I Got Tired Of People Giving My Camera The Credit For My Photos, So I Bought The Cheapest Camera And Lens I Could Find To Prove Them Wrong
When I began posting my photos online, I started getting comments like ‘wow, you must have a great camera’ or ‘anybody can take photos like these with expensive gear’ or ‘I can’t take photos like these because I can’t afford an expensive camera like yours’. It breaks my heart when I hear people say things like this. Or when they feel like they can’t get any better or they don’t have a chance because they have a cheap camera.
So I had enough of these comments and decided to prove them wrong by finding the cheapest camera and lens I could find and take some photos with them!
I got on eBay and found a used Canon t2i for $183 and a Pentax 50mm 1.7 lens for $15. And that’s it! All of the equipment I needed for just under $200! I took my boys and my camera out and did a photo shoot and these are the photos we took!
I did the editing with Photoshop and Lightroom, so I thought I would put that out there before everyone starts screaming photoshop! I don’t care that everyone thinks that editing is cheating! I have a vision in my head when I shoot, so I get what I need out of the camera and then I literally paint it the way I envisioned it. It’s a crucial put of my art. And before you say you can’t afford Photoshop and Lightroom, I only pay $2.50 a week for mine. That’s literally less than a cappuccino!
I created a free 4-hour photography course called ‘The Photography Secrets Course’. I show you everything I did from how to shot photos like these to how to edit them. You can even use the techniques I teach in the course to take better photos with your smartphone.
You can Sign up for the course or see more of my work on my website.
More info: philliphaumesserphotography.com
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Share on FacebookAs nice as these photos are don't get me wrong it still has to do with the camera I'm not saying you're not a good photographer but it still just the camera. a cannon is a very good camera brand that's the only band my father will buy and he's a wonderful photographer. I would like to see these done with the cheapest NEW camera not used. Used still means it was good quality and looks like it still is. Let me see if you can do this with a disposable camera and DIY attachments then I would be impressed feel free to go and down vote me but I don't care the still is not a cheap camera when you make $ 651 a month. It's only cheap if you're a rich person.
Hi, no, I'm not going to downvote you, I'm actually going to upvote you! ;) You have a great point. However, my point in this article wasn't as much to see how cheap you can go, but to show a cheap alternative to the $1,800 + cameras and lenses and still get similar results. I'm all for the DIY's and disposable cameras, that kind of thing makes people very creative and I admire that!
Load More Replies...Isn't the Canon t2i the Canon 550D in Europe? The 550D body cost about 700€ (in Germany, might be nearly the same price in the US) when it was released in 2010. Don't understand me wrong, your pictures are amazing and I know it's not just because of the camera. But I think you missed the challenge you set to yourself. You have shown that you can get a great camera for less than 200$ and shouldn't mind the age of 7 years. But it was a 700€/$ camera nevertheless and not the cheapest you could get. In my point of view, it would have been more impressive, if you had bought a camera which was never more expensive than 200€/$ to begin with.
Try shooting with any of these circa 1999 to 2002 cameras http://www.digicamhistory.com/1999+.html
Load More Replies...This is very nicely done. I have literally no idea on how to photos, but I will repeatedly meow at mai Hooman so that I can show him this post :)
It would be great if you would show also photos before using photoshop to compare Those look great and with good light and postprocessing skills you can do a lot of magic even with shittiest camera. So I would like to admire your photoshop/LR skills more! :)
quality photography and point well made, also respect for working with the most difficult of all subjects, children and animals :-) Pentax renders very nicely
What you should do is an actual comparison. Take the same photo with 3 different cameras and see how they turn out -- without any Photoshop editing. You can get a Kodak Disc camera on eBay for about $10. Then your choice for the other two cameras.
I can't take good photographs at all, and I have so much respect for people who can. If it was all about the tools, then I should be able to pick up the highest quality oil paint and brushes and suddenly give Monet a run for his fame. Yeah right.
Beautiful. It looks almost magical. You, mister, have a pure talent.
I really don’t get this. How is that a cheap camera, when people say they can’t take photos like that because they can’t afford a nice camera it probably means that they’re like me using the crappy camera on an old iPhone, maybe with a set of clip on lenses that cost a fiver. I literally have £75 for food and essentials for myself, my husband and our 9 month old this month and you’re classing a cheap camera as something that cost near enough $200, wtf, I couldn’t even afford the ‘less than a cappuccino’ photo editing software you’re using.
