I love cameras, but I really love lenses. And as Digital Camera World’s How To Editor, my number one piece of advice to most photographers looking to upgrade their camera is to consider investing their money in lenses, instead. Don’t get me wrong, there are some super interesting cameras out there, like the Sigma BF, Fujifilm X Half, and Pentax 17, but what I’m talking about here is the bread-and-butter interchangeable-lens camera, think Fujifilm X-T5, Nikon Z6 III, Sony A7 IV, and Canon R6 Mark II.
You quickly get to a point where a camera body is a camera body is a camera body. They say variety is the spice of life. Well, it’s the lenses that add variety to your setup. Adding different focal lengths or faster glass to your kitbag increases your creative options in a way that a camera never could. If you’re stepping up from a run-of-the-mill kit lens to a pro-line lens, the smooth focusing, sharpness across the frame, lack of chromatic aberration, ghosting and flare, and optical image stabilization will likely blow you away.
The first pro-grade telephoto lens I ever used was the Nikon AF-S 70-200mm f/2.8G ED VR II, and I can still remember the feeling today. It was so sharp, so fluid when focusing, I felt like I couldn’t miss! But all this talk of lenses got me thinking. I’m in a fortunate position, because I’ve had the luxury of playing with the latest lens releases for years, but plenty of photographers don’t have that luxury. In fact, some of you reading this may have stuck to the same few kit lenses over the years.
This, I believe, is one of the reasons why many enthusiasts tend to prioritise buying new cameras over lenses. It’s less of a risk. You can look at a spec list online and a couple of reviews and know exactly what a camera is going to provide you with, but lenses are more complicated. If you’re not used to working with different focal lengths, it can be hard to deduce exactly what you’re looking for.
If you’ve never used a top-quality lens, they might seem much harder to justify than a new camera where you know you’re getting more megapixels, faster burst speeds, a longer battery life, and so on. Also, if you’ve already got a decent kit lens or two that cover your most-used focal lengths – and most kit lenses nowadays are very good – you might find spending your hard-earned on additional lenses even harder to justify.
So, here’s my advice to you. If you’re looking to spend money on more photography kit, hold your horses. Head down to your local camera store and ask if you can try out some different lenses. You could even go so far as to hire a lens you’ve got your eye on so you can spend some quality time with it. You’ve got nothing to lose. But I guarantee you’ll learn something from the experience and might even end up with a new lens or two. After all, the camera is the canvas, the lens is the paintbrush through which you channel your creativity.
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