[Rtech]

Before anyone says it, let me clarify that I'm talking camera's here people!

I remember one evening a few bhpians were sitting around, having a drink and catching up with everyone's favorite senior citizen here. The topic shifted (briefly) from cars to camera's.

A certain primate, who also happens to be a member here, was showing his latest possession to us. His new fangled Sony cam with 1000x zoom, 20MP, with xyz specs costing about the price of a nice set of high performance bike tyres and a 4-1 exhaust system put together (sorry, that how I calculate!). Impressive!

But, the primate was not happy with it and wanted to get something even better, and consequently worth a nice, sparingly used 600cc.

The old man, always the master of understatement, took out his 1mp phone cam, and showed us the few pictures he'd taken. Then he asked the primate why he wanted to spend so much more on another cam after just buying an already excellent camera.

The point, which was put across very clearly, was that its not how many pixels your camera is capable of, its how you envision the picture. Its how you frame the shot in your mind and then translate it onto your processor (I would say film, but not many left using that) that matters rather than having the best equipment.

This just came to mind as I was browsing through reviews on cams (as I'm looking for a new one) and came across this Great article.

Moral of the story taken from that article: Photographers make photos, not cameras.

[S Pathak]

Couldn't agree more. Sadly that's the point most people miss out. It's not about the camera, it's a lot about what is front of it (read lens) and mainly what is behind it (read...).

Additionally, Ken Rockwell's write-ups are always interesting to read. (Just ignore his gear reviews or take it with a huge dose of salt - mostly reviews them without putting them in real use).

[islero]

Hey guys,

I know this is offtopic, but can any of you please tell me how to take pictures of cars under really really bright showroom lights?? I tried once, and the pictures became blurred too easily and it was difficult to get the right exposure.

I have a Sony 5.1 mp by the way.

[1Day]

I have been dying to buy a nice point and shoot digital camera with many megapixles in it , reason being I love to take shots and blow them up to a large printout which needs the multipixle camera..

so I know Rudra is the one to talk to about this(i could be wrong), Rudra can you please help me picka camera which i can easily take on vacation has more than 3x zoom and has the capability to allow me to print upto 12x15 shots..

please please..i have been soo confused...and at the same time is there a place on the net which is giving small tutorials on how to click snaps in different lighting? night vision, night vision with fire, some outside natural light shots etc etc..

[RX135]

Rtech, very valid point you have made and this is true not just for Cameras, but for many things that we buy. Whenever we are buying, we try to get maximum features in the product, sometime even by paying a big premium for it. Once we buy it, we eventually end up using only 10% of all that it offers.

[navin]

1. for indoor situations a bounce flash is really really useful
2. for outdoor situations 28mm is usually more useful than 200mm
3. colour accuracy (firmware, lens etc..) counts more than Pixels.
4. I use a 4 year old 4MP camera and am happy with prints upto 6x8 and have even got decent 8x10s.
5. Anything over 200mm must have IS
6. if you intend to travel with family and a camera keep it below 12oz (350gms).

I'd look at the Canon G6 or S80 but i'f i did not have the budget the bulky but excellent A610 would do too.

[drifter]

That link was really useful man. Thanks rtech.

Drifter

[tsk1979]

To each one is own, but one advice. Stay away from "Ken rockwell.com". They guys main problem is that if he sees "big brand" he already gives the verdict "Very nice", and if you go to some non canon/nikon brand he will give verdict "lousy".
Nevertheless fully agree "Bigger is not always better". The nut behind the wheel, or in this case the camera is the weakest link in the chain!

[Rudra Sen]

How many of us have actually explored to see what our cameras can do?

We may be having very expensive cameras but we don’t care to get the best output.
(can see few members saying look who’s talking! As if we don't know!)

Very nice clean, sharp write up Rtech.

[Samurai]

Guys, if really want to learn, try this site. And you don't need a dSLR to start with, most P&S cameras have enough manual controls for most purposes. It is only when you find yourself wanting much advanced creative controls, you should look at dSLRs. If you are not using manual controls on your P&S, don't bother with dSLRs.

[jkdas]

Nice one Rtech.

The same applies with good drivers/riders and not what they drive/ride

[prasadee]

You are mostly right Rtech. Many issues of the Popular Photography magazine have award winning pics shot with ordinary cameras.

But, after you get the basics you would want to play around with a few manual settings. In several situations like taking a pic in front of a fountain, or a sleeping baby, or a speeding car, or a car that is reflecting a lot of background light....... you know you can do a lot better with an SLR that has various capabilities.

That said.... as Rudra pointed out, we do take most of our pics in the auto modes. Especially my wife. She got a Canon D450 because my SLR is too big and heavy. Sometimes the pics from her camera do turn out better, but many times she just cannot get the blue sky, while I can. (after playing around with exposure settings for 10 minutes).

My point is that a good camera like the low end SLRs can help a good photographer who understands the basics of light, a much better photographer.

[GTO]

Very suggestive title ;-)

Applies to most things in life. And life itself. Everything is only as good as what you make of it.

GTO

[S Pathak]

Originally Posted by Samurai

Guys, if really want to learn, try this site.

Happy to see it helped Samurai. Undoubtedly, one of the best sites for photo enthusiasts.

Originally Posted by navin

1. for indoor situations a bounce flash is really really useful
2. for outdoor situations 28mm is usually more useful than 200mm
3. colour accuracy (firmware, lens etc..) counts more than Pixels.
4. I use a 4 year old 4MP camera and am happy with prints upto 6x8 and have even got decent 8x10s.
5. Anything over 200mm must have IS
6. if you intend to travel with family and a camera keep it below 12oz (350gms).

Respectfully disagree to some of the observations here. Nevertheless, the point remains that equipment is secondary. What's between ears count most.


A shot at Chail with a lowly Nikon F80 (a film camera) and the ubiquitous 50mm lens, drumscanned.