I've been here a while and still don't get it.

Jonny, I'm not sure why you say comments re sensor size are BS, but taking "quality" pictures and getting the absolute best capture are not necessarily the same thing. Believe me, I know having won and judged professional competitions. A larger sensor simply gives more area for incredibly smooth tonal transitions. If you have facts to dispute my comments on the benefits of large sensor/film size, I am open to them. Yes, like in the over all public, there are jerks out there with cameras. Some that don't have a clue and don't know what they don't know or are just camera collectors who NEVER show their photos, unless it is a photo of their gear. And learn to recognize a collector vs an actual photographer. I always point out that my most awarded photo was taken with a 10 mp camera with one of nikons 10 worst lenses. So I tell folks, NEVER let anyone diss you because of your gear. In my case it was an on field NFL photographer who when he saw my photo come up, jumped out of his chair and wanting to know who made this image and how it was done. When my name was called for best in class and him awarding me the speakers award and I stood up, his jaw hit the floor. Priceless. This is called photo graphy, not camera graphy.

I didn't mean that there is no difference with sensor size or that one may be better than another. I meant a lot of the arguments that go on between those arguing sensor size is BS. There are pros and cons to each and in general a bigger sensor is usually always better. There is no argument in that. These days your photos speak to what kind of photographer you are not the camera you use or its sensor size. Almost any camera out there can take fantastic pictures. Just look at cell phones.
I bought into M43 for a variety of reasons. The big one being that I have a small, lightweight system that I can easily take on hikes and I am not lugging around a massive 600mm lens. I don't use tripods and I don't sit in one spot taking pictures. There other reasons as well but that was top for me.
 
Brent that was rather rude of the fellow. I am afraid that an old guy like me would tell someone who criticized my gear, "If I wanted cheap, I would have bought what you have." But hey, I already know I am old and opinionated. :) :)

Equipment does not a good photograph make.

If it was today I probably would have some choice words for them. But I was about 5 months into having my first camera and thought I would join the club to learn as much as I can. There was one guy who was supposedly great with macro and I was really interested in learning from him. But that incident really put me off. If it was today I would just have ignored him and stuck around. I am sure there was a lot of good people in the club that I could have learned from.
 
Ron, absolutely right. Ancil said it best, the most important part of the camera is the 12 inches behind it.
 
When we talk about image quality and sensor size always the "bigger is better" rule will give you the best quality. I don't doubt that. But the photographer's skills can give you better results. With inferior gear you can take better photos than a guy with better one but less experience. Of course better gear can make your life easier. In the example of BrentC who seems to be a wildlife photographer a zoom lens will permit him to take a shot from safe distance from his subject without scare it. But if he is skillful enough he can approach his subject with a camera with not such a "long" lens and quietly take a better shot.
 
Again, there are cases in wildlife photography where your subject is simply out of reach and you need a zoom lens for example just to be able to take your shot. An example is this vulture I shot. Again because of the limit in attached files I'll have to show screenshots from my phone. The original jpg was approximately 7MB. In this photo the vulture was so far away and in constant movement! Only with a zoom lens I could capture it and I had to be quick and lucky. Quality? Of course not the best possible! But in this cases you can compromise with less. The first image is screenshot of the jpg file and in the second I zoomed in on the same photo.
 

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Jonny, you are so right. I tell people, spend a half day with me and I will take theier work up several notches. A thousand dollar lens or 3 thousand dollar body will only give you more crap, just sharper. I moved to FL with a 200 yd backyard pond and had some gorgeous birds there: wood storks, egrets and in the spring families of wood ducks. So I bought a d500 crop body, and a 400mm 2.8 with a 1.7 multiplier, ie 1000 mm to photo the birds. I started feeding the larger birds and now I can't get focus with my 180 because they come within the 6 ft min focus. I photo them with my 100 or 85 so I sold the 400, multiplier and even the 70-200. I'm a portraitist not a wildlife photographer. But, realize there are plenty of aholes with cameras, ignore them. As Carlin said, people say it is tragic that the average IQ is so low, but what is really tragic is about half the people are dumber than that. When you hear that crap, chalk it up to them being in the lower half. Keep working on mastering the craft.
 
