A Good Reminder

I rented two mirrorless cameras (Fujifilm X-T20 and Sony a6500) I'm considering purchasing and took them for a test drive this weekend. While I captured a couple shots I'm happy with, I missed many more. It served as a good reminder; the camera is only as good as the person pressing the shutter.

I have spent weeks mulling over the specs for both these cameras such as the continuous shooting speed. The Sony can shoot up to 11 frames per second (fps) where the Fuji can get up to 14fps. They're ridiculously fast and, really, both are plenty fast enough. So I chuckled to myself while reviewing some great horned owl shots as I realized my autofocus settings were absolute garbage. Not only that, but the setting that allows the Fuji to go up to 14fps, I had forgot to turn on. Here I was deliberating over which camera was better, but it didn't matter what was in my hands because I wasn't using it properly. Anyways, here are the shots:

First shot - I was ready for her to jump so this one turned out well:

But then things get blurry:

And blurrier:

And finally:

At the end of the day, this is a relatively expensive camera packed with new features but it didn't matter because I set it up wrong. It's a good lesson and not just for photography. No matter what you're buying, knowing how to properly use something is much more valuable than the features it comes with.