Why do people list all their gear in their signatures?

OK, I'm relatively new here, but I must admit I don't understand this. Why do so many people have a complete list of their gear in their signatures?

You know what I mean: something like this:

I mean, we all know that good gear does not necessarily equate to good photos, and it does not necessarily equate to good advice on forums. So ... all you folk out there with the gear lists ... why do you do it? To impress the newbies? To impress the girls? (Or boys, as the case may be?) Tell me, tell me!

Mainly so we can see what the poster is working with. If a poster asks what lens or tripod he/she should get, their kit is there for all to see so responses can be better tailored. That and as you say to impress the girls

I personally do it so when I am asking for advice, eg what to take on a trip/what to buy/what to sell I can just say "Check my sig to see what I have" instead of listing it all. I also do it so when I post pictures in the various galleries, so people will know what gear I used to take the shots. Basically it cuts down on unnecessary and repetitive questions you have to answer about what gear you use.

Sometimes people want to see what you shoot with. You can tell a lot about the person by the gear they choose.

1. Income
2. What kind of pictures they take - weddings, landscape, sports
3. Are they L specific?
4. Do they prefer primes or zooms?

Many times it helps pique your interest on a lens you may not hear much about.

As you can see from my sig line I'm not to worried about it.

Very straightforward answer #1: if you don't list it you get question 1a (in the photo sharing threads) "what camera/lens did you use to take that?" or question 1b (in the equipment forums) "you should use the x00mm fx.y" lens to do that, when you've already stated, in the text of you're message, that you've used that very same lens and are exploring alternatives.

In other words, peoples .sig list (pretentious as they may seem) is usually an attempt to increase signal at the expense of noise. (And don't even ask why people don't look for EXIF data before asking those questions. Often they don't know what to look for, but more often than not they just couldn't be bothered.)

...Mike

Why does a dog lick its crown jewels?

Because it can.

I thankyow

I put mine on there so that if I had a question people wouldn't ask me what I had to work with all the flippin' time. They could just look at my siggy and say OH well....that's your problem. I really could care less about impressing anyone, and I HIGHLY doubt that's why anyone does it.

I like to see what people are shooting with. So, I in turn share my information. My list is definately not to impress, though I am proud of my equipment and it is all I can afford. Some people also list what camera/lens they are selling so they can upgrade.

Or you could lose the lens list and be more specific with your questions.

Graham

I don't think chosen gear would be an accurate measure of someone's income. More likely just a measure of how much someone is willing to spend on gear. Otherwise, I agree with the other points.

I didn't say this, but you may not be replying directly to me.

But in rebuttal, you can see how much daily bread has gone into their job or hobby that is Canon gear. Simply put, the average hobby shooters, say a 23 year old person with their first good job and a new XT in their hands differs from an successful business owner who has a 1Ds MkII and long L list.

It also lets you see what pros choose as their revenue generating gear.

It reflects on income, but it is not an "accurate measure".

I often thought about this. I have changed my signature to say "Crackerjack box with a hole into it", or "own a lot of stuff", or "Canon really likes me". But when I do post a photo, or make some comments, I think to a point it is useful to list the main camera & lenses you are using.

I would not list every single lens if you own more than 10, or if you have redundant focal lengths. That is one thing I like to see of other members, how they choose their lenses to cover from 10mm to 500mm, and which ones they buy fixed.

But I must say I don't love those signatures with every camera name someone's owned since the 50s, all the lenses sorted by AF, EF, and L sorted by Zoom/Fixed/IS. Then I think it is a good idea to have the link that says "My Gear", and then if you want you can click on it.

Personally I would not list more than the camera I use the most, and 5 lenses or so.

Even on my current signature, you can see I make fun of myself.

Cheers,

I think it makes things a lot easier for others to judge where others are at with their photography, and what they have to work with... otherwise they would have to ask each time they needed to know something about their equipment.

I decided to post mine because it is part of my learning process. As you can see from my humble gear (much of it purchased second hand) I am not trying to be pretentious. Instead, if I ask a question along the lines of, "What are your tips for taking pictures at a kid's soccer game?" then it helps other people provide more useful answers.

Also, many pictures posted here (including mine) do not contain EXIF data.

I'm curious as to why you take issue with it.

I am not fond of the signatures that take up more screen real estate with their gear lists than most of their posts. However, it is available to everyone to do this and overall I see no harm in it.

I went to the "My gear" link in my signature line. There is a thread going where people can list their gear and then do a single post link to it. I kind of like the system.

You would be surprised how many pm's and emails one gets from others asking about a specific question. Perhaps they don't feel comfortable posting a question here and do it this way directly to people that they see have the gear they are interested in.