Why bigger cams aren't always better

[Deadpoet]

yeah, I read the title, but if you read throught the thread, the objectivities were throw out with the bath water.

As I was reading thru the thread, I have a distinct sour grape feel from many of the post. I would love to shoot with a hassy and a 39MB d-back, I can't afford it, but I do not go around and say I can get jsut as good pictures with my G3?

Actually both side of the coin are equally annoying, the BBB crowd and the sour grapes.

What we should do is, just go and shoot, make beautiful images that we like, and then, shoot some more.

 

[Pixelated]

Why nobody mention about Moose Peterson, Bjørn Rørslett, Michael Weber, Thom Hogan, Ron Reznick, etc..

 

[synapseman]

When I first started out shooting weddings, I used a prosumer Minolta 7Hi. The couple had no issues, but I got a lot of snide remarks from the relatives.

Since then, I've gone through several cameras, the latest being the Sony Alpha 100. When I knew of a 3rd party grip, I knew I HAD to get one, if only for the sake of "beefing" it up. Frankly, I found it a bit cumbersome to use, quite "din-deh". But when the father of the bride said "wah your camera so big! I'm very impressed", I knew that it was money well spent. Whole day everybody smile.

As photographers, we know full well that size doesn't matter. But when people are going to PAY you, what and how THEY think, however misplaced, would be most important.

Therefore, big camera = better camera = better pictures!

Psychology plays a part in everything, yo.

 

[Andy Ang]

But when the father of the bride said "wah your camera so big! I'm very impressed", I knew that it was money well spent. Whole day everybody smile.

Agree. The grip is there to put the clients at east and thus smiling more for you.

 

[synapseman]

Agree. The grip is there to put the clients at east and thus smiling more for you.

Yeah. Let's be completely honest with ourselves. Even for our own wedding, your photographer's gear, which would inspire more confidence?

Or

Sometimes, it's really the mass-market that determines the "truth". Why do you think manufacturers earn so much money by introducing "new" models which have only 1mp more than the prev. model? The majority of people on planet Earth don't know better, so when a nice pic is produced, it MUST be made from a "very good camera", one that they don't have. So what WE think may make us feel good, but it doesn't really matter. In the end you must still kowtow to their thinking if you want their money. Trying to educate the public that "size does not matter" is really an exercise in futility. Yup, it's quite a superficial world, folks...

But chill yo, if it's just for leisure, shoot with whatever you have and be happy with it.

 

[lovells19]

Big cameras makes a photographer looks pro, doesn't matter he can shoot or not. This alone appeals to the public, wah so big must be pro. its a mind set.

Im sure most of the ppl here have been to motorshows to shoot the beautiful models, and if you realised they only smile to the big guns.

There's limitation to our P&S. I love my lomo, but being a P&S there are effects we cannot achieve at times, the amount of details due to the lens, ISO noise blah blah blah the list goes on.

If you're talking abt composition of the photos, im sure someone with luck/talent will be able to create a world class master piece with any P&S.

Equipment aids the photographer to achieve the desired effect, it doesn't always determine how well the photo is taken.

I love all my cameras big or small :d they all have their pros and cons and all produced totally different photos with different moods. :d

 

[renegade150]

just shoot with what you have in life....buy the best that you can afford...
focusing too slow? MF & your eyes are faster than any kind of USM or SWM..
cheaper lens = lighter lens(for most brands)...& this enables u to assume any kind of position for composition with ease & comfort...instead of feeling angry & full of stress...u are relaxed...thus allowing you to think more on composition...
singapore is not a country where people run around with ak-47s or have any kind of sandstorms & typhoons..so there is no need for a camera with a pro quality build...
be a smart photographer...& not an equipment freak.
if you want to wayang...just buy a 600mm prime & put in a glass display case in your house lor.
just my 2 cents.

 

[slaam]

Yeah. Let's be completely honest with ourselves. Even for our own wedding, your photographer's gear, which would inspire more confidence?