..& i would additionally like to add that i can see a ‘style’ that can be achieved with even these silly little disposable cameras as you have ‘smarts’ in creativity, i am sure here! Please however do enjoy your ‘works’,& stay in that mind frame.Do understand many are going to say that your choice of camera is good to start with, this is true however with most newer smart phones the camera is darn good & i have seen amazing shots done on these/& crappy ones;bottom line one Must have some skill,& you do, a lot.I upvote you on being courages in this critical harsh world..pls keep yourself well, this is so much more important for i might be great @ many an Art/& even Natural medicine,& this reason is for balance as i live with a cruel rare sickness.Dont allow ills’ to hold your life back, as it can!
As nice as these photos are don't get me wrong it still has to do with the camera I'm not saying you're not a good photographer but it still just the camera. a cannon is a very good camera brand that's the only band my father will buy and he's a wonderful photographer. I would like to see these done with the cheapest NEW camera not used. Used still means it was good quality and looks like it still is. Let me see if you can do this with a disposable camera and DIY attachments then I would be impressed feel free to go and down vote me but I don't care the still is not a cheap camera when you make $ 651 a month. It's only cheap if you're a rich person.
Hi, no, I'm not going to downvote you, I'm actually going to upvote you! ;) You have a great point. However, my point in this article wasn't as much to see how cheap you can go, but to show a cheap alternative to the $1,800 + cameras and lenses and still get similar results. I'm all for the DIY's and disposable cameras, that kind of thing makes people very creative and I admire that!
Load More Replies...Isn't the Canon t2i the Canon 550D in Europe? The 550D body cost about 700€ (in Germany, might be nearly the same price in the US) when it was released in 2010. Don't understand me wrong, your pictures are amazing and I know it's not just because of the camera. But I think you missed the challenge you set to yourself. You have shown that you can get a great camera for less than 200$ and shouldn't mind the age of 7 years. But it was a 700€/$ camera nevertheless and not the cheapest you could get. In my point of view, it would have been more impressive, if you had bought a camera which was never more expensive than 200€/$ to begin with.
Try shooting with any of these circa 1999 to 2002 cameras http://www.digicamhistory.com/1999+.html
Load More Replies...This is very nicely done. I have literally no idea on how to photos, but I will repeatedly meow at mai Hooman so that I can show him this post :)
It would be great if you would show also photos before using photoshop to compare Those look great and with good light and postprocessing skills you can do a lot of magic even with shittiest camera. So I would like to admire your photoshop/LR skills more! :)
quality photography and point well made, also respect for working with the most difficult of all subjects, children and animals :-) Pentax renders very nicely
What you should do is an actual comparison. Take the same photo with 3 different cameras and see how they turn out -- without any Photoshop editing. You can get a Kodak Disc camera on eBay for about $10. Then your choice for the other two cameras.
I can't take good photographs at all, and I have so much respect for people who can. If it was all about the tools, then I should be able to pick up the highest quality oil paint and brushes and suddenly give Monet a run for his fame. Yeah right.
Beautiful. It looks almost magical. You, mister, have a pure talent.
I really don’t get this. How is that a cheap camera, when people say they can’t take photos like that because they can’t afford a nice camera it probably means that they’re like me using the crappy camera on an old iPhone, maybe with a set of clip on lenses that cost a fiver. I literally have £75 for food and essentials for myself, my husband and our 9 month old this month and you’re classing a cheap camera as something that cost near enough $200, wtf, I couldn’t even afford the ‘less than a cappuccino’ photo editing software you’re using.
..& i would additionally like to add that i can see a ‘style’ that can be achieved with even these silly little disposable cameras as you have ‘smarts’ in creativity, i am sure here! Please however do enjoy your ‘works’,& stay in that mind frame.Do understand many are going to say that your choice of camera is good to start with, this is true however with most newer smart phones the camera is darn good & i have seen amazing shots done on these/& crappy ones;bottom line one Must have some skill,& you do, a lot.I upvote you on being courages in this critical harsh world..pls keep yourself well, this is so much more important for i might be great @ many an Art/& even Natural medicine,& this reason is for balance as i live with a cruel rare sickness.Dont allow ills’ to hold your life back, as it can!











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