There are those who say “the camera does not matter,” and while this is true up to a point, it is obviously not the whole story. Gear is good insofar as it allows a photographer to be more present, and gear is bad insofar as it gets in the way. To this end, I take my cameras very, very seriously.
The best way (objectively, metaphysically) to remain present is by using a MILC. When using a MILC, there are no walls in-between myself and the environment. The electrical impulses that will be the photo are the exact same electrical impulses I see through the viewfinder; there are no mediating optical paths, no shifts from wide-open focusing, and precisely zero separations between man and machine. My main camera is thereby a Canon R5; it is simply the finest MILC in existence, made by a company whose current and future commitment to MILCs is something that I admire and support.
When it comes to stills lenses, I only use zooms. While prime lenses are fine tools, I find that they get in the way of the immediacy of the experience. When a person knows a zoom lens—its character, its strengths, its REACH—that person can be more present and less distracted, which can only eventuate in better photographs.
For video work, I shoot on a Canon 5D MK IV with a rehoused canon K35 lens. If you have seen barry lyndon, you have seen K35 lenses in use. Together with the 5D MK IV, which was engineered in such a way as to facilitate the creataion of marvelous video, it creates a perfectly rendered cinematic experience that cannot be replicated by normal cameras.
