My little rant

[Redeyejedi]

my .02
it all depends on what the equipments' uses will be.
a professional barber, who wants to keep his customers won't use the same scissors he used in grade school for are projects.
a professional chef will use the best cutlery, pans, and ingredients they can get their hands on to make the finest meals to their ability.
a professional seamstress will have quality sewing machines.
pros get the best tools they can to do the job.

are there people who purchase more camera than they need? yes
are there people who make excellent photos with baseline/entry level gear? of course.

the thing ask yourself is, as with almost anything, what are the people using who are achieving the results you want?
are your aspirations to be a restaurant birthday photog? or an disneyland family portrait shooter? the photog on a cruise ship shooting from the red tape on the floor? what are they using?
do you envision slightly more challenging work? sports events, weddings, fashion, portraits....? these scenarios don't require top of the line gear but, better gear allows you to do more with the conditions you may be faced with.

instead of just saying, "i'll be fine with 'x' and can compete with many who have tens times better stuff..." ...... ask yourself:
do i need good low light capability?
do i need a high frame rate?
is remote control of flash important to me?
is weight a factor?
auto focus motor?
camera metering capability?

there is solid reasoning why professional wedding photographers don't use iphones, but instead many have TWO upper level cameras they use at an event.

also, to the isht-talking about shooters with lesser gear....this is a societal thing, and you will see this with anyting; my bike is faster, my printer has larger gamut, my lens has nicer bokeh, my scissors cut hair better, my balls are bigger but shoot nothing but net.....

 

[Dikkie]

All equiptment comes with some limitation, one way or another, a point and shoot is going to have poor high ISO performance and very deep DOF with little way around that. Photography by it's nature is limited, and the phtographer must, regardless of the equiptment he or she uses, chooses to use, can afford, whatever, work within these limitations.

A true measure of a phtographer's abilities is how effectively they can work within the limitations of the equiptment they use, and knowing what limitations they can expect. But a good photographer will be able to convey truth within any limitation, and find creative ways to express their world view regardless of the equiptment is available. Blaming a p/s limitations says nothing more than the photographer's own lack of vision.

I think it depends aswel on the audience that criticizes the photograph.

You can be happy with your own photograph, but if the audience does'nt like it?
Or, you cannot be happy with a photograph yourself, but apparently the audience seems to like it more than you.

For example, this picture I took with a lens that has it's limitations. It's a screw-up fisheye converter on my low-cost kit-lens.
I'm not happy with the result, as the image is definitely not sharp, lens has aberration, somehow oversaturated, the front is not well exposed, only the building, etc...

Put this on a professional photo forum and no one will like it.
Put this on an alternative forum where people don't mind sharpness, but rather creativity, compositon, weird colors or whatever... and you will get positive reactions.

I put this on Flickr as a test, and there were already a bunch of people that seemed to like it.
Even though the image is not sharp. Is sharpness overrated? (<<< that thread already existed but is closed)
Why can't they just be honest and say it is not sharp? Or have some constructive critique to say what needs to be done to have it good?

Yes, good (or better) gear is needed here. Yes, this photo should be offline until it has been shot better.

Actually I'm always unhappy with my own photo results, it can always be done better. Probably, when I'd have the best gear, I won't be happy neither. There is always shortcoming.

How do you guys personally you feel about it?

Any other statements to make?

The thread's not closed yet.

 

[jake337]

Technically it IS the camera that makes the pictures, but that's beside the point lol. I know what you mean.

The only flaw with that almost cliche piece of wisdom is that some photos can't be made with certain cameras. That's why we have so many people asking "how do you get that blurry background with my p&s?" It does matter to some degree.

another example is sports. I can't shoot sports effectively with a cheaper camera. It just wouldn't work. I've never trash talked any photographer who owns an entry-level camera or a pro camera. I just try and show them up with my images. lol

Blurry background with a cell phone!!!!

 

[pixmedic]

yay! I got in before someone locks up this old and ridiculous thread!
BOOM!

