[Mareket]

I love the word bourgeois.

"IQ Is a Bourgeois Concept or: How I Learnt to Stop Worrying and Love the DA* 16-50" -- Olexi Wimbush

BTW i never use 100% in LR unless I am fixing a fine detail (so almost never) Every lens I have is more than sharp enough for web use, and for that matter sharp enough for almost all print use.

I wish I'd never used it to begin with, it really ruins the way you see photography.

[morpho]

@OP: Great post, I enjoyed reading it and nodded my head in agreement many times. This is the only photo-related forum i am a member of, but i think, like someone else already said, that the behaviour described in the first post isn't necessarily a photographer-phenomenon, but an internet forum-phenomenon. A couple of personal observations:

About PF:
Bought my camera in nov. '11. Read and enjoyed this forum before that. It's a friendly forum, and i still enjoy it, but i don't read it as much anymore, i usually just look at pics people are posting in the lens club-threads, perhaps because i'm a bit tired of people being depressive about life, the universe an everything, or perhaps because pictures are nicer to look at then text, but yes - even though i haven't been here for so long, i think there is a reason the OP made this post, and i think i can kinda feel it too.

About Pentax:
I was, after reading a few threads about it, prepared to be mocked and harassed, to some extent, by users of 'the other' brands. Here are a few of the things i've heard from other photographers so far:

-Is that one of those pancakes? Looks really nice( About my M 50 1.7)
-You're the only Pentax-user here, i think. Go out there and take the best pictures of us all!( Said by a Nikon-shooter for a newspaper at a concert)
-Guys, why are you sitting here discussing equipment when you can be out there shooting great pictures?(Said by Canon-shooter at same concert)
-Really? I like that about my D800 too! ( Discussing TAv-mode)

Not received any negative remarks yet!

[RioRico]

I love the word bourgeois.

"IQ Is a Bourgeois Concept or: How I Learnt to Stop Worrying and Love the DA* 16-50" -- Olexi Wimbush

Kodak is just so proletarian.

[civiletti]

If it helps anyone else, I found I started worrying a lot less about the optical qualities of my gear when I started using 1:2 zoom instead of 1:1 on Lightroom. You can still dig into the image and nosey around, but not so much that things go astray.

Well, we all have are own approach. I check sharpness, edge abberations, and micro-contrast at 2:1. Every image does not need to hold together at that maginification, but It's nice when they do.

[sydbarett]

Hi Todd ! I can identify with the sentiment. I suppose things are much the same at other forums - Pentax based, Nikon based or Canon based. Maybe this is so because its probably easier to talk about gear, its price, company policies, etc than it is to take photographs ! Also its kinda substitute for inability/incapability for photography (Freudian angle :-P). And lastly, as Clavius put it, its our obsession with technology and its marvels that makes us discuss more about what the gear can do rather than what we can do.

Thanks for the wake up call anyways.

[Blue]

Hi Todd ! I can identify with the sentiment. I suppose things are much the same at other forums - Pentax based, Nikon based or Canon based. Maybe this is so because its probably easier to talk about gear, its price, company policies, etc than it is to take photographs ! Also its kinda substitute for inability/incapability for photography (Freudian angle :-P). And lastly, as Clavius put it, its our obsession with technology and its marvels that makes us discuss more about what the gear can do rather than what we can do.

Thanks for the wake up call anyways.

There are plenty of images posted here at PF. You just have to go to the appropriate forums. Hang out in the gear forums and folks are going to write about gear.

[sydbarett]

There are plenty of images posted here at PF. You just have to go to the appropriate forums. Hang out in the gear forums and folks are going to write about gear.

I am sure there are. I have seen many myself. My remark was just in agreement to the OPs general statement that many of us are overindulging the "incidental" aspects of photography instead of concentrating on shooting, which is what we should be doing most of the time.

[Blue]

I am sure there are. I have seen many myself. My remark was just in agreement to the OPs general statement that many of us are overindulging the "incidental" aspects of photography instead of concentrating on shooting, which is what we should be doing most of the time.

Nothing wrong with studying equipment and its capabilities. That is part of the game. You wouldn't expect a surgeon to randomly buy a piece of equipment and use it without thoroughly investigating it would you? Plus, many of us don't have a lot of people around locally that use Pentax gear and the forum provides opportunity to interact on many aspects of things. That includes vintage/Legacy gear as well as current and future gear. There are a lot of technique threads here as well as dark room info, film processing, digital processing, scanning etc. Otherwise, there wouldn't be much need for a forum.

[sydbarett]

Nothing wrong with studying equipment and its capabilities. That is part of the game.

Hey no offence meant. Agree totally with you. Fact is one cannot and should not comment on what others should be/should not be doing on any forum. I thought the post was more of a "general" wake-up call for many of us who might have digressed from their mission, that of learning photography. And thats the spirit I took it in.

[selar]

Who's "we"?

[RioRico]

Who's "we"?

The royal WE: myself and my parasites.

[Mareket]

Gooble gobble gooble gobble. One of us. One of us.

[panoguy]

IMHO (which every post of mine should start with):

• Todd is quite observant.
• Every brand-focused forum is like this one.
• People tend to think less critically and speak (write) less carefully when they "join a group."
• I'm a photographer and gear-fetishist. I've learned to tune-out whining, thanks to my kid.
• Everyone's opinion is valid... as an opinion.
• It's posters like "Mr. 10,000" RioRico that keep me coming back here. (Well-thought, well written posts with humor and respect in them.)
• Rain shouldn't stop photography.

[Todd Adamson]

I thought the post was more of a "general" wake-up call for many of us who might have digressed from their mission, that of learning photography.

Exactly. And an explicit wake-up call to myself as much as anyone. I'm constantly struggling against slipping back into the mindset. On these forums, it's the path of least resistance, and if we don't each fight it on our own, we all fall prey.

[RioRico]

IMHO (which every post of mine should start with):

• It's posters like "Mr. 10,000" RioRico that keep me coming back here. (Well-thought, well written posts with humor and respect in them.)
• Rain shouldn't stop photography.

Thank you, thank you. [/me buffs fingernails on lapel] I accept payment in thumbs-ups. And I don't let rain stop me from shooting, as long as I'm inside something. Like a car or tent or bed.