When in 2016, I became fed up with my point and shoot camera for concerts and festivals, I decided to take the plunge into the DSLR camera’s. I wish I had known what a deep black hole I opened up before I took the plunge.
I didn’t have a big budget and I am pretty indecisive when trying to make purchases above €50, so it took me ages to make a decision. There are so many options! Even with my wishes for a camera who could deal with the low and variable light circumstances of a concert, there were still so many options!
I used every tool available to gather advise. Read articles, blogs, watched YouTube videos, asked friends and checked out what other photographers were using. Eventually considering my budget and all the things I learned I narrowed it down to a semi professional camera. It would have to be either a Canon or Nikon with a light sensitive lens.
This decision took me the best part of October till February to make. It wasn’t painless and it sure wasn’t stress free. Especially when people I knew were buying new gear during the black Friday and holidays discount periods. Eventually I got there but there were still many options.
The search continued until I read an article that compared the two brands that claimed that Nikon was having the better sensor for low light situations and could deal with a high ISO more easily. Armed with this article I went to a good camera store in town. In the city of The Hague where I lived at the time, there are two good photography stores and I went to them both with the question: “Is this true?”
The answers were inconclusive and I walked back out empty handed and still very confused.
Now, in the Netherlands, the festival season starts halfway through April and I really didn’t want to face another festival season with my point and shoot. So decisions had to be made.
In the end, it was a discount offer on a Nikon D5200 kit that made me decided not to go with the perfect choice, if I could ever make one, but with a choice I could afford. The discount even let me buy a 50mm 1.8f nikkor lens. This camera offered me room to develop skills and grow comfortable with this type of photography. It was the perfect choice to grow with.
After one and a half year, I was already looking for an upgrade again, but they first came in the form of new lenses and later on, in the form of a second body.
Now 6,5 years later I don’t use the D5200 anymore, sold it to a good friend of mine and replaced it with two D750’s, also by Nikon.
This process of choosing and outgrowing my first camera taught me a lot of things. Thing I would have done differently if I were to start again. These are some of the things I would do differently:
I would rent the different options first to really try out the different systems.
The perfect choice is the one you can learn with, without it becoming too difficult.
I would consider the weight of the gear a lot more, especially now you have the lighter mirrorless options.
I would consider the use better. What do I really need for festival photography?
The glass is more important than the body, but without a decent sensor, the glass only reaches so far. And both only work properly if you have the knowledge on how to use them.
Disclaimer! As much as I wished differently, I am not sponsored by Nikon. My story here is an account of my first plunge into professional photography. However, if the kind people of Nikon need an affiliate, I am open to this idea.