 

[The_Traveler]

Wow, seven months dead before someone digs it out in order to post a picture in a thread to show just how a spectacular photographer works.

 

[jake337]

+1, if it was the photographer and not the gear, not one pro would bother with the top shelf stuff.

The photographer still chooses their gear.....


So it is still the photographer.


At a pro level I believe it is more about achieving a money making workflow. A good workflow can't have one dicking around with cheap gear that may or may not work for the situation. Professional just want their gear to work, repeatedly, in any situation that is put in front of them, time and time again. Hence the need for professional gear, for professional.

 

[manaheim]

Hey unpopular... dunno about you but this it the other recent trend I noticed... noobies digging up dead threads.

 

[Tee]

Hey unpopular... dunno about you but this it the other recent trend I noticed... noobies digging up dead threads.

True, except this thread was dug up by a member who's been here since '05. LOL

I was going to quote your first post in this thread which is agree that there aren't many gear bashing people but it's more towards the person. Everytime I see rant threads about bashing newbies gear I'm always left scratching my head. Maybe that's how they perceive the feedback being given to them. I just picture them with a finger in each ear not listening to what is actually being said.

 

[Dikkie]

Hey unpopular... dunno about you but this it the other recent trend I noticed... noobies digging up dead threads.

Sometimes, when starting new threads on forums, you get reactions that similar threads already exist and you should have used the search function on the forum first. That way you respond on a topic without creating a new thread that actually already existed.

Better to dig up something where you can reply on something that fits, than starting a new thread to get responses that are already said?

 

[Dikkie]

We live in a "who has the bigger dick" world. It's never going to change. Do your own thing and don't worry about everyone else.

Don't worry about my nickname :blushing:, but still, this thread has the best quote of this year.

*worth digging

 

[manaheim]

Hey unpopular... dunno about you but this it the other recent trend I noticed... noobies digging up dead threads.

True, except this thread was dug up by a member who's been here since '05. LOL

I was going to quote your first post in this thread which is agree that there aren't many gear bashing people but it's more towards the person. Everytime I see rant threads about bashing newbies gear I'm always left scratching my head. Maybe that's how they perceive the feedback being given to them. I just picture them with a finger in each ear not listening to what is actually being said.

Wow... low post count. (I only looked at the post count, not the join date.)

I don't follow the rest of what you're saying, unfortunately...

Hey unpopular... dunno about you but this it the other recent trend I noticed... noobies digging up dead threads.

Sometimes, when starting new threads on forums, you get reactions that similar threads already exist and you should have used the search function on the forum first. That way you respond on a topic without creating a new thread that actually already existed.

Better to dig up something where you can reply on something that fits, than starting a new thread to get responses that are already said?

The (usually unspoken) implication of the statement "go search" is that not only will they find the threads that answer the question, but that everything that could ever be said about that particular topic has already been said at least 3,000 times, so there's NO point in revitalizing the discussion... either by new thread OR old.

 

[Dikkie]

The (usually unspoken) implication of the statement "go search" is that not only will they find the threads that answer the question, but that everything that could ever be said about that particular topic has already been said at least 3,000 times, so there's NO point in revitalizing the discussion... either by new thread OR old.

Fact is that every topic has already been discussed, and that all sub forums of Foundations of Photography, like beginners' forum and photographic discussions have to be closed down and only available read-only by the search function.

 

[mishele]

We live in a "who has the bigger dick" world. It's never going to change. Do your own thing and don't worry about everyone else.

Don't worry about my nickname :blushing:, but still, this thread has the best quote of this year.

*worth digging

Did I say that?! :lmao:
Thanks for digging!

 

[Tee]

I don't follow the rest of what you're saying, unfortunately...

I was referring to this quote in that I agree with what you said.

Honestly, almost every time I've ever heard anyone make the complaint you are making was when that person was being defensive. The person had lesser gear and their ego was tied up in that fact and they bristle when anyone else suggests that they would do better if they purchased better gear.

 

[unpopular]

If people are going to start debates, I'd rather start new, stale debates than dig up old stale debates.