Often I get asked what camera gear I'd recommend for some body who is just starting in photography. Indeed, I love such questions, because it allows me to save people the time and money I have spent to learn what I know now.

In my opinion, this is the best time for newcomers to invest in photography. Nowadays, you don't have to pay for the latest and greatest to take great pictures. Thanks to technology and the competition among camera manufacturers, today you can find barely used camera gear with great specs at 50% (or even more) the buying price of new technology. And believe me, it doesn't take much technology to enjoy photography.

People who often asked me what to recommend them what to buy pay a lot of attention to the camera body, thinking that's what make photography great, when in fact I have discovered differently, a mix of lens quality, techniques, nature of light, or the shape of shadows have more to with the look of a picture. It has less to do with megapixels and autofocus points, and more to do with how many times you go out shooting.

To prove my point, last weekend I went out shooting with my Fujifilm X-T1, a camera released back in 2014, and you know that by today's standard that is considered old. Fuji priced this camera at around $1300 when it was launched, but today you can get it in the used market for less than $400. It is worth looking at it. With the savings you can buy great lenses.

I am posting just a few pictures just to demonstrate what you can produce with this camera and the XF 10-24mm f4 lens. To be fair, I also included a polarizer and a couple of Nisi filters to balance the exposure and a few touches in post.