Am I alone? (a pity post)

[ShutteringFocus]

Alright...everywhere I go its 20D or Mark II...I'm feeling incompetent.

I'm using a D30...and sometimes it feels like its a Dinosaur. With the way you guys talk about these new cameras...holly smoke...I feel like my little baby should be in a museum someplace!

I was shooting basketball for the school newspaper the other day. And of course there was that pro dude that the school hires to take "real" pics for them. And he has his Mark II with his 550EX and his super duper battery pack, and lets not forget his 70-200 2.8 image stabilized...oh...and WHITE...lens. And then its half time and the dancers come out. Does he switch lenses for the close ups? No, of course not. He just reaches into his bag and pulls out another camera. A 1Ds with ANOTHER 550EX on it...loaded with a lens of some mm rating and a nice RED ring around the end of it...

*Sigh*

And there's me...with my D30 and my Sigma 70-200 2.8. The combo that I bought instead of a Jeep...and that in the gym with 1600 ISO just barely squeaks out good enough for little newspaper prints...

Im proud of it when the other guy has a PowerShot...

[booggerg]

why you comparing yourself to "Pros"? Take what you have and squeeze as much as you can out of it...

[Eric DeCastro]

i'm not a pro, but it is almost necessary for us (media) to have at least two bodies. i wuold rather swith cameras then swithc lenses. I'll be looknig for another 10D or 20D as a second body.

a good friend and fellow photographer on our website owns:
1DS
1DMKII
20D
10D
not to mentino every L zoom canon makes.
(yes he is extremely in debt. lol)

[MrChad]

You have a D30 and a f2.8 lens....
Umm....I'd be more then happy with a D30 or D60 they are great cameras. I use to use a D60 in a lab at work, I drooled over it daily--wish I owned oned.
I don't think a 20D body is going to make the pics much better....

[defordphoto]

A little pixel envy going on here? ;)

The D30 is an excellent camera. Always was and always will be.

[JAZZ D.P.G.]

I was originally looking at the D30, but took so long to convice myself to spend this money, that the D60 came out!

In for a penny.................

The L and DO came from developing my needs and getting the best to answer varying conditions.

Started with the 28-135 IS and still like this lens too, great walk around lens, good for may situations. Won't see the "pro" using this, but works for me.

Do I want the big lens? No. I'll go for the better body next. Well, maybe the 300 F4 with a 1.4.....

[Littlenose]

Yep, i'm seeing posts of D20 and MkII's everywhere... but i'm thinking that i get what i want from my camera and i've spent a grand total of £600 rather than £6000 :D
Yes, I'm tempted to drop the plastic on the counter, but I don't really think i'll get much more out of my camera if i did, as my kit is still severely limited by the user ;-) I really am just enjoying getting out there and shooting pics of what looks good / interesting to me... here's hoping to some sunshine this afternoon so i can go get some roundy shots :)

[BearSummer]

Hi ShutteringFocus,

The D30 is a great camera and can do stuff that the pro's 1ds's cant. The D30 is IR sensative so you can take Infrared photos with it if you have the correct filter on thr front (R72). On a bright day you can expect f8 and 2-8 second exposures but the pics are lovely. All the best

BearSummer

[CyberDyneSystems]

Hi ShutteringFocus,

... The D30 is IR sensative so you can take Infrared photos with it if you have the correct filter on thr front (R72).....

BearSummer

Yeah.. let me know if you ever want to sell that old thing cheap :lol: :lol:

At the risk of generalisation.. most of us who frequent these forums are so "hooked" on the whole tech thing it's almost a disease....

Pros are a different story.. they have the gear because it's there job... and quite frankly... very few of the online camera gear geeks are n fact full time pro photogs.. (at least percentage wise) ... but it's of no use to compare your needs to that of a pro...

The rest of us... well,.. we drop all our cash on neat toys and live in unfurnished cheap apartments and drive yugos.... :lol:

I don't think you should envy us... :rolleyes: :mrgreen:

Like a herion addict,... It's US who should be pitied... :rolleyes: :lol:

[Moppie]

ShutteringFocus Ill gladly swap you my A80 for your D30, its much newer and Ill even draw a red ring around the lens if you like :)


I sat down next to a guy with a brand new 20D the other day to shoot some BMX's jumping into the harbour. Said hello, asked about his camera, he asked about mine. We both complained about the lack of light, and poor background, talked about differnt ways to getting around it, discussed the settings we were useing, best point to focus, best time to start shooting and then did a little chimping, complimenting each other on good shots.
I put my A80 back in its case, and he put his 20D away, we said good bye and headed off.

Theres no need to let your equipment get in the way of enjoying your hobby. :)

[Lisard]

I have two cameras and white lenses. But comparing to friend of mine who has only Drebel and couple Sigma lenses all my photos are crap. So it's not all about equipment. And he doesn't consider himself a pro. And what makes someone a truly pro? Definatelly not a camera... Just my opinion.
Don't be envy. But I agree changing lenses during shooting could be a real pain.

[Ajay213]

Are you happy with the photo's that the camera takes? If so, what's the problem?

