Pro Photographer vs. Cheap Point-and-Shoot Camera, Beach Action Shot

Photography Tips

Professional epic photographer, Ben Von Wong, was stoked when he was asked to do a video clip with DigitalRev. So excited, in fact, that he quickly loaded up his gear bag with a Nikon D800, a Nikon 24-70mm, 85mm f 1.4, 70-200mm, 14-24mm, a pair of speedlights ,and a waterproof Nikon AW 1. With all that gear Von Wong would be ready for just about any project Kai could throw his way. Or so he thought…

After being asked to set aside his beloved equipment, Von Wong was given a cheap point-and-shoot camera that offered little in the way of manual settings–much to his dismay. The Caplio R6, the camera provided to Von Wong for this cheap camera challenge, lacked a lot of the features and functions DSLR users have grown accustomed to, but he was determined to make the best of what he had. This behind-the-scenes footage gives us a look at the challenge from Von Wong’s perspective:

Von Wong quickly discovered how to trick the exposure setting into getting a fast shutter speed–which would be necessary for the photograph of fire he was planning on taking–by pointing the camera toward the bright, sunlit sky and pressing the shutter release half way down to lock it onto a quick shutter speed. With the shutter speed still pressed half down, he quickly aimed the camera at his subject and snapped the photo:

One of the final images edited on Von Wong’s phone with Snapseed.

The challenge of using a cheap camera can keep a photographer sharp by forcing him or her to think things out more thoroughly in order to get a good shot. As Kai mentions in the video, things often go wrong during photo shoots, and it’s up to the photographer to deal with the blows as they come and figure out how to work around them.