"No, you don't NEED the latest camera tech – except that you do…" proclaims a confused Paul Wilkinson

A leaping dog chasing a ball
You don't need the latest kit to take an image like this, but the Nikon Z9's intelligent animal tracking AF certainly helps (Image credit: Paul Wilkinson)

It only seems like yesterday that I couldn't tell you what or how I had just taken a photograph – the only discernable recognition of the fact was the satisfying clunk of my Zenith ET's shutter mechanism (it had enough clout that it would register on seismic instruments) – and the fact that I would be grinning.

But even that wasn't confirmation – on various, possibly numerous, occasions, I would either forget to put a film in the camera or would break a film and was busily exposing the same frame for the 12th time – eventually realizing that the film counter was now going round for the second time and it could only mean one thing...

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Paul Wilkinson
Portrait photographer

Paul Wilkinson FBIPP FSWPP is a multi-award-winning international photographer, an ambassador for Graphistudio, Elinchrom and Pixellu, as well as a trainer, speaker and author in the photography industry. He hosts the popular Mastering Portrait Photography podcast, where he chats about life, the universe and all things portrait photography. 

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