Poll – Professional or amateur and lens choice?

[Tom_D]

I have been lucky enough to be able to purchase the camera and lenses I have needed as I have gotten further into photography. I'm starting to think about a new camera but it is still a ways off.

[JLai81]

I'm an amateur with an L addiction.

[garbidz]

Originally Posted by FlyingPhotog

Choice #2...

Simply can't justify better than the 50mm f/1.4 and the 85 f/1.8 for what I shoot...

Your photos are absolutely magnificent!
Big lense ≠ great photo.

[jimewall]

Main summaries/conclusions after 24 hours!

There were 139 responders to the poll so far. (117 amateur and 22 professional)

POTN has more amateurs than professionals – at least reading and responding to polls. It is so far a ratio of about a 5 to 1.

Whether amateur or professional, most people responding they purchase a mix of TOL lenses with good quality consumer/prosumer lenses. This is what I figured.

One purchase just whatever, and says they are a pro. I doubt it is a serious response, but who knows!?! I figured few to none on this, just because if you are willing to join and participate on a site like POTN, I think you would care about your equipment and your images.

Of the few that responded with comments, most people care about good glass, not necessarily about the “best” glass. As far as I know only amateurs were willing to leave comments. A few that responded with comments that did not mention if they were amateur or professional.

I was hoping for a few more comments, including some from professionals – but that’s ok.

The overall pattern is the same for both amateur and professional – Mostly people buy the mix, followed (not closely) by only TOL, then quality consumer/prosumer lenses, and again no picks for I don’t care.

Again I thank all who have participated so far.
I will see if the summary changes much after the weekend.

[kwando]

Hobbyist and started with a wide range of lenses. They overlapped were slow etc. at times I have sold and regretted it and bought the same lens again. I've score deals on CL and resold them to make 2x, I am where I am now because it's what ive found most useful. And L's do hold value way better than non-L.

[ZoneV]

I vote for amateur and mixing.

I work at a industry camera manufacturer as optics engineer in R&D. Some times I make some photos there, but mainly photography is my hobby.

I have a some of top of the line lenses - Minolta Rokkor 58/1.2, Canon FD 24/1.4L, FD 300/2.8L and others - but only manual lenses. Some adapted, some converted to work with my Canon EOS DSLR cameras. I do not want to buy those expensive Canon EF L lenses - and those cheaper EF lenses I know I do not like because of mechanics and focussing (EF 50/1.4, 1.8, 1.8II, 28-135 IS USM, some cheap zoom lenses).
But I have some very cheap manual lenses too, like the Meyer Trioplan 100mm f/2.8 - one of my best lenses. It has only 3 lens elements. Best not in sharpness, but in great resulting images.
Or Canon FD 50/1.8 - which I have modified to a tilt lens.

[FlyingPhotog]

Originally Posted by jimewall

POTN has more amateurs than professionals – at least reading and responding to polls. It is so far a ratio of about a 5 to 1.

Or, POTN has amateurs who are five times more likely to vote...

[sambarino]

I am an amateur. I tried some L-lenses. The 135L and 200 2.8L. They are both very nice lenses with IQ superior to anything else I own. I sold them because they didn't work for me. I need zoom in that range. I am glad I bought them, because I got to play with them for a year and sold them for near what I paid for them. THAT is a nice feature of L-glass! My mid-range zoom of choice was the EF 70-210 f/3.5-4.5. It cost me $99 and it does what it is supposed to do. I did recently buy the 100-400L because there is no real competition for its FL range at its price. I am happy to buy what gets the job done for me.

[jimewall]

Originally Posted by FlyingPhotog

Or, POTN has amateurs who are five times more likely to vote...

Thanks for making clearer what I said after the dashed line where you quoted me.

So after the weekend, plus Monday. The only real change is that there is now also an amateur who doesn't care and more respondents (responders?). A total now of exactly 200 (173 amateurs and 15 professionals). So amateurs are slightly over 11 times more abundant on this site, or that are more willing to answer.

I may see if there is a change after a week, but I pretty much got (reinforced what I thought) the information I was looking for.

Thanks again everybody who took the time to fill out the poll. And an extra thanks to those who provided extra reasons as to their choice.

[Hogloff]

Originally Posted by Stone 13

I'm an amateur and I buy the best I can afford. However, I don't require it to be L glass, plenty of great Canon glass that lacks the red ring.

Plenty of great non Canon glass as well. People should not get too hung up on having to buy Canon glass.

[1Tanker]

Originally Posted by jimewall

Thanks for making clearer what I said after the dashed line where you quoted me.

So after the weekend, plus Monday. The only real change is that there is now also an amateur who doesn't care and more respondents (responders?). A total now of exactly 200 (173 amateurs and 15 professionals). So amateurs are slightly over 11 times more abundant on this site, or that are more willing to answer.

I may see if there is a change after a week, but I pretty much got (reinforced what I thought) the information I was looking for.

Thanks again everybody who took the time to fill out the poll. And an extra thanks to those who provided extra reasons as to their choice.

Yes, it seems like "pros" are less inclined to answer polls or threads that they consider "irrelevant", or where they can't flaunt their knowledge.

[shinyknights]

Looks like the majority of us are amateurs!!

The pros are too busy doing photo shoots and post processing their photos while we troll POTN

[Dillan_K]

Like most amateurs, I have chosen the best lenses that I can afford. I chose to take the path less travelled: I chose to purchase inexpensive non-L primes. I will upgrade some of them and add other focal lengths when I have the money. Overall I'm pretty happy. The glass I have does the trick!

[KirkS518]

Hobbyist here as well. I pretty much buy based on price at this point. For what I'm doing, L type IQ isn't essential. My gear consists of a Rebel XT ($81 - body only), Canon 75-300 Non-L ($50), Canon Non-L 28-90 ($30 including an old film body), and a Sigma 180mm APO Macro ($140 including a Rebel G and a kit lens). I really have no use for the Sigma, so I'll be selling that, so my gearbag now has a cost (to me) of $161.

My wife is ok with that, and in the short time I've been back into photography, I've gotten my money's worth. Down the road I may be able to justify expensive stuff, but between photography, the boat, and my fishing hobbies, I doubt I'll be getting any L lenses anytime soon. I'm just glad I got rid of the Corvette!

[les_au]

photograpy is a past time for me, and i like to combine it with travel. i have come to look at buying lenses etc this way. i can pay for top of the line Nikon glass as that is the platform i am on and have no cash for travel or i can look at nikon's value lenses and mix it with tamron tonika and sigma glass. A lot of the aftermarket lenses are pretty damn close in performance to the OEM's and often costs a heck of a lot less