Wow, I have to get a camera like that...

[xfloggingkylex]

Yeah my girlfriend has shot pictures for years and I got into photography about 5 months ago. She uses an SLR-like P&S but everytime I make a great shot she blames my nice camera for making her feel like a bad photography. Iwant to say "Honey, you shoot in auto mode, that is your fault." But then I'd be in the dog house. She blames my getting an SLR the demise for her love of photography. "Every time I take a photo you have a photo that your camera makes so much better! I hate photography now, you just pick up that $800 toy and act like you're talented." It hurt to hear that, but I don't talk about photography to her anymore. Wouldn't you say that's just bad sportsmanship? Worst part is, she refuses to let me teach her how to use the manual settings on her camera. She's like "I don't care, I won't get your results anyway."

P.S. this also makes me feel less talented. Do you guys think I should say anyhting to her or just keep her and photography separate (she sparked my love of photography!)

take her out on a photo outing and botch your shots.

or, take pictures like normal and critique yours very hard but point out everything you like about hers, maybe even get some printed out (if they are decent).

or, trade gear for the day when you go shooting (if you trust her enough :lmao: ).

 

[shorty6049]

i just got that comment tonight on a photo i took, a photo i was particularily proud of, the guy said "you must have a pretty sweet camera" .... i was offended

 

[usayit]

Yeah my girlfriend ....

Tell her that you find her P&S interesting as well... letsay for its compact size. Lead into asking her if you two can switch cameras for a day. See what happens...

 

[Ssuperdreww]

I know exactly what you mean. I know MANY of you have heard this time and time again, but it really is the artistic mind behind the equipment not the camera itself that "makes" a photo. There are a few guys at school who are always checking out my work and all I ever get from them is "man, if only I had an expensive camera i'd take pictures like that all the time!". And although, I must admit, that type of response gets very old, I've come to pride myself in being able to take the shots i have with a fairly simplified setup: Rebel XT, 30-85mm (Rebel Ti) kit lens, and a Tamron 70-300mm zoom. Now let me tell you, I went through my phase of, "if only's" and "I wish I had's". And it's the best feeling in the world to get past ALL excuses and just shoot the heck out of your perfectly fine equipment and put everything into getting the shots you know are out there waiting for you. Ya know? I love it

One of my favorite quotes goes something like this:
"Buying a Canon doesn't make you a photographer, it just makes you a Canon owner..."

 

[LaFoto]

The only area where it is obvious that the purchase of a particularly good and expensive lens gives particularly good photographic results is Raymond's bird photography, but if he hadn't learned how to successfully go out to spot and photograph birds BEFOREHAND, no new lens for whichever price would have shown him/helped him/done the photography for him!

But one thing is adviseable, indeed: it is worth it to learn how to use the camera manually. Shooting in full auto all the time will not yield the results with any camera, whichever one you use, SLR, DSLR, pocketsize digital --- so if you don't know what the buttons on your cooker are there for, you will not be able to cook the delicious dinner Mike is talking about, no matter how creative you might be in your mind...

 

[Peanuts]

Often times I feel as people are saying something along the lines of "You have a great camera!" without actually meaning, "Wow, I could use that with the same results"
Anyways, you can just take advantage of it, and when they buy a new look-a-like camera and are curious about how to get such 'great' pictures, this is your oppurtunity to be an entrepreneur. Charge for teaching 'sessions'. Kidding.

 

[avcabob]

Often times I feel as people are saying something along the lines of "You have a great camera!" without actually meaning, "Wow, I could use that with the same results"

I would like to hope most of time people compliment a camera they mean it in that kind of sense. My mom will often comment on my pictures and when doing so bring up how much better my camera is then hers and how that has something to do with it. And I have let her use my camera, but I have to take like 5 min to put it all back into full auto for her and even then she's almost scared of it as in no matter what she does she won't get good pictures out of it, but still saying I can.

But for the most part, when I show people the pictures I'm most proud of, they actually compliment me for taking them, and never really mention my camera. So at least there's some hope I guess.

