This is a question I hear time and again not only from clients but from photographers as well. They often wonder should they invest their money in an upgrade (or full frame) camera body or should they spend their money on a nice lens. Let’s be honest cameras and lenses are not cheap and in a perfect world we could have BOTH the “best” camera body and the “best” camera lens but this is not always the case and we are forced to look at the nice little pot of savings we have collected and choose one or the other.
My Answer: Spend your money on a good LENS (or two)
Now before you get upset with my answer let me explain my thinking:
- A lens can often be used with multiple camera bodies and is versatile.
- Typically, a good lens has more to do with a sharp/quality image then a camera body does.
- Camera body styles change every few years and become outdated quickly while a good lens can retain its resale value for YEARS!!
The reality is that whatever lens you invest in and buy today you’ll most likely still be using it five or ten years if you take good care of it..
One of the worst things I have seen as a photographer who mentors other photographers (and clients) is that I’ve seen people buy a high-end camera and put a cheap lens on it and a few years later both the camera body and lens are worth practically nothing. For example, a f/2.8 zoom lens you purchased back in 2006 (if still in good condition) could sell today for close to what they cost a decade ago. On the other hand, a camera body from ten years ago would most likely be worth only a few hundred dollars (if bought for between $1500 and $2000) if anyone world even buy if from you at all.
Camera companies spare no expense in pushing new cameras on us, but don’t push the lenses very much. This hurts us all, because the best way to spend limited funds it to get the very best lenses but the cheapest bodies. This applied in the days of film, and applies even more strongly today as we all fill our digital camera dumpsters.
Ansel Adams wrote decades ago that, “A first-class lens always holds its value, so it really doesn’t cost you anything after you’ve sold it.” I agree: always buy the best lenses you can, and don’t worry about the camera body.
Not only are good lenses the best investment financially but great lenses are also important MORE to making great images than camera bodies!!
Happy shooting!
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