Hardly a rant compared to some. Electronics and computers have changed only the tools, not photography. And, yes, the tools were simpler, sometimes easier, and sometimes harder to use than todays tools. But photography still consists of only aperture, shutter speed, and ISO (or ASA in film terms). There are still only those three controls with a bunch of electronics and software to help us control them. Or even shoot manual. To a certain degree, things have gotten less expensive; there are no limits of 24 or 36 pictures and their cost. If one is not happy with the way the "processing" of the image is going, just delete and pull up the original to start again as many times as necessary.

Of course, there will be varying opinions, but after shelling out buckets of cash on a new camera and four really fine lenses, tripod, filters etc, I opted for the one at Adorama for very little money: Green Extreme= $50. It has functioned flawlessly, thus far. It never comes off my camera, thus minimizing the damage to the connector. The thing I like best is that I have gotten in the habit of leaving the battery out of the camera and only using the one in the grip. That way, I don't have to take the grip off to change the battery in the camera. YMMV. Good luck with whatever you decide.

I've been on this site for not quite two months now, and have gradually been coming to some conclusions about the discipline of photography (pro, artist, enthusiast, 'snapshooter') and about us as practitioners of that discipline. I also think that there are definitely some things going on that aren't necessarily good for any of us, and I think that there are some very concrete things that groups like ours can do about it. As there seems to be interest, I'll be sharing more of those things in the near future.

All these feelings were validated when member mtshooter posted a graph in another thread a week or so ago summarizing the amount of photographic equipment purchased each year for the last few years. The data was alarming to me, because it showed sales of mirrorless equipment as flat and sales of DSLRs declining fairly rapidly. The main concern to me, though, was that the total overall sales of "serious" photographic equipment is declining fairly rapidly. In fact, I suspect that the sales of mirrorless equipment is being held relatively constant mainly by DSLR folks converting to that format, not because of new folks entering.

As a 40 year veteran of the manufacturing industry, I can tell you without question that current manufacturing business models are not based on either declining or flat sales trends. In fact, if either Nikon or Canon were US entities, they would most likely have been out of the market quite a while ago. While the oldest of us on the site may not be around or interested for a long enough time for it to make any difference to us, I believe that some of the younger members may be victims of the declining trends before too much more time passes.

Now...I believe that we in this community are in a position to do something about all this. I don't have it fully fleshed out, but here are some of my thoughts:

1. We all (including me) need to make a special point of welcoming new members.
2. We all (including me) need to be kinder and more patient with new members and with others who ask questions.
3. If there are any questions about #2, we need to take a deep breath and think back to the questions we asked when we were getting started.
4. We all (and this includes me) need to just grow up a little bit and get along. Each group I mentioned above brings something important to the table.
5. Stop the public bickering. To be honest, if I were new to photography, I would not put up with it and would move elsewhere.
6. Recruit somebody. Those who are happy with cell phone cameras don't know they need us. If we lose the snapshooters, we lose the industry. If we lose the new folks, we lose our discipline.

That's enough for now. I'll share more later in a post of my own, especially about the four groups of us and why they are critical to our survival.