As many of you know, I have a YouTube photo channel as well and I can tell you why you see so many gear vids.

The thing is, I don't get a single dime from Nikon or anyone else - the exchange of money only goes one way, from my wallet to their bank account. However, I do the gear reviews because that's what people want. Those video ALWAYS get more views than the technique ones - and I do a bit of both. And even when I do technique videos, I seldom get questions or followup on the techniques described, but "what lens was that" or what tripod was that" type of questions.

The truth is, people will give lip service to how much more important technique is than gear, but when the rubber meets the road, most of them will hit the gear videos before the technique ones. IMO, that's a pity too. Not only do I firmly believe that technique is 80%+ of a good image, but I prefer to make those kinds of videos as well. However, the constant screams for reviews and gear questions make it nearly mandatory that I do gear videos as well. Interestingly, and to further prove my point, I get next to zero requests for specific technique videos.

Hi Steve.

I must apologize for not mentioning you in this topic in the beginning because you have actually done many great videos about how to use a camera and specific camera settings. I have enjoyed many of your videos because they are truly helpful.

But for the beginners or those who have not figured out how to get good results with their gear it is important to help them understand how to improve. They usually seem to think that the way forward is different gear and there fore swallow everything about new gear. Of course this is good for the gear manufacturers and those who are sponsered. Actually this gear focused info stream is good for all but the people not knowing how to take good pictures. And I do not want to spoil gear sales or anything. I would think if people really learn how to use their gear they will continue to buy new gear but do it in a different manner, knowing what they are doing and what new gear would fit their needs. As the questions here usually are they are telling me that people often have no clue about what they are doing, just hoping a new gear that they have no idea about how to use will make them a better photographer.

Don't get me wrong, I agree 100000% with what you say. My point is simply that people always seem to try to improve with gear rather than technique and YT channels have to play to that. I honestly think that so many photographers would be so much better off if they focused on technique and not worried so much about gear and fiddling with every little setting. Learning how to effectively leverage the fundamentals like composition, perspective, exposure, focus, shutter speed, and F/stop go so much further than getting the newest gadget when it comes to putting keepers on the cards, but sadly that's not what the market seems to want.

This sort of ends up being a hot button for me simply because I don't particularly enjoy doing camera / gear reviews and am MUCH happier with doing technique topics. However, looking at a couple recent videos, I have one on the new 180-400 that's just over a week old at 32K views Vs. a technique video on birds that's nearly 3 months old with 39K views - it'll easily get passed by the new video before it gets to the same age. My Nikon Tips 2 video, which I kind of feel is more gear orientated than technique is about a month old with 76K views.

Again, I agree with you, but I also wanted to show why gear seems to get so much more attention.

I understand your arguments perfectly. But I am not even planing to watch the Nikon 180-400 lens video because the price of the lens alone tells me I am never ever going to buy it And I am sure less than 1% of the people watching that video vill buy the lens no matter how good it is. On the other hand, probably more than 90% of them would benefit from watching some of your videos about technique. And this is kind of the reason for this topic. People who do not know how to improve their photography are making the wrong choices in their search for better results. And how can we stop them doing that? Maybe it is not possible.

As many of you know, I have a YouTube photo channel as well and I can tell you why you see so many gear vids.

The thing is, I don't get a single dime from Nikon or anyone else - the exchange of money only goes one way, from my wallet to their bank account. However, I do the gear reviews because that's what people want. Those video ALWAYS get more views than the technique ones - and I do a bit of both. And even when I do technique videos, I seldom get questions or followup on the techniques described, but "what lens was that" or what tripod was that" type of questions.

The truth is, people will give lip service to how much more important technique is than gear, but when the rubber meets the road, most of them will hit the gear videos before the technique ones. IMO, that's a pity too. Not only do I firmly believe that technique is 80%+ of a good image, but I prefer to make those kinds of videos as well. However, the constant screams for reviews and gear questions make it nearly mandatory that I do gear videos as well. Interestingly, and to further prove my point, I get next to zero requests for specific technique videos.

There is a lot of topics here where people are asking how to upgrade their gear to be able to take better pictures. So there is truly a need for good source of info on how to get the results people are hoping for. UHH is one of the places to look for answers. Youtube is another place. Unfortunately the trend is more in the direction of helping people spend money on new gear rather than helping them learn how to use the gear they already have. And the newbees do not know what to believe, if they need a new gear or not.

Many popular Youtube cannels about photography are run by camera gear salesman with strange hair. Either it is a lot of hair, like they have never cut their hair or they are completly bold or they have boudoir white hair despite not being very old. But most of those strangely haired guys have one in common, they are telling people what gear to buy to take better photos, which in my mind is a kind of strange advice for photographers who do not know what they are doing.

I recently came across a youtube channel that is full of common sense and really good advice about how to use a digital camera and how to compose etc. and they are not focused on selling camera gear or websites, but only helping people get the good results all modern dslr and mirrorless cameras can deliver. The guy behind this youtube channel is Mike Browne. He has a "common" looking hair and that seems to go in line with common sense advice on his channel.

Would it be a good idea to collect in one topic some more of this kind of info to help people to use their gear better and use as reference for those who want to upgrade their gear because they think that is the key to improve their photograpy. The info on Mikes Browne channel alone could probably save UHH members more than million dollars a year in useless gear upgrades.

What do you think about this idea??

You aren't wrong in your assessment, but you are overlooking the human aspect. For an analogy, an old beater will get me to work every day just as well as a new car will. But I do like having a car with AC that works and windows that go up and down. There is a lot more comparisons of new cars and ads selling me a new car than there are on being a better driver.

A Canon 5D MIV with an EF 70-200 f2.8 won't make you a better photographer than a Rebel T3 with a 70-300 f4.0-5.6, but it is similar to having that car with air conditioning.

As many of you know, I have a YouTube photo channel as well and I can tell you why you see so many gear vids.

The thing is, I don't get a single dime from Nikon or anyone else - the exchange of money only goes one way, from my wallet to their bank account. However, I do the gear reviews because that's what people want. Those video ALWAYS get more views than the technique ones - and I do a bit of both. And even when I do technique videos, I seldom get questions or followup on the techniques described, but "what lens was that" or what tripod was that" type of questions.

The truth is, people will give lip service to how much more important technique is than gear, but when the rubber meets the road, most of them will hit the gear videos before the technique ones. IMO, that's a pity too. Not only do I firmly believe that technique is 80%+ of a good image, but I prefer to make those kinds of videos as well. However, the constant screams for reviews and gear questions make it nearly mandatory that I do gear videos as well. Interestingly, and to further prove my point, I get next to zero requests for specific technique videos.

I don't know that it is possible, although I may be a little cynical today!

I think that people tend to be enraptured by gear because they believe that the next wiz-bang addition may be just what they need to help elevate their photography. And the problem is, in some cases it's true. Compare the AF systems of today's cameras to those of 20 years ago - today's camera allow photographers to get incredible BIF shots that only the most talented could get with the older system.

So, I think that's part of the problem - sometimes the gear does help and it reinforces the idea that better gear can solve your problems. However, in reality, I think that tends to be more the exception than the rule - but the mental block that has to be overcome is that it's far easier to buy your way out of a problem than it is to spend months or years learning technique. Once people realize there's no substitute for knowledge / technique, then the gear mongering will cease.