Using Used Camera Gear from MPB

Hi, I'm professional photographer, Paul Thompson here with Outdoor Photography Guide and I'm hear in my local Woodland and as you can probably see behind me, all the Ferns and the Brackens behind me are starting to turn this sort of brown coppery color. And that's a great sign that Autumn's just around the corner, as well as that we've been getting berries on the trees, the leaves are starting to change and drop on the ground. It's just an absolutely stunning time of year. And with all that in mind, we really need to start preparing as to what gear we're going to take, what gear we're going to use for outdoor photography out in the field in fall. It's one of the best times of year this to get out and practice your outdoor photography skills.

You get awesome conditions, fog, frost, amazing, beautiful golden light. It's just an awesome time of year and I absolutely adore it. So with all that in mind, we need to start concentrating on what gear we're going to use for this. And for me, a lot of the time we all carry around mobile phones or cell phones. And these now produce absolutely great quality images, just for something to carry around in your pocket, which you've always got with you.

It's just absolutely great. Now, although they've got small sensors, they're still capable of capturing really good images and it's something that you've always got with you at all times. So, it's a no brainer really. Now, when you feel like getting more from you photography, I would move on to an interchangeable lens camera and something like the Fuji X-T1 is a fantastic choice. It won't break the bank.

It's a great starter mirrorless camera, has a lot of great functions on it. It's small and portable, doesn't take up a lot of room. Now pair this camera with something like the 16 to 50 lens, and you've got a great start in focal length as well. You've got something out at the wide lens end of the spectrum. You've also got something out at the longer end at about 50 mil, which is more around what the eye kind of sees.

Now, although this is an APS-C camera, it's got a lot bigger sensor than your mobile phone. So, it'll capture a lot more information and it'll also give you a lot cleaner image, a lot crisper image. It's a far more capable camera and it'll capture a lot better dynamic range out in the field than your mobile phone will. Now we all know that photography here, can become really expensive really quickly. So I would suggest going to MPB and buying your gear used.

You get a lot more bang for your buck. It's good quality equipment and it'll last you well. So, why have I chosen Fuji gear as my first upgrade from a mobile phone? Well, for me, it's light, it's portable, it's a small mirrorless camera, it has a lot of features that I really, really love about it. I can carry this camera around with me and I don't feel as though I'm carrying a great, big, ton of gear with me.

It captures great images. It's a 16 megapixel camera, which is a great upgrade from your mobile phone camera. It captures a lot more detail. So, when I'm out in the forest like these, and I can walk around looking, I've got this in my hand, looking for details on the forest floors. It's light, it's portable.

I can get in close to things with this lens. I've got the ability to get in really tight to it, if I want to or I can get further away and get a wider point of view shot. Just a fantastic option. And I really like using this camera as an everyday, walk around camera, and I really love to get things like at this time of year, when I'm looking for detail shots on the forest floors, is things like leaves, mosses, lichens, that sort of thing, really close detail, intimate shots. And I've picked out a few that I sort of, look for in a forest.

Now, I'll go out actually looking for leaves with water drops on and things like that. And just look for a really nice composition out in nature. Now, when you've outgrown your camera or you're looking for something to print bigger images with, or you actually just want better quality images all together, then you can look upgrading again. And that's the beauty of MPB. You can basically package up your camera, they'll give you a quote for it, send it away and you can upgrade it to something else on the site.

It's absolutely fantastic. And that's exactly what I did with this camera, shipped it away and got a new camera. And I've gotten for the Sony A7R II which is a 42 megapixel camera and just produces outstanding images. So what I ended up going for is the Sony A7R II and this camera's given me a lot more flexibility and paired with two lenses, I went for a 16 to 35 and I also went for a 70 to 200 lens. That gives me a really good focal range to go out and shoot nature photography.

Absolutely fantastic. It's all I'm going to need really. Now, this scene that I've shot many times before, behind me here, is a great example of why I would use the 16 to 35 because not only can I get in really, quite tight with the 35 end, I could go right in close. If I actually wanted to bring more of the scene in and bring more of the trees in the background in, I can go further out to the 16 end and get a lot wider scene. And this is why I liked the 16-35.

And when this tree sort of changes color for the autumn, I'm gonna come back up here 'cause it's gonna be absolutely stunning. So this is the example, why I would want to use a longer lens, like 70 to 200, for fall photography specifically. You've got this lovely splash of color here in these branches. And I want to pick out the individual detail. I don't want the wider shot, I want to come in tighter.

I want a detailed shot of the leaves. So the 70 to 200 comes in really helpfully for that and get in really close, isolate your subject, pick out what it is you want to focus on and your composition, and get a really, really nice tight detail shot. I find to be honest, this camera is a lot more versatile and I think it'll suit my needs a whole load better for autumn photography. So you've really got to weigh up the pros and cons of each camera system, that's going to be best for you. Some people might be quite happy with the mobile phone option, where you can just carry it around and it's always with you, or you go onto the APS-C Fuji X-T 1, and that'll suit you a lot better, it'd do a lot better for you, you'll get a lot better dynamic range, it's an interchangeable lens camera.

So you can swap out lenses, if you want to, to get that sort of better focal range, or you can go all the way up to something like a Sony A7R II or even further, up on to medium format cameras, if you wanted. You've just got to pick out what's best for you. For me, this is sort of the best of both worlds. It's not too expensive, it's not too cheap. It's just doing what I need it to.

And I think this will last me for a good long time.