As a professional photog who makes a good salary with a camera, I'd like to point out that cameras used by pros take no better pictures than those which pros normally do not use. Such a silly egoistic fantasy that some people have--that using a "professional" camera somehow puts them in another league, somehow above other photographers, somehow makes them too professionals.

I can tell you from doing this for a quarter century that pros do not care about the name on a camera or how professional the shutter sounds or how professional the buttons feel; they care about getting the shot and only that. Amateurs using pro gear live in the fantasy world that their gear somehow makes them something they are not.

One thing that I've never seen a pro do is sneer at another photographer's gear. They are happy to share their experiences with a camera and lens, both its good and bad points, but I've never seen a guy with an f2.8 lens put down a guy with an f4 lens. That's the province of amateurs who are insecure and mediocre and know it, and constantly have to compensate by showing "whose is biggest". It doesn't matter how many fps your camera can shoot if you are not pointed in the right direction at the right time and if you aren't in the right place to point the camera in the right direction at the right time.

I'll tell you one reason why Canon and Nikon are used by pros: they both have professional agencies like NPS for Nikon, where pros gets free servicing of their cameras on the spot at big events, can borrow lenses free, and get other perks that amateurs can only dream about. They spend a lot of money building up a professional client base because they know that burnishes their image and attracts scores of amateur wannabes who will buy their gear because pros use it.

The new Pentax FF is making big waves. The pixel shift feature promises to blow all other cameras out of the water in terms of DR and noise in situations where it can be used. A whole bunch of video pros I know are now getting rid of their Canons and Nikons in favor of Sony A7 series bodies. The only thing that matters is that your gear fulfills your needs and helps you realize your vision. The rest is the sad machinations of frustrated people who have to feel superior to others.

The beautiful thing about photography is that it is not resource-limited. As many people as want can take pictures of Yosemite without diminishing Yosemite in any way. Photography should be an art, not a contest, because there need be nothing to fight for. Taking a picture takes nothing away from anyone else; it simply adds to the beauty in the world. That is the magic of photography, and it's a shame to see that degraded by those to whom everything has to be a competition.

Better gear=more potential. The question of whether that potential is realized is up to whoever uses the gear. Truth be told, "pro" gear does give an edge in certain situations where that edge is important for specific assignments, but there is also something to be said for challenging oneself at the edge of the limitation of one's equipment. Actually that's where art and satisfaction come in. I know plenty of pros with the most most expensive gear who are bored silly with their jobs. Fight for position, scrum with the pack, wide, medium, close, let's go get drunk.

Arguably you should only get new gear when you have understood how it can help you better realize your vision and art. Otherwise what's the point? In China I see housewives with D810s who hardly know how to take pictures. It's just about face and showing off, nothing to do with photography at all, it's only about social status. That's fine if that's what you are after, but in the end it is just hollow.

Guys, I have both types and they are both good. I use a Nikon D7200 but I also have an Olympus OM-D EM5 Mark II. Picture quality is similar with both; the Olympus is about half of the weight. The only downside I have noticed is that the Mirrorless design of the Olympus means that there can be some delay in using the electronic viewfinder, which makes a series of action shots (I.e., sports, airplanes, cars, etc.) a bit more difficult to take. BUT, at half the weight it is usually much easier to schlep around the Mirrorless than to have to carry my Nikon, along with the other stuff (lenses, flash, etc.). By the way, I would call myself a somewhat advanced amateur, but definitely not a top quality photographer,,,,, and I usually only carry basic equipment - with my Olympus, that is a kit 14-150 MM lens (crop factor is 2, so that's a 28-300 equivalent, along with a f1.8. 25 mm prime lens. With the Nikon, I use an 18-200 Nikon kit lens. Standard Olympus and Nikon flash units, nothing fancy.

I'd try out the Mirrorless cameras to see what you think. The ones I've used (including Sony, Panasonic, and Olympus) are pretty good. But I'm still a bit partial to my Nikon :-)

As a professional photog who makes a good salary with a camera, I'd like to point out that cameras used by pros take no better pictures than those which pros normally do not use. Such a silly egoistic fantasy that some people have--that using a "professional" camera somehow puts them in another league, somehow above other photographers, somehow makes them too professionals.

I can tell you from doing this for a quarter century that pros do not care about the name on a camera or how professional the shutter sounds or how professional the buttons feel; they care about getting the shot and only that. Amateurs using pro gear live in the fantasy world that their gear somehow makes them something they are not.

One thing that I've never seen a pro do is sneer at another photographer's gear. They are happy to share their experiences with a camera and lens, both its good and bad points, but I've never seen a guy with an f2.8 lens put down a guy with an f4 lens. That's the province of amateurs who are insecure and mediocre and know it, and constantly have to compensate by showing "whose is biggest". It doesn't matter how many fps your camera can shoot if you are not pointed in the right direction at the right time and if you aren't in the right place to point the camera in the right direction at the right time.

I'll tell you one reason why Canon and Nikon are used by pros: they both have professional agencies like NPS for Nikon, where pros gets free servicing of their cameras on the spot at big events, can borrow lenses free, and get other perks that amateurs can only dream about. They spend a lot of money building up a professional client base because they know that burnishes their image and attracts scores of amateur wannabes who will buy their gear because pros use it.

The new Pentax FF is making big waves. The pixel shift feature promises to blow all other cameras out of the water in terms of DR and noise in situations where it can be used. A whole bunch of video pros I know are now getting rid of their Canons and Nikons in favor of Sony A7 series bodies. The only thing that matters is that your gear fulfills your needs and helps you realize your vision. The rest is the sad machinations of frustrated people who have to feel superior to others.

The beautiful thing about photography is that it is not resource-limited. As many people as want can take pictures of Yosemite without diminishing Yosemite in any way. Photography should be an art, not a contest, because there need be nothing to fight for. Taking a picture takes nothing away from anyone else; it simply adds to the beauty in the world. That is the magic of photography, and it's a shame to see that degraded by those to whom everything has to be a competition.