Weekly Poll: Photographer or Gear (Now with poll)

[Nicole]

There's always discussion about needing (wanting) the newest camera gear, but really, in your opinion is it the gear or the photographer that makes the most difference in getting a good picture?

There are lots of threads that kind of hint at people having opinions about this People talk about being able to take better pictures if they just had a better camera, or they talk about how their picture would have been better if they had L-glass rather than the kit lens, but do you really think this is true?

Let's hear what you have to say about whether it's the photographer or the gear

[Bo_]

I think that the most important thing regarding the photo is the photographer.

Of course there are situations where the quality of the picture will be improved (or make the job easier) when you have better gear: like photography in low light.

But anyway - I would still like a better camera - and that’s maybe because I'm not a good photographer.

[PerJr]

Well, as a newcommer to the dSLR world i can say that just buying a good/expensive cam dont make you "Instant PRO"

A person who's been around his/her share of different cams, lenses and other various gear - with a understanding of how to setup the gear to the specific scene can do ALOT better with worse gear than e.g me with my D80

I think people got a bad habbit of blaming gear instead of own skills (i do...hehe )

I guess photographing is one of the hobbies where "practise makes perfect" really shows

edit: Happy Birthday btw nicole

[Jamesc359]

No contest, the photographer is always responsible for making a photo what it is. S/he is the single most influential component in photography. Gear is just that, gear, it has never taken a great photo without the photographer.

Yes, having the latest camera and a half dozen $3,000 lenses can benefit a good/great photographer. Heck, it can improve the work of any photographer, even a horrible one (the extent of which is debatable), but it'll never make him good, let alone great.

The photographer sees the picture in his/her minds eye. S/he decides on composition and a billion other artistic issues, and ultimately whether or not the photo is great. The camera can only assist him in his endeavor by taking care of the technical issues.

Art is what photography is really about, in the long run nobody cares what brand of camera you used, or the quality of the lens. They care about the photo.

How many here know off the tops of their heads what camera and lenses Ansel Adams used? Who would even bother pondering such things? It doesn't really matter what he used, it's how he used it that matters.

*Steps down from his soap box*

That said, I'd still love a Nikon D3.

[jdepould]

Where's the poll?

I vote shooter is most important, although good gear makes it easier to get the good shots.

[wordsmithereens]

This is the test: 1. Give a good photographer a box camera. 2. Give a lousy photographer a top of the line Leica. I say good photographer gets more good shots consistently with the box than the one with the Leica. It's not the camera, it's the photographer.

[filemanager]

I'd say it's the photographer. As someone once told me (it was a salesman in a camera store... lol)...

"You can get the perfect picture with any camera - as long as you know how to use it, and you know what you're doing."

[Nicole]

Dang it, I think I deleted the wrong thread when my internet connection died this morning. Let me see if I can make a poll work

[Nicole]

Trying to merge this with the other thread, my internet connection died this morning in the middle of making the thread and obviously the poll didn't show up.

There we go If people want to actually press the button to vote now I think it's all set up.

[Saralonde]

Hey Nic, where's the poll? I hear as you get older you can become forgetful (Happy Birthday).

Absolutely the photographer more than the equipment. I've been on forums where the equipment is the main part of many a conversation. They have thousands of dollars, even tens of thousands in equipment. Yet the few times they post an image, it is ordinary, very sharp, but ordinary. This is not to say there are not some excellent photographers with lots of expensive equipment. It just says you don't need it. I'm sure everyone of us can find a favorite photographer on flickr that works miracles with a point and shoot.

Remember who takes the shots: the photographer, not the camera. By itself, the camera does nothing.


Edit: Ah! There it is!