Regrets

[mjones185]

Hi all,

I thought it would be interesting to hear everyone's biggest regret when it comes to photography. I suspect we could help someone that may trail the path we've taken.

Examples:
- Regret purchasing with crop sensor camera, or vice versa
- Regret purchasing a particular lens, accessory or brand name of something
- Regret not taking a particular class or read a certain book sooner
- And on and on and on

Give us your regret, there's no limit. Please give a decent reason and it may be the light bulb moment for someone


My Regret: Letting myself slip from the hobby in 2003 when I converted to Digital. I have thousands of slides from my film days and when I converted to digital for the longest time I felt like I didn't have something special in a photo because it was on a computer screen verse in my hand or in a binder. Now with top quality organizers like Aperture and Lightroom for some reason I have that feeling back.

Thanks,

Mike

 

[jackerin]

Buying a superzoom (SX100) instead of a better camera with less zoom. When I was buying my first point-and-shoot (somewhat of a regret in itself, but nothing I fret about) I could have gotten the half-legendary Powershot A650, but I was too set on the long focal length. After seeing the limitations of a smaller sensor and reading up on the differences I was kicking myself for not getting the A650.

 

[Gold89]

Nothing really apart from maybe buying a Sigma 17-70 f2.8-4.5 instead of the 17-50 fixed 2.8.

 

[ComputersaysNo]

These Flashtriggers:

They give pretty bad banding/noise issues on the 5D's sensor. I have no idea if they do that on other camera's too.

 

[OrangeCuse44]

Not realizing my love for photography until a year out of college. If I could do it all over again, I'd study photography rather than finance. I can't imagine doing photography for a living, it's like a dream to me. At 25, the possibility is still there, but the odds are against me.

 

[MattSepeta]

Regrets

I regret not taking any art classes in highschool or college.

I was always into graphic design and photography, but never even considered taking Art classes, instead, I was doing Marketing and Gym classes for my optional classes.

I feel my photography would be stronger if I had some schooling in classic arts, some art history, theory, etc...

 

[ManhattanPrjct]

I regret not taking any art classes in highschool or college.

I was always into graphic design and photography, but never even considered taking Art classes, instead, I was doing Marketing and Gym classes for my optional classes.

I feel my photography would be stronger if I had some schooling in classic arts, some art history, theory, etc...

+1

I took the basic class at RISD - had I known I would cultivate such an interest later in life, I would have gone much further down the road education-wise.

 

[Westside guy]

Does "I regret not having more money to spend on lenses" count?

 

[Chappers]

I try to have no regrets - and make the most of the kit I have - except for a dodgy Fuji I bought once (can't remember the model) but the picture quality was so bad - it went back the next day.

 

[stagi]

These Flashtriggers:

They give pretty bad banding/noise issues on the 5D's sensor. I have no idea if they do that on other camera's too.

Thanks for letting me know, I had someone recommend these to me and for the price I was going to try them out. Sometimes when something looks too good to be true it might be! Will stick to my pocketwizards

 

[AxelMonkey]

I regret not taking any art classes in highschool or college.

I was always into graphic design and photography, but never even considered taking Art classes, instead, I was doing Woodshop and Ceramics classes for my optional classes.

I feel my photography would be stronger if I had some schooling in classic arts, some art history, theory, etc...

Does "I regret not having more money to spend on lenses" count?

Besides what I edited and bolded I have these same regrets.

 

[HBOC]

buying a crop body instead of a FF body i don't consider a regret. IF you buy the body used and decide to upgrade to a used FF body, you just pay the difference between the 2 when selling/buying.

My regret was not buying an EOS-3 sooner. I bought mine in like 2003-2004. I wish i would have gotten that way sooner.

I also regret that i would have archived my photos a lot better. I probably have lost 2000 photos over the years, to either thinking the dvd burner worked (my old roomates PC) and burned the pictures before moving, or to burning images onto a DVD before the HDD crashed.

 

[flosseR]

I regret having won the 5d mark 2 and not asking for the D700 instead, it cost me dearly to swap it out later on as I sold all my nikon gear only to buy most of it back when i got the d700

oh well.. you live and learn....

 

[toxic]

They give pretty bad banding/noise issues on the 5D's sensor. I have no idea if they do that on other camera's too.

many flash triggers cause banding on the 5D. it's from the 5D's lack of shielding, not really the trigger itself.

Thanks for letting me know, I had someone recommend these to me and for the price I was going to try them out. Sometimes when something looks too good to be true it might be! Will stick to my pocketwizards

they really aren't "too good to be true." those and the RF-602's are the most inexpensive and reliable triggers you can get.

