Spirit Vision Photography Loc: Behind a Camera.

Owning a camera does not make one a photographer. It makes one a camera owner.

Gene51 Loc: Yonkers, NY, now in LSD (LowerSlowerDelaware)

There is no question - my cameras and lenses are much better than I am. But they don't get any better with time and mileage, unlike myself. When I feel that I have sufficiently closed the gap, I just buy new gear.

revhen Loc: By the beautiful Hudson

One of the best pictures I ever took was 15 years ago with a 2mp pocket Olympus. Even that was better than I. However, I chose the subject and positioned myself to take it. It didn't happen with the camera by itself!

BebuLamar

Now I am confused as other post said:
"Interesting. Is a computer better than the person using it? Do self driving cars drive better than the driver? Does a certain tool drill a better hole than we could on our own?
Extending these questions we get, Why is their air? Why do we exist? What is the meaning of life?
And my favorite, Does it really matter? Like the song says "we are all only dust in the wind"."

BebuLamar

That's a different topic. I just wonder if my camera is better than I am.

Peterff Loc: O'er The Hills and Far Away, in Themyscira.

So what are your camera's moral opinions? Have you asked it, and will you let it speak for itself?

Spirit Vision Photography Loc: Behind a Camera.

Most of us are vastly superior to our cameras. Cameras and lenses made decades ago are more than sufficient to produce fantastic images. Spend your time and money on honing your vision and technique. Not camera gear.

BebuLamar

Like I said my camera is a lazy one or may be it's a snob. It doesn't listen to me let alone speaking to me. I think it thinks it's too good to pay any attention to what I have to say. (My Iphone does listen to me though but when I told it to take a picture it simply get ready to take the picture but doesn't to it. I had to push it a bit.

lamiaceae Loc: San Luis Obispo County, CA

Good point. I've heard the same thing said about Harmonicas. Sadly, I don't play mine with a damn.

lamiaceae Loc: San Luis Obispo County, CA

Star Dust...

BebuLamar

Dear Peterff!
I think you are good at psychology so what do you think our cameras want us to think? Do they want us to think that they are better than us so we would baby them or they want us to think that we're better than them so we would buy new cameras and make the new cameras work so they can retire?

NormanTheGr8 Loc: Racine, Wisconsin

If it says "Iphone" on it i would think smarter would go to the camera 99% of the time

Orson Burleigh Loc: Annapolis, Maryland, USA

In 1970 my dad was intrigued. but not particularly impressed, by the Canon TL QL that was my first camera.* With the Canon's built-in through the lens (TTL) metering system all that I had to do was mechanically select the proper ASA/DIN number for whatever film had been placed in the camera (with the end properly slid in under the QL plate), and set the dial to the appropriate minimum shutter speed, depending on whether the camera was attached to the FL 50mm f/1.8 lens or to the FL 200mm f/3.5 lens. When a subject for a picture came into view it was time to focus (aided by the split prism ground-glass screen), then, while aiming the center of the frame at the area to be metered and holding the 'semi-spot' meter's lever-switch over, to adjust the aperture ring on the lens until the needle came to rest in the little circle, recompose, and, finally, to press the shutter button. The stopped-down TTL metering system automatically provided a depth of field preview, so that usually didn't require much thought. Driving that camera to a decent picture was a bit like steering a canoe with j-strokes and a couple of different paddle feathering techniques.

Now my 80D's output sometimes equals what that little Canon TL provided then. Image stabilization, auto-focus with an large array of pick and choose focus points, preset automatic bracketing and good imaging capability at incredibly high ISOs go a long way towards countering the effects of a gravelly-kneed rebuilt leg, arthritic hands and presbyopia. Its like using that old canoe after an engine, a rudder, a SatNav/GPS and a depth-finder have been added - it provides more choice with less effort but requires more thought.

*By the time I came back from Sunny Southeast Asia, my dad had set aside his little rangefinder (obtained while he was in Alaska with the US Army Air Force in the late 1940s) and taken up with a Sears-branded Ricoh SLR. Now days, he is usually seen sporting a Nikon D7200.

artBob Loc: Near Chicago

Same with Photoshop. I read, although I cannot now find it, and have confirmed by my experience and watching college students in the lab, that less that 10% of Photoshop tools are used, but it is a different 10% for everyone. We might find the same with artists brushes. I think that is a sign of a good marketplace.

tommystrat Loc: Bigfork, Montana

Yep...and a great photographer with an average camera will ALWAYS turn out better images than an average photographer with a great camera!