Is it just me? "Thoughts from a newb"

Is it just me, or does the right lens make even bad pictures look good?

What I'm saying is... if you're standing next to a tourist with a little digital camera, and you have you _________, with your special _________ lens, yours will come out looking much beater, before and after editing. Am I right?

It depends upon a combination of factors, the most important being the knowledge of the person holding either camera.

Have a look at some of the p&s shots in these forums and you will be enlightened.

nahh, it is the photographer who makes the difference.. However with superior equipment you have a better chance of creating that GREAT shot. I am sure that there are several photographers on POTN that can consistantly make better photographs with a T3i and nifty fifty than I can with a 5D3 and the 70-200F2.8 markii.

Some lenses can make what would be a good picture with another lens better, but not salvage a bad picture. I can probably take a better shot with my S100 than most people (not necessarily POTN or 'serious' photographers) can with a DSLR.

Chances are if you are in to photography you are going to get a better shot than the person with the compact camera just becasue chances are they are not thinking too much about what they are doing.

Personally, despite having a few expensive(ish) lenses, the only one that I think 'wow did I take that shot' with is the 135L. That's probably a combination of the lens and the fact I use it for portraits, which I don't do much of and don't have high expectations of. Sill I know that to me the shot looks a lot better than I could have gotten with any one of my other lenses in the 100mm range.

For the rest you pay a lot for mostly subtle differences.

I could go to Yellowstone and get a bunch of 'good' landscapes with a tripod and my S100. It would be a PITA and would be less enjoyable for me, but could definitely be done.

This might interest you... http://camerashowdown.​com/

In general, there are many situations where the difference between cameras is negligible, and especially negligible when you aren't creating prints. When I got my first DSLR, the greatest difference that I was able to appreciate was the improved control of DOF (depth of field), low-light image quality, and the ability to auto-focus almost instantly and accurately track fast-moving subjects. Those aspects allow for almost endless potential for creativity.

Bonecollector wrote in post #17415749
Is it just me, or does the right lens make even bad pictures look good?

What I'm saying is... if you're standing next to a tourist with a little digital camera, and you have you _________, with your special _________ lens, yours will come out looking much beater, before and after editing. Am I right?

No, you are not right.

Two scenarios:

Scenario 1: Photographer has a good sense of "vision" - an understanding of how to compose the shot and knowing exactly where to shoot from, knowing how to use DOF to achieve his/her aesthetic goals for the image, etc - and a crappy little P&S.

Scenario 2: Photographer has excellent gear - full frame DSLR, premium lens, etc......but no real grasp on the concept of composition, no understanding of where to shoot from to get a particularly compelling image, no grasp of how DOF will affect the aesthetics of the shot, etc.

100% of the time, the photographer in scenario #1 will end up with the better image. And when I say "better", I simply mean the photo that is more pleasing to the eye and more interesting to the mind.

Tom Reichner wrote in post #17415997
No, you are not right.

Two scenarios:

Scenario 1: Photographer has a good sense of "vision" - an understanding of how to compose the shot and knowing exactly where to shoot from - and a crappy little P&S.

Scenario 2: Photographer has excellent gear - full frame DSLR, premium lens, etc......but no real grasp on the concept of composition, no understanding of where to shoot from to get a particularly compelling image, etc.

100% of the time, the photographer in scenario #1 will end up with the better image. And when I say "better", I simply mean the photo that is more pleasing to the eye and more interesting to the mind.

I absolutely agree with Tom.
I used to shoot with a crappy cheap camera with a kit lens and people were telling me that my shots were great. It really is the person behind the gear and how he/she sees things etc.

Old saying: "A poor workman blames his tools."

Bonecollector wrote in post #17415749
Is it just me, or does the right lens make even bad pictures look good?
..

There are situations where this could happen, for example in dark enviroments. A very fast lens (or stabilized) and a high sensitive camera results likely in better images than those made with a unstabilized zoom compact camera with a small sensor and bad electronics.

Or some flower photos where the f/1.2 lens on a fullframe body user gets easily a dreamy background, and the compact / mobile phone photographer gets a big DOF with no background separation. Both taken with the same level of composition skill.

But as others wrote, there are many, many situations where a photographer with good composition skill /idea and bad gear could make more interessting (=better) images than a photographer with tons of best equipment but less composition skill or image idea.

Bonecollector wrote in post #17415749
Is it just me, or does the right lens make even bad pictures look good?

What I'm saying is... if you're standing next to a tourist with a little digital camera, and you have you _________, with your special _________ lens, yours will come out looking much beater, before and after editing. Am I right?

Not unless you know what you're doing....otherwise, it'll be hard to say.

Bonecollector wrote in post #17415749
Am I right?

Nope.

There's people who can make excellent photographs using hacked up film and pin-hole lenses made from lens caps.

There's way more to it than just the hardware.

Very best,

https://photography-on-the.net …hp?p=16430250&i​=i28475774

https://photography-on-the.net …p?p=16660268&i=​i160561427

https://photography-on-the.net …p?p=17145490&i=​i211936614

These are the shots that got me to ask that question... especially these 3

https://photography-on-the.net …p?p=17148447&i=​i121005762

I feel like I couldn't take any of those with my little Nikon Coolpix L120

Am I still wrong? Is lots of these pictures post editing?
Thank you,
BC

Check these out and see what can be done with inferior gear and the skills to make it work.

https://www.youtube.co​m …t?list=PL7ECB90​D96DF59DE5

Qlayer2 wrote in post #17416335
Check these out and see what can be done with inferior gear and the skills to make it work.

https://www.youtube.co​m …t?list=PL7ECB90​D96DF59DE5

These videos from DigitalRev prove that it's not the camera but the person behind it that makes the photo good or bad.

Bonecollector wrote in post #17415749
Is it just me, or does the right lens make even bad pictures look good?

What I'm saying is... if you're standing next to a tourist with a little digital camera, and you have you _________, with your special _________ lens, yours will come out looking much beater, before and after editing. Am I right?

The best lens and the best camera will make bad pictures look good when they will have their own brain ...
But before it happen, people still need to use their own, the brain's app does not exist yet

Ok it's a joke, but you point something important with your question, the lack of knowing the gear that people own !
A lot of people upgrade each time to the next generation of gear because they think they will do better images, or they will not miss "the shot" (the famous great shot > let me laugh about it ) and in fact it's the lack of knowledge of their own gear which is the "problem"