sorry another which camera thread

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Mikkel

Tenderfoot
Aug 11, 2007
86
0
Denmark
Good photography is about much more than technical quality of the image.

I have used a wide range of camera equipment over the years, from the most basic full-auto 35mm compact film cameras to high end dSLRs with a wide array of diferent lenses. I even got an antique Leica III that i do some BW photography with once in a while.

The quality of my photos are in no way determined by which equipment I have used.
Yes, sometimes when using a compact digital, I could have wished for the longer zoom or ability to work in a wider light-range than the compact allows, but the motive itself have always been my main focus. And even with low end equipment, I'm able to get good shots, with no less ease than what the bigger models allow.
Of course, manual controls are important if I want to take more channelging photos. This is something rarely provided by compacts, and for this reason you can end up blaming the limitation of the techonolgy on the camera itself.

These days, I mainly use a compact, because I will then carry it with me more often, than what I would with a mid-range (Canon G-series) or an dSLR, and in the end, the best camera is the one you have with you :)

Of courseif you are willing to carry bigger equipment with you, you can increase you capabilities with better equipment. Of two equal skilled photographers, the one using the best equipment is of course more prone to take the better shots. But it still comes down to the skills of the photographer, and not the techincal equipment used.
I have seen so many unskilled photographer carry equipment around for in excess of 10k£ and still not being able to get a real good shot.


What low-quality equipment and world-class skills can produce:
zoom_1901009.jpg

(by Ansel Adams)
 

brancho

Bushcrafter (boy, I've got a lot to say!)
Feb 20, 2007
3,795
731
56
Whitehaven Cumbria
What low-quality equipment and world-class skills can produce:
zoom_1901009.jpg

(by Ansel Adams)

I am not sure I would about low quality equipment old fashioned maybe.

I am a real fan of Ansel Adams and he probably shot that on some the best kit available (at the time) he was a true proffessional and his books are still worth reading.
 

harryhaller

Settler
Dec 3, 2008
530
0
Bruxelles, Belgium
Great thread - Oi'll give it foive!:approve:

The tools don't replace the craftsman, and a bad craftsman blames his tools - but sometimes one needs to have the right tools for the job.

I'm interested in what I suppose would be called macro-photography. I would like to use a camera as a notebook to record plants so that I can get up to speed on plant recognition and I am looking for a camera tha can take close-ups of plants even in poor light - or can all cameras do that?

The argument for manual controls seems to me natural - I'm surprised that it isn't standard on all cameras.

I used to have an SLR Olympus (OM-10?) and I certainly agree that they are not the cameras that you can carry around with you all the time. A compact camera seems the most realistic tool on an everyday basis.

With regard to great photography - I have developed
an allergy for a certain type of photography - that type which has the intention to be "great". There was a great criticism of Welles' film "Citizen Kane" which had hitherto been acclaimed by some as the greatest film ever made etc. The critic pointed out the use of the camera in the film was totally pretentious giving significance and drama to something which was trivial and banal - in the same manner as dramatic music is used in films to wallpaper over the cracks in the plot and dialogue.

It would be the difference between photographing a flower to show the flower as it is and photographing the flower from unusual point of view to give it qualities which it really didn't have. Or to use special film and paper and developing processes which is what Ansel Adams did, I think.

We all have different tastes of course, but I like the photos where the photographer "isn't there" if you know what I mean:)
 

myotis

Full Member
Apr 28, 2008
837
1
Somerset, UK.
Ansel Adams didn't have 50mpix Hasselblad stuff, and somehow he still managed to get shots that most people can only dream of ;)

But he did have the very best that money could buy at the time, including the latest model Hasselblad and the earliest digital camera kit, which he was very excited about.

Having said that, I agree with the principle fo what you say.

Graham
 

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