4JawChuck
Chief Petty Officer
- Joined
- Aug 7, 2009
- Messages
- 504
Re: Digital Camera Rant
SLR's aren't for everyone, my wife consistently has issues with my Canon EOS 30D DSLR. Even though she uses the automatic functions exclusively she doesn't compensate for white balance under different light etc. High pressure sodium lights are her nemesis.
All the tweaks and buttons are a PITA for her, for me its what makes photography fun and challenging. I have given up trying to teach her to review her shots and take samples under the prevailing light and white balance all the time so she can take good photos, she just give the camera to me. Her skills are in the post processing stage where she loves taking the pics and putting them in collages and doing "creative memories" type stuff. I can't be bothered with those things.
Everyone has different needs and skill sets, this is why I listed the G series camera. A girl I used to take wedding photos with uses one exclusively and her pics are great, give her my D30 and shes lost. While shooting weddings with her I find she is more concerned with artistic content than I, her skills complement my technical skills for perspective and lighting. Often I grab her shoulders and move her 5 feet one way or another so her framing and lighting are perfect...same picture just better technique.
For her that G10 was a perfect match to her skills and needs, its automatic functions complement her style and won't let her take a bad picture...my camera will let you take bad pictures all day if you want. I hesitate to recommend lesser cameras because I have seen such garbage produced in the last 5 years it isn't even funny. The OP has pointed out what I have seen, mfg's have degraded sensor quality and logic processor intelligence and replaced it with automatic ISO and antishake functions in an attempt to allow even a monkey to take an in focus picture without blur...at the expense of quality and sharpness.
A skilled person could sit back and critique other peoples pictures all day and find fault with nearly every camera on the market, the fact of the matter is 99% of the people out there just want a picture...any picture. All you have to do is watch the parents at the elementary school Christmas play holding up their camera phones to snap a pic of little johnny in his Joseph outfit for posterity, I cringe knowing what kind of pic they just took and have to wonder how this could be acceptable to anyone but then realize...its a picture of little Johnny and anything is better than nothing.
To the OP I would recommend going to a good camera shop where they will let you play with various cameras in the shop, they have skilled staff and can make educated recommendations to you and evaluate your needs. I have one close to me and the guys at the counter recognize me and know the equipment I already have, they understand I am looking at $3000 lenses and work with professionals all the time (I'm no professional BTW). They price match for me all the time, even online pricing, so buying from them is a no brainer. Their experience with various equipment is invaluable to me, they have steered me away from pieces I either don't need or don't fit my requirements and even order in stuff so I can try it out. This kind of service is worth paying a little extra for and being given the camera to play with in the shop to test it out is nice. Not to mention they have a used camera cabinet where they sell items on consignment, lots of great stuff in there and the prices are hard to walk away from...there is an SLR film camera in there I have to pry myself away from everytime I go...must...resist...spending...more...money!
Worse thing you can do is buy a camera from Walmart to save $10 and find out its a piece of junk or doesn't do what you want. Take a trip to the local camera shop and talk to the staff...heck even some of the customers have great advice, you won't be sorry.
SLR's aren't for everyone, my wife consistently has issues with my Canon EOS 30D DSLR. Even though she uses the automatic functions exclusively she doesn't compensate for white balance under different light etc. High pressure sodium lights are her nemesis.
All the tweaks and buttons are a PITA for her, for me its what makes photography fun and challenging. I have given up trying to teach her to review her shots and take samples under the prevailing light and white balance all the time so she can take good photos, she just give the camera to me. Her skills are in the post processing stage where she loves taking the pics and putting them in collages and doing "creative memories" type stuff. I can't be bothered with those things.
Everyone has different needs and skill sets, this is why I listed the G series camera. A girl I used to take wedding photos with uses one exclusively and her pics are great, give her my D30 and shes lost. While shooting weddings with her I find she is more concerned with artistic content than I, her skills complement my technical skills for perspective and lighting. Often I grab her shoulders and move her 5 feet one way or another so her framing and lighting are perfect...same picture just better technique.
For her that G10 was a perfect match to her skills and needs, its automatic functions complement her style and won't let her take a bad picture...my camera will let you take bad pictures all day if you want. I hesitate to recommend lesser cameras because I have seen such garbage produced in the last 5 years it isn't even funny. The OP has pointed out what I have seen, mfg's have degraded sensor quality and logic processor intelligence and replaced it with automatic ISO and antishake functions in an attempt to allow even a monkey to take an in focus picture without blur...at the expense of quality and sharpness.
A skilled person could sit back and critique other peoples pictures all day and find fault with nearly every camera on the market, the fact of the matter is 99% of the people out there just want a picture...any picture. All you have to do is watch the parents at the elementary school Christmas play holding up their camera phones to snap a pic of little johnny in his Joseph outfit for posterity, I cringe knowing what kind of pic they just took and have to wonder how this could be acceptable to anyone but then realize...its a picture of little Johnny and anything is better than nothing.
To the OP I would recommend going to a good camera shop where they will let you play with various cameras in the shop, they have skilled staff and can make educated recommendations to you and evaluate your needs. I have one close to me and the guys at the counter recognize me and know the equipment I already have, they understand I am looking at $3000 lenses and work with professionals all the time (I'm no professional BTW). They price match for me all the time, even online pricing, so buying from them is a no brainer. Their experience with various equipment is invaluable to me, they have steered me away from pieces I either don't need or don't fit my requirements and even order in stuff so I can try it out. This kind of service is worth paying a little extra for and being given the camera to play with in the shop to test it out is nice. Not to mention they have a used camera cabinet where they sell items on consignment, lots of great stuff in there and the prices are hard to walk away from...there is an SLR film camera in there I have to pry myself away from everytime I go...must...resist...spending...more...money!
Worse thing you can do is buy a camera from Walmart to save $10 and find out its a piece of junk or doesn't do what you want. Take a trip to the local camera shop and talk to the staff...heck even some of the customers have great advice, you won't be sorry.
