Its Photography right?
Oct 2, 2012 17:23:32 #
BigD
Loc: The LEFT Coast
I was assigned to cover a BMX/Skate event a few weeks back (I posted some pics in the gallery). This was where the "athletes" are on a big ramp and do all this amazing stuff way up in the air. I was in the small Media Area that got me like eight feet closer than the general public so no great advantage really. I was shooting a Canon 7D with a 70-200 f/2.8L IS II USM (the newest version). I also had my 5DMkII with a 24-70 f/2.8L II (also the newest version that just came out). I used the 7D for when they hit the center ramp and the 5D2 for when they shot up straight over my position. All the shots were with the Sun basically directly overhead. I did my thing and worked it out and got tons of good stuff so here is the point of this post.
I was literally surrounded by thousands of people and about one third of them seemed to have very nice cameras. I saw a lot of 5D2's and even a 5D3 and a bunch of 60D's (and of course a bunch of Nikon rigs too). I was amazed that a great many of them had "L" lenses on them with the 24-105mm being a runaway favorite. So I of course was watching them almost as much as the event and everyone was complaining that all their pictures were coming out as just a shadow with a blownout sky. One young guy saw some of the images on the back of my 7D and said to his Girlfriend "I need to upgrade to a 7D like his so I can get pictures like he is getting". This kid was using a Nikon D7000 with a very nice kit lens which as we all know is very capable of taking fine shots IF USED CORRECTLY.
So I guess what I was thinking out loud here was how many people think they need a better camera because you had trouble getting a certain shot? Or maybe more to the point have you all heard similar such things coming from other "Photographers"??? It was kind of amusing that they had no idea how to get better shots under these conditions. And they had no concept of how to problem solve to find the solution. Clearly they needed to improve their own abilities but instead they "blamed the camera". Just something to ponder...
I was literally surrounded by thousands of people and about one third of them seemed to have very nice cameras. I saw a lot of 5D2's and even a 5D3 and a bunch of 60D's (and of course a bunch of Nikon rigs too). I was amazed that a great many of them had "L" lenses on them with the 24-105mm being a runaway favorite. So I of course was watching them almost as much as the event and everyone was complaining that all their pictures were coming out as just a shadow with a blownout sky. One young guy saw some of the images on the back of my 7D and said to his Girlfriend "I need to upgrade to a 7D like his so I can get pictures like he is getting". This kid was using a Nikon D7000 with a very nice kit lens which as we all know is very capable of taking fine shots IF USED CORRECTLY.
So I guess what I was thinking out loud here was how many people think they need a better camera because you had trouble getting a certain shot? Or maybe more to the point have you all heard similar such things coming from other "Photographers"??? It was kind of amusing that they had no idea how to get better shots under these conditions. And they had no concept of how to problem solve to find the solution. Clearly they needed to improve their own abilities but instead they "blamed the camera". Just something to ponder...
Oct 2, 2012 17:30:55 #
No surprise, some peeps still think the kitchen stove is the reason for good food :lol:
Oct 2, 2012 18:30:04 #
BigD, congadulations on comming through with the shots when it counted. That's why YOU are in the press area and not them!
Get their phone numbers and suggest they get a DX1. Call them in a couple a months and chances are, you could score that DX1 for next to nothing!!
Get their phone numbers and suggest they get a DX1. Call them in a couple a months and chances are, you could score that DX1 for next to nothing!!
Oct 2, 2012 19:04:40 #
The advantage of "full Auto" DSLRs is that manufacturers and camera stores can sell to anyone, the expectation of good photos. The pitfall of any Auto camera setting, is that 98% of such users have no idea how to compensate when they auto expose in very bright settings, or very dim settings, or very contrasty settings. Owning a camera does not make one a photographer, just like owning a gun does not make one a hunter.
Oct 2, 2012 20:16:21 #
BigD...
I have a friend who owns a very nice Canon. Don't really know the model number or what lenses he uses. And with it, he takes hundreds and hundreds of shots a year. And that's all he does. He doesn't do any PPing, he doesn't do any printing, he just takes the pictures, puts them on a CD, and files them away; "Arizona, 2009" "Somebody's birthday".
Canon - and Nikon, and Olympus, and Sony, and whoever - are all very happy to have as many customers like him as possible. He buys stuff for the camera, not for the results. He truly doesn't know half of what the camera can do. I asked him if he uses back-button focus on such a fine piece of equipment, and got a pretty good blank stare as the answer. I've tried to get him into using even something as easy (and $free) as Picasa, but he isn't interested. I think he cares only for the five seconds after he clicks the shutter, then looks at the back of the camera's display, then goes on to whatever is next. Maybe he'll look at them on his computer sometime later, but that's about it.
All those people around you, as its been said, think just because they're carrying $5K of camera & lens, somehow the work is done for them it's gonna make all great stuff. Most folks on this forum know much better.
I hope the comment of the guy next to you made you smile a little - at least inside. Wonder if he puts his girlfriends through the same process...
