[ftpaddict]

While merrily testing the VR system on a 70-200 on a Nikon D60 at the Technology Expo here in Romania last week, a random character appears and begins a conversation with the sales rep. at the Nikon booth:

Character: Hello. I saw your presentation. Very interesting. I bought a Canon EOS 400D with the kit lens a couple of months ago. Got it really cheap. But I had a question.. What does that 18-55 written on the lens mean?

At this point the sales rep and I were like ?

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



Now I can rest assured, knowing that whenever I see someone carrying an entry-level digital SLR, they might not have a clue what it's for.

[Mike Cash]

Now I can rest assured, knowing that whenever I see someone carrying an entry-level digital SLR, they might not have a clue what it's for.

You can probably safely broaden that assumption past entry-level cameras.

[séamuis]

yea I agree with mike on that. I met a guy online not to long ago who had a d300 and didn't know what a prime lens was. when I tried to explain it to him I showed him a photo of my M 50mm 1.7 and he said 'what are all those markings on your lens?' :ugh:

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

You don't.

This was a person who obviously bought a DSLR to replace his P&S because somebody told him that "He needed to get a real camera" so he bought one.

Quite honestly, when I bought my first SLR, I didn't understand focal lenghts either. With the help of the shop owner, who sold me the K1000, and a few good books, I began to undertsand.


Fast forward 25 years. It took me several months, after not having an SLR for a long time, to understand "crop factor".

[raider]

Before I get my k100D (which is my first DSLR), I also do not know what is focal length, aperture and exposure.

I still don't really know much And this is after I have used my k100D for about 1 year.

[konraDarnok]

How do you explain focal length to someone who invested into a DSLR,

It's the distance from the front and rear principal planes to the corresponding focal points as measured in millimeters. Leave it a at that. And if you want more 'reach' you need more millimeters.

[tybeck]

I guess I came in backwards. Coming from a film and then a digital P&S background I knew what film speed/ISO, focal length, aperture, and shutter speed where, but didn't have a full appreciation for how they inter-relate to set the exposure until I got my K10D. You kind of have to when you have all these letters on the mode dial (Av, Tv, M, ...) and nothing else. At least cameras are to the point where you can have as much or as little control as you want and still get a decent picture.

[Lowell Goudge]

At one time, things like focal lengths, and simple optics, such as splitting a light beam into colors with prisms, so that people could understand what light was and how it behaved were part of the public/high school curriculum.

It's sad to think that something that basic is now either forgotten, or never taught.

It's also sad that the emphesis on cameras (and sales) is no longer on understanding what they can do, but on how to make them easier for people who don't have a clue how to use them, take photos.

Don't get me wrong here, I accept that this is a market economy, and if you can't sell something to the masses you can't make money, it's just the overall frustration with making simple user interfaces which cn bring people up to a minimum level of proficiency, where they stay indefinitely without proper training. Window's and pull down menu's is much the same issue.

When I bought an SLR back in the 70s. I wondered for two weeks why it was called a 35mm camera when the lens plainly said "50mm"

I thought the guy who sold it to me was trying to pull a fast one.

A trip to the Library set me straight.

[séamuis]

When I bought an SLR back in the 70s. I wondered for two weeks why it was called a 35mm camera when the lens plainly said "50mm"

thanks for the quick laugh, that was rather enjoyable.

[nonnstop]

I used P&S for many years and decided I wanted a DSLR. But I knew that I didn't know very many details and specifics.

I knew aperture was the "opening" but I didn't know about DOF. I knew about focal length but really didn't really understand what it meant and how to use it. I knew about shutter speed but didn't know it's realtion to aperture.

All that said was to say that I knew I had a lot of studying to do to even get going, but it did not deter me from getting my K10D. Many of you kind forum friends have helped my knowledge base considerably.

I think the problem is when folks buy a DSLR and they "don't know" what they don't know.

Boy that was confusing but hope you understood my ramblings.

[PeterAM]

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).

[konraDarnok]

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).

I don't know. DSLRs are still far better to use even in 'full auto'. I've never had a point and shoot that has that tactile ability to take a picture *exactly* at the moment you want to take the picture. And that's very gratifying, regardless of what you're taking a picture of.

It might have something to do with status, but it also might have something to do with the fact they sell SLRs in Walmart now for very good prices -- and you don't know how many of these "housewives" were at one time college girls in photography class. I've met *many* woman that had a dream to be a photographer. . but then they got all married and knocked up and gave up on the idea.

Most people, even many of the ones that really like to take pictures, have very little interest in the technical how's and why's of taking pictures. . despite it's value in evaluating how to take *some* photographs.

[deudeu]

I think that this also shows the lack of professionalism of most people in electronic stores. I don't think that it is the case about the sellers in specialized camera stores who most of the time, not only know what they are talking about, but are also willing to explain.

Since more and more people buy stuff off the internet just because it "looks like a good camera" they are also not getting "educated".

Too bad!

What's a DSLR?
But seriously, I learnt about photography at school way back in the early seventy's and how to develop my own film (school had a dark room). Life got in the way though and for years it was point and shoot and all the knowledge slipped, through lack of use in to the farthest recesses of my brain.
Fast forward twenty five years and I decided I wanted to get more serious and not just take Holiday Snaps. I did a lot of research before settling on a K10d, one of the reasons I was drawn to it was that, every store I went into only showed me C or N cameras. I knew they should also have been showing me Pentax (and Oly and Sony maybe) because of my online research. One thing I've learnt in life is, if a salesman wants to show it to you, it's usually more in his best interests than yours.
Now I am learning and I am also retrieving some of that info store in my brain all these years.
I would hope that at least a small proportion of those people who bought their DSLR's, because they could or because the salesman showed it to them, go on to learn what they have in their hands and to make the best use of it.
Sorry for the novella.
Gary