The best equipment for the right time — How to decide on the tools of your trade

Before one gets to work, one requires tools - and the search for which tools are "right" or "best" is alluring and deceptively productive. But while the echoes of "the gear doesn't matter" is philosophically true, the context in which this belief is applied should be considered.

While arguably arbitrary, my experience can be loosely segmented into three stages that I believe can be universally applicable. These stages are survival, discovery, optimisation. I will share each stage in the context of an individually funded media freelancer.

Stage 1: Survival

At this stage, it is more about what you can afford or get your hands on rather than what you want, which cannot be attained yet. I enjoy this stage thoroughly for its learning value, because to make up for the lack of equipment capacity demands a lot of creativity and problem solving out of the individual.

I believe it is necessary for everyone to go through this process because it only prepares them to realise the potential of the tools in subsequent stages.

What is the best equipment: anything you can get your hands on

Stage 2: Discovery

When one has the fortune to enter Stage 2, they have just entered a rabbit hole where some may get stuck in forever.

Those at this stage have the necessary resources to attain new tools with varying degrees of purchasing power. Regardless of where you stand, one thing is certain, you have options to play with and are no longer constrained by the reality of Stage 1.

However, this liberation comes with a caveat.

You see, the world of gears is wonderfully distracting, with new technologies introduced and differing camps of thought to analyse and experiment with. The essential skills and techniques learnt at Stage 1 helps one navigate this stage, because you are encouraged to discover who you are, what type of creator you want to be, and by extension, what gear can fulfil said purpose.

But there is a fine line between tools and toys, and sometimes it is difficult to separate the two when your profession is your passion. My mental matrix to judge this factor is on one's assessed mastery of the tool. Have you learned enough about the equipment to maximise its potential? Only after you have applied the same ethos of problem solving and creativity to your new more capable equipment than those available to you at Stage 1 can you ascertain that you have outgrown your tools and thus deserve better.

What is the best equipment: the one that you can understand and fully utilise its potential

Stage 3: Optimisation

After a duration in Stage 2 - for some it may be months, others, years, and the rest, never - you will reach a stage where you desire for optimisation. You have become clearer at what you expect out of your equipment and what you intend to do to operate it.

You seek specificity, not gimmicks. You may even crave for a certain feel, indescribable through spec sheets. This comes from understanding your own quirks as the wielder of such tools and someone else's right tools may not necessarily be your answer - and you have found comfort in that.

I've heard of craftsmen from all sorts of industries whose tools are sometimes decades old. From cameras to sewing machines - they found what they needed to do the work. And so long as it works for the task at hand - fundamentally one will ask, what is the point in changing? Surely not for the sake of it.

I've asked photographers why they would use a camera that they had been using since 2010 in 2020. And while they acknowledge the technological advancements of newer tools, it is not as relevant when the existing tools can still get the job done.

"I am paid to take photos, and I have continuously refined my use of this tool I own to do just that. There are other cameras that are better, sure. But that does not mean I cannot do my job any less than with what I have". - from a conversation that I can't recall specific details of.

And it is at this stage, from such conversations, where the saying "the gear doesn't matter" properly rings true.