Or

Sometimes, it's really the mass-market that determines the "truth". Why do you think manufacturers earn so much money by introducing "new" models which have only 1mp more than the prev. model? The majority of people on planet Earth don't know better, so when a nice pic is produced, it MUST be made from a "very good camera", one that they don't have. So what WE think may make us feel good, but it doesn't really matter. In the end you must still kowtow to their thinking if you want their money. Trying to educate the public that "size does not matter" is really an exercise in futility. Yup, it's quite a superficial world, folks...

But chill yo, if it's just for leisure, shoot with whatever you have and be happy with it.

haha maybe ppl pose better cos they like to laugh at the impossibly huge camera with so many bells and whistles?

 

[XiaoMiaoWang]

The equipment offers the oppoturnities to expand your experiences in photography in a sense that it allows you to shoot different types of subjects. Discussion on it is entirely validated though. But to some, it has become a matter of ego, and not a matter of pursuing the photographic image. No matter what, the equipment is always secondary to the photographer. I neither dismissing the importance of it, neither am I demeaning that the discussion on such an issue is wrong in any manner, I am just clarifying facts. We get our equipment to further our photographic pursuits. Aspirations are one thing, but getting there is another matter altogether.

However, you don't have to use a hassy, leica, mamiya, whatsoever to shoot great pictures! It is the PHOTOGRAPHER that counts at the end of the day! Heck, i've seen many better photos taken with a pinhole camera than one taken with a DSLR! The image is what that says the most of each photographer. How you get it --(whether through killing, raping, burning, whatever heinous crimes) pales in relevance to the picture you have shot at the end of the day.

As they say, "A picture paints a thousand words".

That being said, those equipment freaks so obsessed about the trivial technicalities of their equipments don't really shoot great stuff, don't they? =D

 

[zaren]

another bump for my fav thread!

 

[slaam]

haha forgotten about this thread.. wow but its > 1 year since the last post!

 

[Andy Ang]

Heh, Zaren always revived this thread years after years. Think he may have a alarm reminder on his calander. ;-p

 

[Kenneth Tan]

One rice feed many kind people.
some demand best of the best.
some have ok liao.

Just see how the person see the pictures.

pardon me if ......

If small can do big ...
who want to buy big..??

Get me ??

 

[litechaser]

One rice feed many kind people.
some demand best of the best.
some have ok liao.

Just see how the person see the pictures.

pardon me if ......

If small can do big ...
who want to buy big..??

Get me ??[/QUOTE

those who are small but wanna look big ?

 

[zaren]

Magnum photographer Alex Majoli points and shoots with small, inexpensive cameras for much of his award winning work.

For Majoli it’s all about the image, not the gear. If you can make the images you want with a small point and shoot consumer camera, why not? Cerainly those of us who use big, heavy, expensive and complex DSLRs ought to have a smaller camera around as a sidekick. - Richard's Notes (Nov 8th 2007)

 

[zaren]

point & shoot vs point of view

 

[F5user]

very very interesting thread, one of the first few threads i read when i joined CS some years back. Glad it's still around.


I don't officially do weddings for a living, but love shooting for my friends at their functions/weddings and all....

yeah, psychology does play a big part with people nowadays. oooooo big camera, oooo pro. With even secondary school kids totting a 1d, 85 1.2, d3 17-35, etc etc...that's the way it is, that's the way it'll be for quite a while.

I recently did my daughter's wedding 3 yrs back with a mamiya 7 (+285HV) and a Fuji GSW690 for the wides, and people were asking why i was holding such 'small', 'primitive' cameras, to document such an important event.

:bsmilie:

 

[Canonised]

IMO, to the SAME photographer, generally, the "bigger" the cam, the better the quality of the images ....:think: ....
hence, bigger cams should always be better (to the same photographer).
anyone here is getting better images after "downgrading"?

 

[Snowcrash]

Bump on one of my fav thread!

 

[psychobiologist]

fav thread?

anywys if big cams can make one feel better.... then its betterr