Fighting or debating which is it? I guess debating seems more respectable. Some heat doesn't bother me as long as you are not trying to ridicule the other person. And like any sport, when it is all said and done, we should be able to shake hands and move on no matter how heated it was. Maybe I'm too new to express my opinion here so let the attacks begin :wav:
 
well i have run across various forums where certain views are held and upheld against all reason and logic on this particular topic.

I have been on several european forums that will ban members who say anything against the one piece bridge camera. Or those who actually advocate a camera that uses interchangeable lenses for OUTSIDE use.

I have even seen forum where moderators have "sucker bait" threads on various topics that they use to trap people into saying something the moderator disapproves of and then hit the ban switch on said responders.

the little point and shoot cameras and bridge cameras are not exactly aimed at the market MOST of us on this forum are into at all. You truly can call them the modern fixed lens, fixed aperture, single shutter speed point and shoot party camera that uses 35mm canisters.

Most of us like image quality and resolution and THAT field is done best with a larger sensor size. Its even replicated in the film world. 35mm does great, but compared to a 120 format negative... ehh its readily apparent 120 can do alot nicer on most things.
 
And to respond to several other posts on here at once.

Camera groups really ARE about trying to make oneself feel superior to others based on having more costly gear. I once thought about using meetup photography groups as a means to meet people with a common interest.
That failed in minutes after seeing how 80% of said groups in my STATE were just "meet for coffee and compare new gear purchases" directly stated in the groups "reason for existence statement".
 
Flying, unfortunately what you may be seeing is a result of the 24/7 manufacturer propaganda that tells photographers this years latest and greatest will transform their photos. The only thing it transforms is their checking account to less money. Instead, all they get is the same crap photos only sharper. I too have found many folks seem more interested in gear than their photos. They want to talk about cameras or lenses and not their work. But I have found, if you listen and bring up shooting and photos, you will find some that are looking to improve their mastery of the craft. I recently stumbled across a face book site that much to my surprise has most posts containing photos and virtually none of their cameras. lenses or boxes. A general rule is beware any group that is a "camera" group, as it may well be concentrating on cameras, not photography. Another observation is a high percentage is old folks, hey, I are one, and few 20 somethings. We have a couple of meetup groups here run by knowledgeable photographers. They realize the importance of photo critique and I enjoy helping folks progress by judging some of their competitions. If you can find a group that does that, you will find people who want to learn and show their work. After all this is called photo graphy, not camera graphy.
 
The beauty in photography is not the gear really. Every person in this forum will choose a certain camera, dSLR,mirrorless, point and shoot,etc. Depending on what we evaluate as more important to us. What we prefer to shoot. More interesting is after this, to try to shoot all the kinds of photos that can be taken with our camera! I mean, to try to take the 100% from it! Obviously it will be excellent for some kind of photography, mediocre to another,bad to some cases. But the effort to try to shoot the best photos we can with our gear gives the most satisfaction in my opinion!
 
Flying, unfortunately what you may be seeing is a result of the 24/7 manufacturer propaganda that tells photographers this years latest and greatest will transform their photos. The only thing it transforms is their checking account to less money. Instead, all they get is the same crap photos only sharper. I too have found many folks seem more interested in gear than their photos. They want to talk about cameras or lenses and not their work. But I have found, if you listen and bring up shooting and photos, you will find some that are looking to improve their mastery of the craft. I recently stumbled across a face book site that much to my surprise has most posts containing photos and virtually none of their cameras. lenses or boxes. A general rule is beware any group that is a "camera" group, as it may well be concentrating on cameras, not photography. Another observation is a high percentage is old folks, hey, I are one, and few 20 somethings. We have a couple of meetup groups here run by knowledgeable photographers. They realize the importance of photo critique and I enjoy helping folks progress by judging some of their competitions. If you can find a group that does that, you will find people who want to learn and show their work. After all this is called photo graphy, not camera graphy.
Well i DID find some on meetup that were run by the same "professional photographers" who simply use the group as a means to pay for their own private models.
 

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