[PPPPPP42]

At the risk of sounding sexist (quite untrue I promise) how many women do you see wandering around with real DSLR cameras? Most of the women (possibly all) I know that have one ended up getting one because the guy they were with had one (or rather stole his and told him to go find another ). I know a great many women that are very enthusiastic about photography, but it never seems to get past the camera phone or possibly the point and shoot phase and its more people and social oriented usually.

Since photography seems to be everything to me these days I'd rather like to some day bump into a girl with a super nice DSLR and a boundless drive to take (and compose) pictures without any man involved. She could even be not cute at all and I think I would be in love at first sight if her camera was set to M.

I did actually see 2 women with a nice Canon once, but it turns out it was for a college class and they were only borrowing it.
I think female photographers are like Pentaxians, I'm sure there are a lot out there but how often do you actually see one.
What has been your experiences in this matter?

[monochrome]

Aside from my daughter (who shoots corporate Canon) the only place I see women with dSLR's is within walking distance of a BMW, Lexus or Mercedes crossover SUV.

[Sandy Hancock]

There are a few women on the Adelaide live music photography circuit. Maybe 20%??

[vonBaloney]

Well, I am married to one, but then again we met as film/photo students in college, and the whole student population of the film/photo dept was pretty balanced gender-wise (20 years ago). Last month when I was at the Botanical Gardens here in Denver and decided to count Pentaxes, I saw quite a few women with DSLRs (including one Pentax), although many more had smaller ones like a Lumix. And I have seen women shooting wildlife here in Colorado with serious hardware. I don't think it is rare at all. It seems the majority of family & wedding photographers are women these days...

[einstrigger]

It's not rare. Just go to a theme park, a zoo, or a kids soccer game. You'll see plenty of women walking around with DSLRs. The last time I was at Disney, I would say it was a good 50/50 ratio of men/women carrying DSLRs. What's interesting is I'm beginning to see less people using point & shoot cameras. And if they don't carry a DSLR, they're shooting with their phones. The point and shoot is on its way out, where as women with DSLRs are in.

[psychdoc]

At our kids games, there are NO men [other than me] with dSLR's. Only women.

[monochrome]

At our kids games, there are NO men [other than me] with dSLR's. Only women.

That's what I meant earlier. There are no men driving BMW, Lexus and Mercedes crossover SUV's - only women.

[magkelly]

There are a lot of women out there with low end Canon DSLR's actually and I've even seen a Nikon or two. But I'm one of only two female Pentax shooters in my town that I know of. My one teacher's wife has a K-x. But you go out to the tourist spots, to the spots where women go with their kids and there are some of the more simple ones out there. It's not all phone cams.

Though, just an FYI, being fairly young, wearing no ring, and having a DSLR is almost as good as being fairly young, wearing no ring and walking a good looking bigger dog or driving a sports car. Men do tend notice you more, laugh. I get a lot of attention for being a female with a DSLR actually and once they realize there is no ring, they're all about taking tech with me. In reality they're usually hitting on me too but it makes a good opener for them me having a DSLR apparently.

It amuses me because I can go out sans my camera and I'll still get some attention, but put a serious camera in my hand and some men get very interested. I drive a red kind of sporty car too so it's like the car+camera+the girl=huge turn on, lol. Problem is here at least 85% of the men I meet are married and they still want to play. (Rolls eyes...) It's rather a turn off, actually...

[RKKS08]

Presently I don't personally know even one woman using a DSLR.

Between 1970 and about 1985, when I worked (as a student, later for a second job) in a very big disco and met and knew a lot of people (all between 18-30 years old), there were only 3 women who owned SLRs: one had an entry level Canon SLR, one was a professional photographer with a Pentax LX and a MX backup, and one (my sister) with a ME and P30. But even my sister, who needs the camera for her profession, has never made the step to DSLR; she uses a Lumix LX5 because she thinks DSLRs are just too big and heavy, and the LX5 does everything she needs.

[PPPPPP42]

Wow, a woman that actually sounds interesting and yet somehow isn't married yet. I wonder if I should believe in unicorns now too, they are also supposed to be a mythological creature that's impossible to catch.

magkelly just feel sorry for all the married guys hitting on you, they have to go home to the boring things they married because they didn't know what they really wanted till it was too late.

Actually I almost made that mistake myself, luckily I fled after 5 years living together before I managed to get trapped with a finger collar.

[crewl1]

I run into female photographers using DSLRs out in my area about equally as often as men using DSLRs .
Some are pro wedding types, others are serious amateurs, some are amateurs.
Our own Mtngal is an excellent photographer and an avid Pentax fan. (She is taken though sorry)
Some of the most creative and professional looking work on my Flickr favorites is by women who know how to use their equipment. I wish I had a tiny bit of their talent and skill.
Actually in my area many of the men I see have something other than a DSLR - Leica's, NEX's, MILCs etc.

