[roentarre]

Dan, I saw a guy yesterday holding a canon EF 400mm DO lens. I spotted him walking down the Bourke St Mall in the city while I was at least 500 meters away from him.

The funny thing was that everyone could not help staring at this professional photographer with awe until I saw he was having the cap on while clicking away a few million images. His 1D Mark III was really a fast machine gun. It was just such a wonderful amusing scenery to visualise this guy in his own fantasy holding that gear as a phallic symbol, wagging around and clicking away. I had no clues what he was seeing through the view finder at all. His own visual hallucination driven by his own delusions were probably the highlight here...

[woof]

How do you explain focal length to someone who invested into a DSLR, yet doesn't know the most basic of basic photography principles?

Patiently.

How was it explained to you? If you figured it out by yourself, perhaps you read it? Then recommend a good book.

If someone taught you, teach them. Sometimes teaching something has a way of clarifying the pieces you are missing in a subject.

I am not sure I understand the issue other than that we all feel better about what WE don't know. Everyone has to start somewhere.

Perhaps I've missed something. If so I apologize.

The funniest thing I think is telling a Nikon salesman that he bought a Canon and then having the boys to ask what the "numbers mean."

woof

[ftpaddict]

Dan, I saw a guy yesterday holding a canon EF 400mm DO lens. I spotted him walking down the Bourke St Mall in the city while I was at least 500 meters away from him.

That's... painfully sad, actually.

[ftpaddict]

How was it explained to you? If you figured it out by yourself, perhaps you read it? Then recommend a good book.

I am self-taught in everything related to photography. I've learned focal length through use of my manual SLR. No manuals, nobody told me. Just logic and deduction. Perhaps I am an isolated case.

The point was that he bought quite an expensive bit of kit, and he doesn't have a grasp of even the most basic functions of that camera. Perhaps somebody told him to get it.

I will say this... If the kitchen sink had all the numbers / hash marks of my camera & lenses. If it used aperture numbers to indicate how open the faucet was and had marks on each handle to figure out the tempature, ie.. hot is on 4 and cold is on 3 and your flow aperture is on 6 then then your temperture is 85 degrees with a 4 cubic ft per minute flow rate....

I would be a zillionaire teaching people how to use their sinks....

[dantuyhoa]

I'm sure that I have my share of "stupid" questions about photography even though I have been doing it for quite a few years on and off . If we know it all then it would not be fun to shoot anymore . I will try to share what I know . Not much but that's my contribution to the betterment of mankind .

The only thing bugs me the most is that someone bought an expensive camera , thinking it will do all the shooting for them and REFUSED to learn anything else . I ran into a NEW Sony owner with a "consumer super zoom " lens and wondering why my K10D w/ FA50/1.4 can take photos with out the flash but his "better" camera can not ! I try to explain to him but find out that he did not even read the manual . He did not even know what the "stop hand" means ! How do you explain shake-reduction to a such person !

But I guess it's a new era : just buy things and it will make you an "expert " !!!

[cpopham]

Now, I'd very definitely call myself an amateur when it comes to photography, but some of the people I've seen at various tourist sites on my travels have just cracked me up.

The full run of the mill - expensive cameras with lens caps on, long telephoto zooms at full extension at dusk, people machinegunning about 50 frames of a landmark from the exact same angle.

My personal favourite has always been watching a person with a Nikon* and a long lens trying to photograph Big Ben in London with the pop-up flash firing away. At first I thought they were trying to light someone in front of them.... but no, they had it angled up, at the clocktower.

*I was on the other side of the street, and could only make out the neckband.

On the other hand, there was the other gentleman with two Nikon bodies, one with flash attached trying to photograph one of the Queen's life guard at dusk, with his rather tired looking wife holding a second flash, positioned off to the side, and with her own camera body as well!

Must be a good way to get fit, carrying all that gear!

[barondla]

People not knowing what was going on happened way before digital.
A person told me once she would never buy another canon because it was hard to find 33mm film! 35mm was much more popular. 33mm was the lens focal length of the Sure Shot.
Another one thought 12 & 24 exposure film was for wide views and 36 was for closeups.
Owner freaked out when I removed the lens of his Canon AE1 Program to check it for proper operation (he said camera wasn't working right). He never knew it came off ( had it for years). Later a friend told me he saw the guy in the barber shop. Camera owner told everyone that this guy at the camera shop was technical and way over his head. He took the lens off the camera. Friend said everyone looked at man like he was crazy. I think most people know that lenses come off slrs.
Used to have a guy with a Nikon F3 titanium/ motor drive come in to have me load the film in his camera! Oh my.
Also used to get "can I change lenses with film in the camera?" a lot.
It is a problem when people who know nothing are driving the design of products. Have learned not to laugh at almost any question. Too many years in camera shops and teaching photography.
Just the opposite. Person buys a twin lens dslr kit from me on monday ( never had more than a P&S) and wed. is calling with a studio name and wants to know how to set the camera for auto bracketing to do hdr photography. No idea if person knows what they are doing are not.
thanks
barondla

Enter POINT & SHOOT CONTEST # 7. Any brand camera. Any subject. Check out the P&S section.