 

[pdxflint]

I have a few more regrets than I can mention here... but I'll just mention three. First, not aggressively pursuing my dreams as a pro photographer early on, but allowing my doubts hold me back. Second is not keeping all of my earlier cameras and lenses--they always seemed to disappear when life took one turn or the other...shed like old skin cells. And third, losing all of my archives from the first 30 years of my life (12 years of very active photography) when all my writing, slides and negatives were lost. It's not a fun memory, and it has had a profound affect on my life by not being able to easily access many of the memories they would have triggered. It's almost like losing your early history... you really regret it later on.

So, go for it, budding photogs!! Learn everything you can and shed the doubts if you want to make a living doing it. Attitude goes a long way. And don't be so quick to sell your gear every time you turn around, and for heaven's sake, archive and backup your images and writing.

 

[mjones185]

buying a crop body instead of a FF body i don't consider a regret. IF you buy the body used and decide to upgrade to a used FF body, you just pay the difference between the 2 when selling/buying.

My regret was not buying an EOS-3 sooner. I bought mine in like 2003-2004. I wish i would have gotten that way sooner.

I also regret that i would have archived my photos a lot better. I probably have lost 2000 photos over the years, to either thinking the dvd burner worked (my old roomates PC) and burned the pictures before moving, or to burning images onto a DVD before the HDD crashed.

Oh yeah, that's a good one to pass on, not archiving photos better. I've lost some important photos myself. IMO I'd rank that are #1 over everything AFTER actually taking the photo it's self.

Mike

 

[Pikemann Urge]

Regret is a luxury none of us can afford! However, we can learn from our mistakes and move forwards. Mine:

1. Not moving sooner on purchases. Pro-activeness is very important in life.

2. Selling most of my old screw-mount Leicas. What was I thinking? Oh, that's right, I wasn't.

Nothing really apart from maybe buying a Sigma 17-70 f2.8-4.5 instead of the 17-50 fixed 2.8.

Ah, yes. Skimping is tempting but always regretted.

Not realizing my love for photography until a year out of college. If I could do it all over again, I'd study photography rather than finance.

YMMV of course and everyone has their own path and tastes. But don't get fooled into thinking that a photography course is that important. It's probably the least important thing an aspiring photographer can do. In fact you'd be better off not doing one and doing something universal like business or whatever. Your finance degree can open many doors. Photography can barely open one door. Like pdxflint said, attitude is important - probably the most important aspect.

And who's stopping you from being a photographer? Nobody!

I feel my photography would be stronger if I had some schooling in classic arts, some art history, theory, etc...

You're not wrong. An appreciation for all fine arts always helps no matter which you're doing.

And third, losing all of my archives from the first 30 years of my life (12 years of very active photography) when all my writing, slides and negatives were lost.

Ouch. I feel for you. That can not be fun. In fact I'd value the writing more than the images.

Personally I wouldn't care so much about losing my photos, as I can always take more. But yeah, I still would not be happy.

 

[scaredpoet]

I regret that, after having taken photojournalism classes in high school and college having used a rather nice Nikon N8008s, I ended up selling my gear for cash when I fell on hard times since I was going into IT and didn't think I would have a need for an SLR again.

It totally took me off photography for years, and only in the past few of years have I been getting serious about it again.

That was a good camera, too. Film, but I miss it. Though, I'm a Canon guy now..

 

[FrankieTDouglas]

Saving a master PSD file in its flattened form on accident. And not realizing it until after I backed it up on a separate drive, overwriting the previous folder.

Not getting a certain portrait one night back in August, 2009.

 

[stagi]

I regret not taking any art classes in highschool or college.

I was always into graphic design and photography, but never even considered taking Art classes, instead, I was doing Marketing and Gym classes for my optional classes.

I feel my photography would be stronger if I had some schooling in classic arts, some art history, theory, etc...

Mine is actually the opposite wish I would have taken a few marketing and business classes.

 

[Designer Dale]

I regret dropping out of photography when I didn't have access to a wet darkroom for many years. Nothing I could do something about, though. Having to live with someone else's print work was not really an option for me as an artist. What I don't regret is deciding to go with a dslr after all that time. I still wrestle with exposure, but I'll get by...

On Frankies's note, I regret setting my trash to not warn me when I empty it. I lost ~3GB of edited tiff files when I dumped a bunch of stuff off the desktop and hit Empty. I now have two backup drives...

Dale

 

[romanaz]

much like my weightlifting, I regret not getting into photography earlier. That is all.

 

[Abyssgh0st]

Buying the Tamron 17-50mm f/2.8 VC over the Canon 17-55mm f2.8 IS.

 

[Doylem]

No regrets... Too busy taking pix...

 

[oblomow]

No regrets... Too busy taking pix...

You shoot to forget? Some people chose drinking. Your choice is healthier, I guess.

Regrets? I found an unused Kodak slide roll in the bag of my trusty Pentax ME Super! Why didn't I check it earlier?