There are those that can make a great meal out of a few ingredients and a little imagination. Sounds like you're one of them.
Thanks for the question.
Ronn
I have a friend who owns a very nice Canon. Don't really know the model number or what lenses he uses. And with it, he takes hundreds and hundreds of shots a year. And that's all he does. He doesn't do any PPing, he doesn't do any printing, he just takes the pictures, puts them on a CD, and files them away; "Arizona, 2009" "Somebody's birthday".
Canon - and Nikon, and Olympus, and Sony, and whoever - are all very happy to have as many customers like him as possible. He buys stuff for the camera, not for the results. He truly doesn't know half of what the camera can do. I asked him if he uses back-button focus on such a fine piece of equipment, and got a pretty good blank stare as the answer. I've tried to get him into using even something as easy (and $free) as Picasa, but he isn't interested. I think he cares only for the five seconds after he clicks the shutter, then looks at the back of the camera's display, then goes on to whatever is next. Maybe he'll look at them on his computer sometime later, but that's about it.
All those people around you, as its been said, think just because they're carrying $5K of camera & lens, somehow the work is done for them it's gonna make all great stuff. Most folks on this forum know much better.
I hope the comment of the guy next to you made you smile a little - at least inside. Wonder if he puts his girlfriends through the same process...
There are those that can make a great meal out of a few ingredients and a little imagination. Sounds like you're one of them.
Thanks for the question.
Ronn
Oct 2, 2012 20:33:44 #
treehugger
Loc: Eastern Idaho Highlands
Any camera can capture an image, it's the photographer that creates the photograph.
Oct 2, 2012 21:08:56 #
BigD wrote:
I was assigned to cover a BMX/Skate event a few we... (show quote)
When i burn the burgers it is the grills fault, when i blow a shot, i reshoot the dam thing.
What you say is true, I see it all the time. I was shooting in a greenhouse with 3 rigs, 50D, 60D and a 1 D Mk2. A young lady with a hand me down 40D was lusting after the 60D and lamenting the fact that she "only" had a 40D.
I let her take a dozen or so shots while I watched and told her but for a bell and whistle or two its the same camera and asked her to read the manual and learn every feature and she can duplicate most any thing shot with my 60D.
The next new thing is always alluring, some might say seductive.
My first camera was a Minolta SRT 101 ( that I still use) since 1972, and still enjoy using it.
"Gear envy" srikes us all. The camera bodies I have now are what I will have for 5 years or more ( unless powerball comes my way).
The technological advances come so fast these days, camera's are obsolete by the time they hit the store counter, but the images they produce can be as timeless as any.
Oct 3, 2012 00:21:15 #
BigD
Loc: The LEFT Coast
All good points. What I was thinking also was that so many people that find their way to this forum or so many like it are genuinely seeking the knowledge to improve their skills. And so many of those people struggle to afford the equipment that they could actually use while a like number out there have that gear and make no effort to learn to use it. There should be a law LoL...
Oct 3, 2012 00:23:11 #
BigD
Loc: The LEFT Coast
SharpShooter wrote:
BigD, congadulations on comming through with the shots when it counted. That's why YOU are in the press area and not them!
Get their phone numbers and suggest they get a DX1. Call them in a couple a months and chances are, you could score that DX1 for next to nothing!!
Get their phone numbers and suggest they get a DX1. Call them in a couple a months and chances are, you could score that DX1 for next to nothing!!
Yeah when that stupid camera takes just as crappy images as that darn Nikon did haha. I could then suggest they get a Sony and post their number here for our Sony crew to follow up on.
:mrgreen:
Oct 3, 2012 02:31:55 #
BigD wrote:
quote=SharpShooter BigD, congadulations on commin... (show quote)
First, get a second DX1, I want one!
Oct 3, 2012 03:16:41 #
oldmalky
Loc: West Midlands,England.
I know that first hand,a lady with a p&s complained her camera was rubbish she then posted a few pics some were blurred but a couple were very good, i suggested she came on here but????????? she now has a canon shame really.lol
Oct 3, 2012 06:48:51 #
Oct 3, 2012 06:50:18 #
saxkiwi wrote:
quote=BigD I was assigned to cover a BMX/Skate ev... (show quote)
oops I put my thread in the middle of your thread
Oct 3, 2012 06:54:16 #
Knowing how to use the camera and understand it's capabilities is one part of what makes us photographers.
Oct 3, 2012 07:09:39 #
I used an Olympus 590 UZ for 2 years. I loved it as it was light weight and easy to travel with. In essence it was an advanced point and shoot. I really got some wonderful images from that camera. Some even sold. BUT It did not have a good manual focus capability and as a result some shots were very difficult to capture. I have recently upgraded to the Olympus OM-5..and I gotta tell you. There IS A DIFFERENCE...
Your argument is very much like nature vs nurture...I believe a good image is captured by knowing how to get the best out of the best equipment you can afford.
Your argument is very much like nature vs nurture...I believe a good image is captured by knowing how to get the best out of the best equipment you can afford.
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