I suspect I am not alone in this but I do watch a lot of YouTube. The most fascinating thing I have learnt is that many many people think that they are right. Period. Usually, it is why you need this or that latest photographic gear. (Yes I do watch many photographic YouTube channels.)
Now I know they have bills to pay but really sometimes I do wonder. Is this really what they think? I was wondering about this yesterday whilst I walking around my local botanical garden. Yes I was using one of the latest Sony camera bodies but the lens were another story. The newest lens, a 35mm f1.8, was at least 5 years old I think. The other two, a 70 – 200mm f4 and a 90mm macro f2.8, were much older. Yet all three did the job and I don’t see there is any need to replace them anytime soon.
Yet, again and again many of the photographic talking heads are out there extolling the virtues of the latest lens/camera etc.
I know I am probably not the target audience for all this nonsense. That doesn’t matter. Photography is not about the gear. (Yes the latest gear will help but only at the margins.) No in my view photography is about the photographer’s eye. I perceive the world as a series of images. Sometimes I have opportunity to capture those images with whatever camera I have at hand. I then take those images and edit and refine them into the photograph that I feel was there when I passed by.
I am fortunate that I don’t have to pay the bills from what I produce. That doesn’t, in my view, devalue them. I produce photographs for myself. If someone finds this web page and also likes my work then that is great. Do I think I am right? No. I just find the images here interesting. If you don’t then that is fine.
The world will keep spinning.
And we will no doubt continue to shout at one another about why ‘they’ are wrong and ‘I’ am right.
That is just sad.
Simon's Blog 
I’m trying to repurpose Pareto’s Principle:
The Pareto Principle, also known as the 80/20 rule, states that roughly 80% of outcomes result from 20% of causes.
It’s widely used in business and economics, not because it is ‘true’ but because it is useful. So whenever I hear someone declare some truth with certainty I imagine that they should really consider how the discussion changes if they (or I) were only 80% certain. We might speak more carefully and not be so quick to demonise others.
So “this brand of camera is the best” becomes “this brand of camera works well but other brands work better under certain conditions.”
If only politics would adopt the 80/20 rule.
An interesting approach.
I feel the real reason that we are constantly bombarded with ‘new’ gear is primarily because ‘photography’ and ‘Videography’ have been merged by the camera manufacturers. Because of this an advance in one area requires a whole new camera. The area with the most opportunity for technological improvement is on the videography side so we get new cameras all the time. In a perfect world we would have cameras that serve separate needs. That ship, I fear, has sailed a long long time ago. Don’t get me wrong I enjoy having 61 MP with x number of stops of leeway but is the price we pay for such a development is new camera bodies each year. These are then hawked by YouTube talking heads because that is their business model and so we chase less and less whilst paying out more and more.
Your suggested approach is logical but I fear we humans are not logical. So we’ll keep buying the latest gear. Don’t even get me started about camera bags!!
Thanks for the comment