What would you recommend for landscape 1635?

 Dinesh Gaur

Exactly.

 Dinesh Gaur

Landscape always looks good on ultra wide and focal lengths around 35mm are also good. Even sometimes the situation is that we are shooting at 70mm and I have done a lot. If you are roaming in the Himalayas and you want to capture the peaks and all these things, then you need a tele camera, it doesn't work that wide. There are many varieties in landscape, all kinds of lenses work.

 Vineet

So. and for portraits, again a general recommendation an 85mm 1.4mm or a 135mm

 Dinesh Gaur

I think from 85 to 120, fantastic. 135 is very good but you can't use the focal length for portrait everywhere. Sometimes there is no space. You can't do it indoor, sometimes you get stuck in outdoor. You have taken a fixed lens but you can't see the space to move.

Vineet

We can't do it indoors. So let's now talk about portrait photography One option is 85mm 1.4mm What about a 70-200mm or a 70-180mm like the one in Sony They are 2.8mm lenses But do you recommend that or you want a 1.4mm prime lens? You want that much aperture?

Dinesh Gaur

No, no, it's not like that. I have seen a lot of lab testing stories. You have taken so many photographs, whatever lens you have, 1.4, count in your lifetime how many photographs you shoot on 1.4. It never shoots at 1.4. and if you shoot portrait on 1.4, your nose tip will be sharp and your eyes will be blurredyou can use these features in fine art photography or in creative work but if I talk about commercial work I have shot in many corporate portraiture I shot Mr. C.K Birla twice last year. If we shoot portraits like this, or I have shot for NDTV many times before, then in this kind of portraiture, when do you shoot on 1.4, you don't have to go below f8, because you need every person to be sharp. So that F1.4, F1.2 It adds for overall picture quality but after that I will tell you that F1.2 Canon 50mm F1.4 Canon 50mm and F1.8 Canon 50mm 3 lenses And in the rate of all three Almost 10 times difference from 1.8 to 1.2 but is there that much difference in picture no way

 Vineet

Zada. Yeah. So basically, at least till you're an expert and you know exactly what you're doing keep it simple a 51.8 and a 24-70 or a 28-75 depending on the system 2.8 zoom and that is enough and after making progress once you know what you're shooting what genre is it, where are you growing if there is a specific requirement for that then that's what you're concerned with

 Dinesh Gaur

Welcome. Exactly.

we can go for 70-200 for that but I think after working for 1-1.5 years we understand that what is our inclination, what kind of things we want to do in future. Then we can decide that now we should take this lens. Suppose I am working on macro, I am shooting high precise jewellery, then I will go for a...

like 135mm macro or tilt shift macro 90mm macro I will go in those things but it all depends on what style you want to go in and I am sure that it never understand in the beginning it takes some time

 Vineet

When I started, I got the 28-75 which was very useful to me And I got the 17-28 which was useless to me I sold it because it was not used at all Even when I was doing landscapes, I was going on a trek Even then, as you are in the mountains, sometimes you want to zoom in to the 75 Sometimes you want to stay wide So till you are very sure of what you want, the basics are probably not

 Dinesh Gaur

HANJI!

Mm-hmm.

Exactly.

 Vineet

After that I started photography as a hobby So then I knew I needed a portrait lens for distance one So then I got an 85mm 1.2 Because it's Samyang it's also a very reasonably priced one I was very happy to get into that So That is the lens choices Now I want to ask you As you grow Rental vs purchase When does it make sense to rent and at what point does it make sense to start buying equipment

 Dinesh Gaur

Mm. Very good. Mm.I am sharing a very practical experience with me I have no problem in taking lens on rent but the hassle is to take that lens and return it the next day after work I find it such a big problem that I never want to take things on rent

Renting Lenses is like doing a lot of work in the honor of which you are not doing much. And you have to do that kind of work sometimes.

 then its good to take the lens for rent for 2-3 days and then you are out I was shooting for Rajasthan Tourism 2 months back and at that time I need a 400-600mm lens so I needed a tele lens so I took it for rent otherwise I try not to take lenses for rent

 I mean, it's my own way, everyone can have their own way. If you can't do it in 20 days...

 Vineet

If it's a professional shoot in a genre you don't really work in then it makes sense because otherwise if you want it for a hobby there is always a reasonably priced alternative If you need an ultra wide there is a cheap ultra wide on every system For example, on Sony there is a manual

 Dinesh Gaur

Exactly.

Milega milega.

 Vineet

very reasonably priced lens and they are full of OLX

 Dinesh Gaur

Tokina wide angle lenses are also good

 Vineet

Tokina 1116 and Tokina 1120 on the Canon and Nikon. Fantastic. I took it for a game, I rented it. I should have just bought it. There was no reason to rent it

 Dinesh Gaur

If it is being used at times then it is okay that you can rent it out But if you feel that it will be of use to you then there is no point And the great thing is that kind of hassle which we were discussing

 Vineet

Hmm. But if you do, if you do need to rent, what do you recommend? So I know Delhi may there is future forward. Good. Now may there is ball clicks. I have a friend in Pune who runs an online operation called primes and zooms. He's been doing it for like, I think 10 years now.

 Dinesh Gaur

Mm-hmm.

There is another one in Maldives.

 Vineet

Malaviya Nagar.

 Vineet

Yeah, so lots of reliable guys if you do need to rent there are lots of guys and I think every metro

 Dinesh Gaur

yes we can get it but there are many trends in this let me tell you in delhi, so many people don't rent out lenses and equipment or so many people don't take it on rent as much as in Mumbai in Mumbai, every other person who is a photographer is taking things on rent from light to I don't know why I didn't understand

 Vineet

Hmm.

Thank you.

 Dinesh Gaur

camera, lens, light, system, everything many people work with rent and in Mumbai

 Dinesh Gaur

Yes, I don't know but the availability is good there. The rentals are also good there. In comparison to Delhi-Basin.

 Vineet

Great so that was the first part of our discussion on how to look at used gear, how to look at gear when you're just setting up and when to rent versus when to buy.

Thank you Dinesh for all your time. Stay tuned. You can see us on YouTube. You can listen to us on Spotify. Stay tuned to Photosynthesis. And in the show notes, we'll put links to Dinesh's work, his photographer. He's done a lot more than that. We'll link to his work in the show notes. Thank you and stay tuned. Thanks, Dinesh.

 Dinesh Gaur

Bye bye.