How To Become A Camera Tester For Canon

I was scrolling through my Instagram feed one Friday night when a promoted post popped upwards and defenseless my center (and there wasn't even a bikini, donut or motivational quote involved).

It read:

Photographers wanted by leading camera brand for equipment trial. Selected applicants will be paid in cash.

It was plain too good to be true; that'due south the golden rule of the Internet. Merely at that place was i thing that differentiated it from the usual Web spam: a local phone number. I called the number immediately and left a bulletin, wondering what the scam could maybe be.

The side by side day my phone rang, with someone from a market inquiry company asking me to do a survey in order to determine if I was "eligible to undertake the trial."

I was nevertheless a little dubious, only the questions were all straightforward: proper noun, age, how long I'd been shooting for, what sort of photographic camera torso I mostly used, what sort of things I shoot. When they asked me to proper name some of my favorite lenses, it became clear that if this was some kind of swindle, at to the lowest degree they'd washed their homework!

After a few more questions, information technology turned out that I was just the kind of person they wanted to put their gear through its paces. All I had to exercise is get and pick upwards the equipment and fill up in a survey after using the gear.

On the way to collect my loaner camera, I fantasized about what it might be. Could information technology be some super-secret new prototype? An update of an existing model? Some sort of baroque hybrid camera I'd never imagined?

It turned out to be none of those things, but picking it upward was withal similar Christmas Day for a camera nerd—a top of the range mirrorless photographic camera, iv lenses, a flash unit and a battery grip. I own a lot of video and camera equipment, simply I've never had such an instant hit of gear before, information technology was near overwhelming.

So at present I had a agglomeration of new gear, a week to use it, and some homework to fill out. Time to get shooting. I started in the aforementioned way anybody does when they get a new camera… I ignored the instruction transmission completely and went straight exterior to snap some photos.

Things went pretty well for the adjacent few days. I'd basically leave the house each twenty-four hour period and concentrate on using one lens, seeing how information technology compared to what I knew, how inspiring information technology was to shoot with and how like shooting fish in a barrel it was to navigate my style around a new organization in a range of scenarios like landscapes, long exposures and portraits.

While I mostly avoided reading instructions, I did look at guides online when I was truly stumped past something specific (why won't this particular SD card format? What does this moving-picture show profile actually do? How do I exercise timelapses?).

One time the week was near up I sat down to do my "homework," which consisted of completing a large PDF file. It required me me to upload photos I'd taken, rate the usability of the camera and lenses, compare the loan camera to my existing system, and requite my thoughts and feelings about using the camera in general.

It wasn't a grueling bunch of questions past any stretch, although it did take a little fourth dimension to edit the images in Lightroom, so insert them and the EXIF information into the PDF. Another slightly catchy element was adequately describing some of my thoughts—is 'crunchy' a useful adjective to a camera manufacturer? How practise you lot properly describe being confused most a menu setting?

The next phase of the process involved a focus group with three other photographers who had also undertaken the trial. To sit in a room with other shooters, share some war stories, and learn most their process was great, and the two hours flew by speedily despite the barrage of questions.

The hardest function of the evening came when nosotros were all offered the aforementioned hypothetical question; would we be willing to bandy all of our current equipment for the equivalent equipment in the brand nosotros'd been testing? A one-for-i swap, with no money being spent to completely bandy brands.

For the first time of the night we were all silent as we weighed it up… it was tempting for each of united states of america, for different reasons. Personally I had enjoyed the megapixel crash-land, and the options it gave when cropping images. In the end, nosotros all agreed that while the offering was extremely tempting, nosotros'd stick to our preferred systems for the time being.

On the way out of the focus group I was asked if I wanted to do i final test—a field test where I would evidence members of the company how I piece of work with my current equipment. It was an offering I couldn't refuse, and past this stage I'd begun to enjoy the process of thinking a little bit deeper about my working methods and what I expect from a photographic camera.

So two days subsequently I met with 5 staff members from i of the biggest companies in the world, to show them how I practice what I do. Despite some awful conditions and the slightly bad-mannered situation of leading a 'tour grouping', it was a really beneficial feel.

I often shoot wildlife photos, so I took them to some local parklands that often has some interesting creatures, despite how close it is to the CBD.

Afterwards trudging around in drizzling rain, the weather finally cleared and I got to show them some local animals and demonstrate with both my photographic camera and their camera what sort of thing is useful and frustrating in the field.

The best part of it all however, was that they actually took the feedback on board, and weren't at all defensive most their production.

Think about it—I was a goofy Australian in a raincoat who shoots semi-professionally telling them that the camera they'd spent unimaginable amounts of time and money on could be improve.

Instead of getting mad at me for proverb that the slight lag in shutter actuation 'feels funny' when shooting birds, they took the data on board. They didn't effort to convince me that their superior noise-reduction algorithm was the reason long exposures took and then long to process, they just listened to me. And they agreed that diving through menus wasn't useful when trying to become close to a nervous bird.

By the end of the entire feel, that was the nearly valuable matter that I took away from it all—that at least 1 camera company values the input and feedback of people using their equipment to try and capture their vision. They may get it wrong sometimes, simply at least they're trying.

I mightn't be ready to jump over to a new brand just yet, but I'm closer than I've ever been. And at the stop of the day, the more awesome cameras there are on the market, the more opportunities photographers have to capture awesome images. I'yard more brand agnostic now than I ever accept been, and I'd recommend the experience of being a lab rat to anyone who enjoys photography.

Plus, I got paid a little over $ane,000 for my trouble… bully. As for what I did with that money; I bought more camera equipment of course!

Almost the author: Corey Hague is a digital content creator for ABC, where he has produced photos, video, audio, and writing for over 6 years. His photos accept been published in Australian Geographic, Australian Birdlife, Sneaker Freaker, The Age, and ABC. You can find more of his piece of work on his website or by post-obit him on Instagram.