Not to point out a famous photographer, but Ansel Adams didn't have 1/10th the technology we have today....his pictures came out pretty good ;)

One of my most favorite pictures taken in the past year was taken on the cheapest disposable camera around by the custodial staff at a theme park, it's not very sharp, the colors are pretty accurate (hard to go wrong there with modern film) but the shadow detail is pretty poor (no flash). Technically speaking the picture is a complete failure, but that doesn't stop it from being one of my overall favorites.

Don't be an Equipment Measurbator (http://www.kenrockwell.com/tech/7.htm)

Andrew

[flugelboy]

Hey! I have a Power Shot.

*goes to the corner and sulks*

[EoSD30fReAk]

Hey! I have a Power Shot.

*goes to the corner and sulks*
there's nothing wrong with a powershot! a lot of us DSLR users still have one!

[ShutteringFocus]

Yeah, alright...you're right everyone...

I was shooting basketball in a gym. The only thing worse than that for lighting is shooting swimming in an indoor pool (which I have also done with the D30 and gotten workable results). I was just getting a little "Grain Down" as the 1600ISO shots on the D30 are pretty bad...especially in the shadows. And the D30's focus speed is not really what I would call lightning quick.

But then I went into my room and looked at my "old" camera. That Canon Ae-1. Manual everything. You wana talk about Ansel Adams style...haha...and focus speed? what? how fast can you twist a lens ring?

I guess comparing my camera to the pro is like comparing my car to a race car drivers ride.

(I attached one of the photos I got. At least I think I did)

[ARTSPACE]

Our D60 is still going strong and we use it every day (for 3 years) and even shoot sports for Brightroom.com all Summer with it. How does that expression go - "If it ain't broke, don't fix it."

[Nic]

Hi Shutteringfocus,

Don't feel bad. I owned nothing!!

[Ajay213]

But then I went into my room and looked at my "old" camera. That Canon Ae-1. Manual everything. You wana talk about Ansel Adams style...haha...and focus speed? what? how fast can you twist a lens ring?

Ahhh the AE-1, my first "real" camera. I'm semi-half jealous as I've been toying with the idea of picking one up again. And what a great tool to learn with, a decent meter in it and everything else is manual control.

Not quite Ansel Adam's rudimentary, lugging a 20+lb 8x10 view camera up and down mountains take a bit of dedication, but close compared to what we have today.

(I attached one of the photos I got. At least I think I did)

Looks like a great photo. Imagine getting that shot on your AE1, you probably wouldn't have "chanced" 1600ISO film, so you'd be pushing 3200 (and be living in grain city), you would have been extremely lucky to focus on time to catch the shot. Then you would have to wind the next frame in (unless you have a motor drive) which would take a second or two, etc.

[dewmuw]

There's always a guy out there with something bigger and better - where does it end?

I was out with my G3 the other day and took a picture of a guy on a windsurfer. (I posted it here in fact). I got into converastion with a guy who had a 10D and an array of lenses. He'd bought the kit on the spur of the moment. Anyway he e-mailed me as he'd checked my site and asked could I print and send him a copy of the windsurfer picture as it was his mate on board!! With all his shooting he hadn't got a shot he was happy with. I was lucky, he wasn't. Nothing to do with equipment.

[Jon]

But then I went into my room and looked at my "old" camera. That Canon Ae-1. Manual everything. You wana talk about Ansel Adams style...haha...and focus speed? what? how fast can you twist a lens ring?
Whadda ya mean "manual everything"? My F-1 and FTb have manual everything. Your AE-1 has shutter priority exposure setting, and auto-flash with the right flash. Getting match needle manual outta the AE-1 is a real pain.

[benhasajeep]

I was a college paper photog. We had 4 editions a week so was a good opportunity to get a lot of pics in the paper. I did not have the fanciest gear. I was about in the middle, in terms of newest technology. I did have a good Nikon 6006 AF body and Nikon glass (slower lenses though). It was not the top of the line F4s or even N90 that just came out. But I knew the camera.

Also one thing different I did than the others. Is when the situation called for it, I would beg, borrow, or rent what I needed to get good shots. For football games I would rent a big lens (useually a mf tamron 300 2.8 8). Now the pay versus the lens rental would be a wash. But I knew I could get pics others could not with out it, and always was paid for a pic to cover the cost. Basketball games, I would borrow a friends fathers lenses. 80-200 2.8, and a 35-70 2.8. I could not afford lenses that fast but again I improvised.

I also carried a second body. Minolta x370 and 2 plain jane minolta lenses. Definately nothing fancy. But I still had shots printed from it. The second body allowed me to have a smaller lens while a big one was on the Nikon.

There were useually 12 photogs on the paper staff. I would have about 1/5 of the pics in the paper. It was not because I was some super photographer. It's becuase I learned to work with what I had. This was at a fairly big school (35,000 students) and I was surrounded by real Pros in the photo pits. I did not let that faze me one bit. Did I dream and beg for the fancy new stuff. Yup all the time. But my $250 Minolta still sold pics. My 4th from the top of the line Nikon sold pics.

Don't fret not having the best on the block. Just know your camera. By knowing your camera, you can take much better pics than the guy down the bench with the newest fancy thing on full automatic!!

This is really long winded, and I am not a pro shooter, I went a different direction after college. Lately have thinking about giving it a try though. But looking back, I did learn a good lesson. You don't have to own the best to be the best! At least in my little world of a college newspaper. :D