Quote o' the Day: Eric Kim

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"It is not about having the 'best' camera, it is about having the camera which you make the most photos with."

—Eric Kim

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(posted by) Mike

Book of Interest:

Hank O'Neal, Ed., A Vision Shared: A Portrait of America 1935–1943 (Steidl, 2019). The reissue of the best overall survey of the work of the FSA photographers of the 1930s. Every public and school library should have a copy, for one thing. Thanks to Andy Moursund for turning me on to this book many years ago. Originally published in 1976 by St. Martin's Press.

The book link above is a portal to Amazon.

Link to B&H Photo

Original contents copyright 2020 by Michael C. Johnston and/or the bylined author. All Rights Reserved. Links in this post may be to our affiliates; sales through affiliate links may benefit this site. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.

(To see all the comments, click on the "Comments" link below.)
Featured Comments from:

Comments

[Jeff]

Or the camera with which you make the ‘best’ photos. Then doing more of that. These days, a phone camera may yield the ‘most’ photos; the world doesn’t need more foods pics.

[Moose]

"It is not about having the 'best' camera, it is about having the camera which you make the most photos [you love] with."

Quality is in the eye of the beholder. I know what I like, and value the camera(s) that allow me to create those.

[Max Cottrell]

"...the camera which you make the most photos with." For me, that would be the Fujifilm X-E1. Out of many, it is by far my most-used camera -- still going strong after all these (ten) years

[Albert Smith]

I watch a lot of Eric Kim videos on YouTube, and he certainly has his views on things. However, I'd guess that the humble cell phone is the camera that most people make the most pictures with, simply based on availability.

I'd also guess that most everyone that reads this site can top the cell phone image quality with their 3rd string cameras, the ones that haven't left the house in a long time.

[Zack S]

I keep a Sony RX100 and four spare batteries in the glove box of our van at all times.

One day I was sitting a stop light and only had a few seconds to pull out the camera and get this shot.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/[email protected]/48752118156/in/dateposted-public/

[c.d.embrey]

I use a 108 megapixel Samsung Galaxy phone which also shoots 8k video. How good is that! Unlike a Canon DSLR it fits in my pocket, plus no one ever pays attention to an ubiquitous phone.

If I was starting as a professional today I'd use a phone, instead of an ILC, for most of my photos.

[Alan]

The last thing I would have expected is an Eric Kim post on this site.

[It's just a quote. I posted it, he didn't. Just like all the other "Quotes o' the Day," which you can find in the Categories sidebar. --Mike]

[Adam]

By this measure (taken to its logical extreme) a Phantom high speed camera may be "best" :) Dan of the Slow Mo Guys YouTube channel has been filmed a lot over the years with various Phantoms run by Gav, and there's some talk that he's the most photographed person in human history just based on frame count (adds up fast at 20,000+ frames per second!)

[Rick in CO]

It's not about having the "best" camera, nor the camera you make the "most" photos with....its about having the camera which you can use to obtain photos that give you the most satisfaction, or for a professional, photos that delivers the paycheck.

[Niels]

For those in EU that can't buy from your affiliate link, I want to mention that Artbooksonline.eu sells "A vision shared..." for only 20 Euro (down from 68 Euro). It is my favorite online book shop and I recommend it highly.
They often give a rebate code in their instagram feed, and I just bought the above mentioned book with an additional 7% rebate with the code INSTA7.
Just if anyone interested.

[darlene]

I spend a lot of time with a tech camera in the studio. A camera that shoots high megapixel backs for product shoots; 4x5 film and instant film for art stuff, and my favorite shutterless lens made in the 1800s. A camera that does all that for me is simply a beautiful tool and my “best” camera. I thought for sure when I looked up what is my most used camera in Lightroom's (LR) metadata search function, I would find my digital backs with the largest image counts.

To my surprise, it is my Fujifilm X-Pro2 and X-Pro3 cameras combined. I do not spend as much time with the X-Pro cameras when compared to my tech cameras. Then I thought ‘how do I shoot’ with these cameras that makes them so popular in my LR catalog. Well, I tend to bracket exposures and shoot slices of scenes for panorama building with these marvelous little cameras. I also use them for around the home type stuff (think cats). So the quote:

"It is not about having the 'best' camera, it is about having the camera which you make the most photos with."

… holds true for me, but not what I was expecting. Just don't take my tech cameras from me or my current X-Pro3 beauty either. I appreciate both for the tools they are.

[David Aiken]

I don't accept Kim's statement. We change cameras for all sorts of reasons other than whether we think they're the best camera, reasons to do with accidental damage and theft, for example, and replace them with something different for reasons which can be as fickle as GAS. Checking which camera you took the most photos with tells us something but does it tell us the right thing.

Many others have said in different ways that we should pay more attention to the lenses we use than the cameras we mount them on. Around 9 months ago I used Lightroom to show me my favourite/best images taken over the previous 10 years and analysed the focal lengths I had used. I've always had a preference for shooting with wide angles but when I looked at the results of that analysis I was surprised to find that more of my favourite images were shot with a 50m FF equivalent, a focal length I am less prone to choose when I stick a lens on my camera and go out to take photos with only the one camera and lens. Something funny is going on because more of my images are shot at a wider focal length than that. As a result of that analysis I'm currently actively choosing to shoot with a 50mm equivalent in order to get more comfortable with it and also to try and work out why I seem to do better with that focal length than I do with the wider focal lengths I prefer

Might I suggest it's probably not about having or using the camera you take the most shots with, it's probably about what focal length you get your best results with. I think having the focal length which gives you the most results you really like deserves a lot more consideration than which camera has the shutter button you've pressed most often.

[Kenneth Tanaka]

(edit) ”It’s not about the camera. It’s about the photos.” (/edit)

[Mel]

Who quotes a dullard like Eric Kim?

[Andrew Lossing]

But... isn't that circular reasoning? How do you know the camera you take the most photos with? The only way to know is to have every camera.

I hear license to buy within these words.

[Benjamin Marks]

I really don't use a cell phone for photography. I know that it can be done, but I have no interest in doing it. "Luddite!" I hear you all cry. No. When point-and-shoots were the rage, I didn't use them. And when all-in-one type cameras were very popular, I wasn't interested. So for those who want to use their phones: go for it! Just don't expect me to join along.

[Stephen Scharf]

It's just a tool to do a job. Let's not romanticize it. I don't see car mechanics waxing lyrical about a Snap-On box-end wrench. A Canon 1Dx MkIII likely isn't going to cut it for street photography, and a Leica M-whatever isn't going to cut it for shooting Formula 1 at Spa. Use the right tool for the right job.

[Todd]

Eric Kim is a grifter.