[Mef]

Lack of curiosity.

I think this can relate to a lot of other domains, and firstly, to basic computer operation. Way back in time, it was not that easy to operate a computer, and I learned that you can't really hurt your system by curiosity, only when I had to change the settings of the two highly esoteric files 'autoexec.bat' and 'config.sys' to have enough memory to load a game (dos 6.2 and windows 3.11) !

Nowadays I have to understand how the things that I use work (at least the basics), or I can't sleep

The first thing I did when I bought my first camera (P&S olympus) was to try to decipher the number marked on the front of the lens. It was not that easy !

Modern camera makers simplify the operation of their cameras, but forget to teach the basics of photography to their customers. I wasn't helped by the manual of my olympus, and I wasn't helped by the manual of the K100D. And lately, I bought a AF540FGZ flash, and, damn, you can just throw away its manual, it doesn't do anything but lost you more than you were before reading it... I learned much more about flash operation on forums like this one.

[schmik]

I occasionally take pictures of my grandchildren at various school and sports activities that they participate in. I've noticed over the last year or so that a fair number of the yuppie soccer moms are using DSLR's (usually Canon). This isn't a bad thing, but some conversations with a couple of them have shown pretty quickly that they have no idea about anything photographic and simply use the camera on full auto; a big point & shoot. Simply another status symbol (in their minds).

Maybe not a status symbol. I often thrust the SLR into my wifes hands to get some shots of the kids when i am too busy. It's great, that evening I have something to edit and play with in photoshop. Set it to auto and say "just point and shoot dear".

mike

[ftpaddict]

I guess everybody has an interesting story to share. If you've got any more, by all means, do share!

[mel]

I really really hate the "yuppie soccer mom" designations. It's so easy to judge people based on external perceptions. I'm smallish, thin, and female. I have kids that play soccer. I play soccer (I also coach and ref). So I really AM a soccer mom. I drive a large SUV because I have 5 kids (I'd rather have a motorcycle). I'm sure people look at me at the games and think the same thing a lot of you guys think when the see a woman at a game with a nice DSLR sporting a long lens.

Yes maybe they were the girl in the photography class. Or maybe they don't have a clue how to use their camera. Or maybe they do but aren't bigmouths about it. Maybe, like me, their dads took them into the darkroom and taught them the ins and outs of B&W film developing at age 11.

If someone is going to ask a salesperson of a different make of camera an incredibly stupid question, okay, they deserve the harassment. Same with the idiot snapping away with the lens cap on. But the ones minding their own business with their camera, well, lets leave them alone because one of them is probably me.

Sorry for the rant.

[rparmar]

I really really hate the "yuppie soccer mom" designations. It's so easy to judge people based on external perceptions. I'm smallish, thin, and female. I have kids that play soccer. I play soccer (I also coach and ref). So I really AM a soccer mom. I drive a large SUV because I have 5 kids (I'd rather have a motorcycle).

Actually you drive a large SUV because:

1. cities are built for cars not people
2. no-one knows how to walk/cycle any more
3. public transit systems are kept bankrupt by the car lobby
4. we've been taught to equate mass consumption with liberty
5. fear keeps us trapped in our little metal bubbles

But yeah, apart from this aside I am glad you posted to correct some bad assumptions. I see from your photos you are also a baseball mum... some nice shots there of the kids in action!

[mel]

Actually you drive a large SUV because:

1. cities are built for cars not people
2. no-one knows how to walk/cycle any more
3. public transit systems are kept bankrupt by the car lobby
4. we've been taught to equate mass consumption with liberty
5. fear keeps us trapped in our little metal bubbles

But yeah, apart from this aside I am glad you posted to correct some bad assumptions. I see from your photos you are also a baseball mum... some nice shots there of the kids in action!

Actually I drive a large SUV because I have five boys. There are 7 of us. I need 8 seats so I can separate whomever is fighting. I also don't live in a city. We live in an old house in the boondocks, in the woods on an acre and a half surrounded by farms and 10 acre lots. Believe me, I would rather walk/cycle/mass transit to work and the stores but it would take me 2 hours walking just to get to the nearest place to buy bread. And there's no mass transit at the farms. Also, if I'm yearning for a motocycle I don't think fear is an issue.

Again, more preconceptions. I get the "look" as the gas pump all the time.

Thanks for the comment on the shots. I live for the action shots.

[rparmar]

Again, more preconceptions. I get the "look" as the gas pump all the time.

I used the active pronouns ("you" and "we") for impact but do not mean to judge any individual on their actions without knowing them.