The short answer is almost always no. Here’s the backstory.
A few weeks ago I started posting pictures on my @500px account. I looked at my stats to see which cameras were used to create the most popular photos. Now it’s important to note that I am posting mostly older photographs but many in the audience have never seen these images – so the cameras might be old but the pictures are new to the folks voting on them.
Photos Copyright Scott Bourne
To dispel the myth that only the latest greatest camera will do the job, I provide the following information.
My pictures are “popular” (using @500px terminology) so that means that these images have been well received (regardless of camera type.)
What’s very interesting to me is that with the exception of the Canon EOS 5D MK III, all of these cameras are very old. Note that some are from the six-year-old Canon 7D. The Canon 10D was a 6.3MP camera released in 2003! The Canon 1N is an old film camera!
The point I am trying to make is that if you have the right light, the right subject, the right composition and and the right eye, it really doesn’t matter what camera you are using. People will enjoy your photographs.
As David duChemin says: “Gear is good – vision is better.”
I love a new camera as much as the next photographer. But it isn’t NECESSARY for most people and in most cases, not even close. It’s nice. It’s fun. It can even inspire. But it’s not absolutely necessary. So if you can’t afford the latest, greatest camera, don’t despair. Buy what you can afford and go out and unapologetically make the images you want to make.
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Filed under: Photography Tagged: 500px, cameras, OLD GEAR 