 

[Hertz van Rental]

You have to admit it though, using a wallet sized P&S is going to give different results than a 35mm system and an 85mm f/1.4. even if the crop and composition is exactly the same, you've got completely different perspective becuase you've got insane DOF from the little P&S and super short DOF from the 85 f/1.4 thus throwing the BG completely out of focus.

This is the same argument as Picasso's Pencil - one I used to use with students.
If you can't draw then it's not your fault - it's the pencil you are using. If you had one of Picasso's pencils then you would be able to draw because, being a great artist, he must have used a better pencil than the one you have - and that's the difference.
Think that's stupid?
You wouldn't believe the number of 'snappers' I've met who wave Hasselblads and insist that their pictures must be better than everyone else's because they use a 'Blad.
We know it's not the camera that makes the picture but the photographer. But a lot of people have yet to learn that what makes a 'good' picture has very little to do with the technical aspects.
A technicaly perfect picture can be boring - but a 'good' picture will transcend any technical flaws.
Someone who knows what he is doing with a camera will be able to get good results out of whatever he uses. He learns to modify his technique to suit his equipment and plays to it's strengths.
True, 'better' equipment can give you more creative possibilities - at least in theory. But more possibilities mean more choices and a greater chance of making wrong choices. Certainly if you don't know what you are doing.
And real creativity often starts when you are limited for choice.

This has reminded me of the perverse game some of us used to play when I was working in the 80's. 'How crap can you make your camera look'?
The winner was the person who could get an amateur to say 'you're not really going to try to take a picture with that, are you?'

 

[Garbz]

Lol sounds like an interesting game that one. It reminds me when I used to photograph my friends parties with a Nikon FE. They would cringe while I manually focus the camera and flick the aperture across to compensate for the manual flash.

It was all worth while when they came back saying "oh my god I have got to get a copy of those prints" autofocus, matrix metering, ttl flash, pfffft all toys.

 

[Chris of Arabia]

One of my favorite quotes goes something like this:
"Buying a Canon doesn't make you a photographer, it just makes you a Canon owner..."

You could equally say "Buying a guitar doesn't make you a guitarist..." - I should know, I have 14 of them...

Now let's see GMaj, Amin, C7... now where's DSus2 gone again? :er:

>;o))

 

[RacePhoto]

I hear it over and over when I show people my shots... "Wow, that's so cool, I have to get a camera like that..." or "I have to get a lens like that..."

Do ya ever just want to tell somebody who says this to you "Yeah, that's all it is... the fancy camera" or "the fancy lens..."

Sigh.

What? When someone says I take nice pictures, I say it's the lens and the camera, not me. Let them figure it out for them self after they spend a few thousand on equipment and still get snapshots.

Evil me talking above.

I think many people are just trying to be complimentary, not offensive. Like hey, nice car, I wish I had one of those.

 

[Alex_B]

I think many people are just trying to be complimentary, not offensive. Like hey, nice car, I wish I had one of those.

That could well be true ... some people are so proud of their camera (maybe for good reasons if it was tough to save the money for it), car and whatever, that the want compliments of that sort.

But someone saying, "hey, that is a great camera, I wish I could afford it" plays in a totally different league compared to "Hey, your camera takes nice pictures!"

.. the latter is offensive, the former keep telling anyone with a digital back on MF though

 

[Hertz van Rental]

People are too easily impressed by surface packaging and maker's name.
Give 'em lots of buttons to press and lights that flash and you'll sell a ton. And they'll never suspect that inside it's exactly the same as the competition.
That's how adverising and styling work.

 

[Alex_B]

Give 'em lots of buttons to press and lights that flash and you'll sell a ton.

The infamous Canon direct-print-button on some of their dSLRs ... I hate it.

 

[Hertz van Rental]

The infamous Canon direct-print-button on some of their dSLRs ... I hate it.

Bring back the days of using your top hat over the lens as a shutter, that's what I say. :er: