[dopeytree]

Or "oh I bet you have an expensive camera"... nothing to do with my experience and skills or even the lense or being in a good place or having good light...

[tybeck]

The camera and lens are part of the equation for sure. When I get that comment I sometimes rattle off what I think about when taking a shot and most people realize quickly it's the practice and the care that make the "good" shot and not the equipment.

as someone that spend all of his highschool free time in the D&T workshop, i can tell you straight up that having a sharp chisel and a hammer that doesnt have its head fly off every other swing equals to less frustration, less frustration means better focus, serenity and focus lead to inspiration..


thats not even the point


anyone that seriously thinks that the quality of your tools has zero impact on the end result is kidding themselves

a forum full of hypocrytes, esp pingflood, with an 1D's Mk2... seriously?

how about this, you send me your 1D's and a bag full of lenses, and i'll send you my camera phone, and you continue to do whatever it is that you do with that camera phone, since you are such a hot shot photographer no one will ever be able to tell the difference.

Sure the quality of the instruments matters. But do you think Sam Maloof really needs a roomful of high end power tools to build quality stuff? I know he could do it with consumer grade hand tools also. But he would spend quite a bit of time sharpening the chisels whether they were consumer grade or high end. Do you think Ansel Adams couldn't take a spectacular shot with just a pinhole camera? Or a total noob could take a spectacular shot with Hassy's top of the line stuff? The talent HAS to be there first. The equipment is secondary.

[redpigeons]

I just say yeah its a pentax

and I am not kidding I think with face book , flicker and myspace I helped selling at least a couple of K20Ds .

that how its starts not my friends have friends that have friends. and more and more people buying pentax

[Wheatfield]

Next time you get some carpentry work done, compliment their hammers and test the reaction.

I'm really proud of my hammers.

[Arpe]

[Suzu]

sure do.....it's actually posted on my Facebook page by a friend I too, tell them that it is a GREAT camera, but it didnt take the shot by itself

[pingflood]

anyone that seriously thinks that the quality of your tools has zero impact on the end result is kidding themselves

a forum full of hypocrytes, esp pingflood, with an 1D's Mk2... seriously?

how about this, you send me your 1D's and a bag full of lenses, and i'll send you my camera phone, and you continue to do whatever it is that you do with that camera phone, since you are such a hot shot photographer no one will ever be able to tell the difference.

Nice strawman there.

Where, exactly, did I say that the tools have zero impact? For that matter, where did I even IMPLY it?

My point was that it takes a lot more than equipment to make a good picture.

Incidentally, the handful of pictures of mine that have gotten some attention were done with a $200 10D (2003 vintage) and Canon's basic 35mm f/2 lens. Amusingly, most ass-umed those shots were the result of my 1Ds2 + expensive glass.

[Gooshin]

of course it takes more than equipment

but that doesnt negate its importance, i'm glad we're in agreement.


but you people take it to your heads when someone that is photography clueless makes a comment like that.

people NOTICE depth of field and clarity that comes with using better equipment.

you cant take that away,

most importantly because i hardly doubt they ever mean it in an insulting manner, you simply chose to be insulted by it.

[pingflood]

OK, we can be in sort of agreement here.

And you are right, they don't mean to insult anyone, but when the implication is that you simply get better pictures because you spent money on gear and no other reason, well... it's hard not to feel it.

Did you read that infamous Ken Rockwell "the camera doesn't matter" article? I think he had an excellent point in there, though 95% of people didn't seem to get past the headline. The camera is a tool, and a better tool makes life easier, but a tool no matter how good will not substitute for vision and creativity.

edit: though, perhaps sometimes the comment "must have a nice camera" just indicates that the content of your image lacks impact and meaning, and people are left analyzing the technical portion of it. So maybe all my shots are really pointless but well executed. Who knows?

[Classvino]

Wow, Gooshin, your computer makes really intelligent posts...

[SuperAkuma]

Why do you guys/gals take it soo offensive? I am sure they mean the best, they just don't know how to say it phonically correct. Just take it as a compliment and leave it like that.
What about photography philosopher that says "the camera is an extension of themselves?

[Ratmagiclady]

Well, when I hear something like that, I usually just turn around and try to be encouraging about photography in general and mention a little about what good equipment's good for and what it doesn't matter about, turn it into a bit of a teaching opportunity, or whatever.

For whatever reason, the sentiment's out there, people obviously don't seem to mean offense by it, ..they're probably just fishing for something intelligent to say about a technical subject they don't understand and not quite getting there. .

[Mike Cash]

Photography is one of those things that everybody can take part in. George Eastman saw to that when he came out with the Brownie cameras. It continued through Instamatics, disc film cameras, disposable cameras, right on into our era of digital P&S and camera phones.

My point is.....you don't have to know a damned thing about photography as hobby/skill/technology/art in order to take a picture. Everybody and his uncle can take a picture....and the vast vast vast majority of them neither know nor care a damn that there is anything more to it than pointing and clicking. They can't possibly intend to insult our abilities, because they haven't the foggiest notion that there are abilities there to be insulted to begin with; they've been conditioned to think that the camera takes care of everything.

Being annoyed by such comments is natural. Finding them offensive is silly. There is an aphorism which goes, "Never attribute to malice that which is adequately explained by stupidity".

[legacyb4]

All the time... "great pictures, what camera do you use?"

I often defer and laugh it off or point out that it's really the glass that makes the difference.