[Ratmagiclady]

Well, definitely even in the 80's, there was a lot of sexism in the business, (including assumptions, 'Did your daddy buy you that' or 'It must be to please a boyfriend,' or whatever, (apparently it's not all gone away,) but nowadays, nah, lots of the working photogs you see around here are women. Possibly even a bit of a majority: as gear goes, I've got more serious stuff than any of the men I know personally: I think I do see a lot less of point and shoots and entry-level DSLRs out there, to be sure: the smartphones seem to do the job for people not wanting to carry more, that's for sure. I haven't been out very much just in the last several months, but I've yet to even see one of those mirrorless systems out there. (Those are smaller, of course, I'd guess they're more often tucked away. ) But the locals are pretty well-mixed, I think, maybe a few more of the college boys are carrying big *kits,* and, only really have stopped to chat with a few photo people over this time, (Admittedly, one that was a guy actually with more behind the 'socializing,' but not in an unpleasant way or anything. Seemed like a fun guy, actually. (I suppose Canonian guys do talk about their gear a lot. It's, heh. )

[RioRico]

Not rare. In the past few weeks I've driven from my remote Sierra Nevada mountain hamlet, past Lake Tahoe, through Las Vegas, to the Arizona-Sonora border area which contains some tourist draws like Tombstone, Tubac, Nogales, and Bisbee. Last year around this time I was in Santa Fe, New Mexico, and in ski ghettos in Colorado (Breckenridge) and Utah (Park City). I see women carrying dSLRs ranging from pipsqueak Rebels to huge FFs. I also see occasional small-crew shoots with women lugging big vid.cams. I see young women with film SLRs. I see guys with wee tiny P&S's. Whatever.

I don't stop to determine brand, nor do I tabulate numbers of camera-laden males vs females, nor ages. My sightings are in tourist spots, not "everyday settings", so I can't claim that my sightings represent anything like 'normality'. I'm just telling you what I've seen.

[magkelly]

I'm a lot harder to catch than the mythological unicorn, lol. I'm really not much into doing marriage I don't think. I have a certain respect for the institution albeit I don't think which gender you are marrying should matter so long as you are both adults and not related by a close blood tie, but it's likely not for me. It would take a really incredible, totally atypical, totally monogamous type of guy to ever get me there and I have real doubts the type of guy I'd want even exists anymore. Almost all my friends and half my family members are divorced, some of them two, three times, and that is just not me.

It's a fact that any halfway decent looking woman in a cute car with something techy in her hand will attract a certain type of man like flies. It's not that I am some sort of supermodel it's simply the lure of tech, a certain % of boobs, and a sexy car. The no ring thing makes it easier for them or so they think. Since I am not a 20 something they usually figure at my age if I am not married I'm probably desperate enough to do a married guy. Since I have good taste in terms of cool toys they figure I'm probably pretty good and kinky in bed besides. For some reason I'm apparently prime mistress material for the sleazier married guys out there, though to be perfectly accurate that's always been the case with me even before I ever had a red car or a DSLR. Even when I was still in my teens and 20's I'd have married guy after married guy hitting on me. The single ones I liked almost never, but every sleazy two-timing married guy in town? Oh yeah. I just ignore them. I've never dated a married guy and I never will if I can help it.

There are more women in my local photo clubs than you might think though it's true the men outnumber them by a lot. Most of them are low end Canon shooters if they have a real camera. It's the guys who put out the real $$$ for the pricier gear from what I have seen. What amazes me on there is that most of the men on here do seem to be willing to share their good equipment with their wives and such. That is so not the case around here. The men here they'll buy the wife or girlfriend a $400 DSLR just to keep their hands off the good stuff but actually share a $1500 DSLR and lenses with their SO's? Yeah, right, they'll lend their cars or trucks long before they do that and for the record the men here are very possessive of their vehicles.

I am admittedly just as bad though. My teachers can touch my gear and my one teacher's wife can too because she's a real photographer and knows her shiz, but I don't lend it out to anyone else. Before my *ist died my Dad handed it to one of my brothers while I was out to take pics of the damage to their roof. He got this nasty white dust all over the chassis from climbing up there. It took me ages to figure out how to get his hand print off it. I was so steamed that he just lent my DSLR without asking me though that I just about blew a gasket. I definitely wouldn't trust my brother with my crappy cell phone let alone my DSLR. I mean SHIZ no. Male or not he's a total dingbat when it comes to tech things. Guy can't even set his own VCR right. My Dad knows that and yet he just hands it over. If that had been my K-x? I think I'd have probably committed patricide. ;P

[philbaum]

If you want to meet women with dslrs, try joining a photoclub. There are at least 8 women in the club that own dslrs, probably more, several with non-dlsrs. There are more women in the club than men. About 30 active members, much more than that registered on the web site. More single women than married, and no, i don't hit on them because i'm married :-)

I saw a coupla young women, in their 20's i would guess, in my favorite coffee shop about a year ago. One had an attractive accessory strung around her neck. The accessory was a Pentax ME film camera if i remember right - quite an attractive combination. I didn't feel at all superior with my plastic Pentax dslr . I suppose that might be considered sexist to call it an accessory, it wasn't meant that way, and i hope the camera reflected her interest in photography.