[Note: Please read Part One and Two]

3) Would it be more cost effective to rent/barrow for specific occasions, or should this equipment be a mainstay in my arsenal of tools?

We read about sports photographer Bill Frakes owning 29 Nikon D3 bodies and National Geographic photographer Joe McNally lighting the X – 47A Pegasus with 12 Nikon SB-80s. Only if we all could have that many cameras and lights; imagine the variety of images we could produce. But if we are honest with ourselves as photographers, the majority of our photographic endeavors revolve around a small and specific set of equipment. While a product photographers necessary equipment list may be larger then a wedding photographer, each should know their essential equipment list. This list comprises of the tools that, on the average job, will be used 80-90% of the time. As for the 10-20% of the occasions when there are specific equipment requirements, go rent it. How often would you be using 12 Nikon SB-80s (or whatever your equivalent is) anyways?

Fin

This is the end of the series ‘When should I upgrade?’ I hope that I provided some food for thought based off my experiences. If one bit of wisdom could be gained by this series, I wish it to be this: Go photograph something and forget about the technical mumbo-jumbo. Take pictures with your “inferior” camera; by default you will have more and better pictures then the person spending hours not capturing images and fretting over technical specification of the latest equipment.

Grace and Peace