Originally posted by vinzer This is the double-edged sword, really. The barriers for entry have been lowered, so more and more people can now enjoy photography and not be limited with their expressions. This is good for serious hobbyists.
I'm not convinced it's really attracting that many more new people into photography. Of course, it's very hard to guage, but I don't seem to see that many more people with cameras today than I did thirty years ago, or even twenty years ago. The only obvious difference are those with cameras in cellphones, which obviously didn't exist years ago. But, of course, these cellphones have very little of the technology we're talking about here.
Quote: On the other hand, there are also those who expect everything to be done for them (including composition), and treat DSLRs as extensions of point-and-shoots, only that they expect to take better pictures owing to the price they paid for one, and the fact that DSLRs look more "professional" than point-and-shoots. These are the ones stewart mentioned who complain a lot in blogs and forums.
This type has existed for decades. As far back as I can remember, there have always been those with very expensive, elaborate, cameras complaining their pictures are no better. Some are really trying, but are focusing on the wrong things (buying stuff instead of learning stuff). Others just shoot like crazy, hoping at least something comes out eventually.
The latter type is often funny to watch. You just know their pictures are not going to come out that great (shooting a distant subject at night with the tiny on-camera flash, for example). I watched a guy last week trying to take a picture of a very dimly lit subject. Six times in a row, because of the long exposure, he was looking at his camera before the shutter closed. He actually seemed to be trying to figure out what the extra noise was (the shutter closing), and, of course, why his pictures were so bad. The puzzled look on his face was priceless, but I couldn't get a picture because he kept looking up - like he was looking around to see if someone was playing a joke on him (a Candid Camera camera).
Quote: Personally, I don't mind seeing endless posts of people asking how-to questions that a lot of us in the forum already have seen numerous times before. At least with those people, they really look to learn, as opposed to those who whine about their latest and greatest acquisitions and have a sense of entitlement about them.
I don't mind answering questions either, or asking questions for that matter. I take the time to answer what questions I can because I hope someone will also take the time to answer mine. Several of us discussed the sense of entitlement thing in another thread a couple of weeks ago, so I won't go into all that again here.
stewart