Post the most ridiculous comments you've received with a big lens on!

I got my 17-40L today and was bouncing around with excitement, and I was telling the people I live with (who aren't photographers but are used to my rambling about photography, and have learned a lot from my ramblings) about it's great build, AF, and all that.

Anyway, they know a bunch of stuff about Canon lenses because of me, and one of them said to me: "Cool, and that red stripe, is that feature worth the extra cash?"

perryge wrote in post #4727527
I got my 17-40L today and was bouncing around with excitement, and I was telling the people I live with (who aren't photographers but are used to my rambling about photography, and have learned a lot from my ramblings) about it's great build, AF, and all that.

Anyway, they know a bunch of stuff about Canon lenses because of me, and one of them said to me: "Cool, and that red stripe, is that feature worth the extra cash?"

yeah for suuure - that red stripe makes it go faster!

"whoah! you're like so pro!" 400D with Kit lens. lol i couldn't help but smirk.
later that day, i saw another photographer with a small black camera, (couldn't tell if it was a 350D or 400D) with a kit lens and he looked at me with lens envy....i thought that was funny.

somethingsimple wrote in post #4727971
yeah for suuure - that red stripe makes it go faster!

Yeah, it's kind of the like the well known fact that Black computers are better, and faster than Beige ones...

SoccerRef wrote in post #4730878
Yeah, it's kind of the like the well known fact that Black computers are better, and faster than Beige ones...

yeah - and in that game, the white ones arent allowed to play

somethingsimple wrote in post #4730959

SoccerRef wrote in post #4730878
Yeah, it's kind of the like the well known fact that Black computers are better, and faster than Beige ones...

yeah - and in that game, the white ones arent allowed to play

It's never fair to allow two teams of different colors that don't compare in any way to play one another. It's kind of like comparing apples and oranges, but not quite... It's actually more like comparing apples to sour grapes!

And I, unfortunately, own a sour grape!

Some guy walked up to me in South Beach and told me "wow dude nice camera, I wish I had one like that" (40D with BG-E2 grip and 100-400L) I took a look at his camera ..... 5D with 28-135 ... I almost asked him to trade lol
oh btw he was shooting in the green box mode so I showed him the other modes and he learned a few new things about his camera !

the_incubus wrote in post #4677473
heres a story that is not really a comment because of big lens story at all but i felt it should go here.

I was at my swim practice this evening and we had a serious workout. Throughout most of the set i was pretty much out of breath and quite possibly had lack of oxygen to the brain. Anyway, i was explaining to my coach that my triceps felt especially tight today. However, he had no idea what i was talking about. The reason? I accidently kept saying tripods instead of triceps. The conversation went something like this

me: hey *coachs name* for some reason my tripods are really tight today.

coach: uh yea so, what do you want me to do about it (he knows photography is my hobby).

me: *feeling strange because of his response* uh oh, i thought uh i should just let you know uh yea. Maybe give me some insight as to why they are so tense.

coach: i dont know anything about tripods, put some WD-40 on it or something. *laughs* are you really asking me this now? get back to swimming.

me: *starts cracking up* and then i explain.

Now I think this is the funniest story in this thread!

I am getting a lot of "are you a photographer?" Or " are you a professional photographer?" When I said I am only a hobbyist, they were shocked. I guess they couldn't believe anyone spending that kind of money on camera equipments could still be a hobbyist. As long as I am not getting paid to shoot pictures, I am not a professional. Period.

tonylong wrote in post #4733489
Now I think this is the funniest story in this thread!

I always get "who are you shooting for" and I usually just respond my school paper.

Thing which pisses me off though is that people are more then willing to take photos for free, especially of their kids and aren't willing to pay anything for them, even if i send a 640x480 with a watermark, they won't pony up the $3 for a 4x6 I charge, and low and behold, when I go over to their homes (teammates), I see my picture printed out in low res.


Best one I had was at a track meet last year (which I was racing in as well). A mom from another team came up and asked if I could shoot a few of her son. I said okay, and I showed her the pics afterwords. She loved them and I asked if she would want prints. She asked if i could just email them to her so they could print them out on their own printer, and being extremely reasonable, I said that would be $5/picture. She said, oh nevermind, I thought you would give them to me.

I guess the fact that a high schooler has some pro-level camera means that they can use you for free

musicmaster wrote in post #4733795
I guess the fact that a high schooler has some pro-level camera means that they can use you for free

I hope people don't make those kind of assumptions once I upgrade to some better gear. I was actually thinking that if anybody asks me what paper or magazine I shoot for I could say POTN. When they say they've never heard of that I would say it stands for something like "Photographers Of The Nation" or whatever.

Well, even though I got to shoot a Pro indoor soccor game from the stands, I recieved no comments (even with my 70-300 extended to about 230)

musicmaster wrote in post #4733795
I guess the fact that a high schooler has some pro-level camera means that they can use you for free

I don't think it has to do with your age. It's a combination of the fact that amateurs (i.e., moms) habitually trade pictures for free, and the changing attitude toward sharing digital information. We're in a period of serious upheaval with respect to how artists get paid. Last time (1600's) it took several decades to start sorting it out, and hundreds of years to settle things down. In the interim, I think your answer was exactly correct: either you pay me a small amount for a print, or a larger amount for an unrestricted digital copy. If you hope to make money, there's little point in giving stuff away for free.

(Disclaimer: I don't expect to make money, and I do give it all away for free. But I appreciate the pros.)

ssidiv3r wrote in post #4733827
I was actually thinking that if anybody asks me what paper or magazine I shoot for I could say POTN. When they say they've never heard of that I would say it stands for something like "Photographers Of The Nation" or whatever.

Outstanding! Actually, you could probably say "Photography on the Net" and get precisely the same result.

Today someone told me "That's one cannon of a lens! Is it loaded?"

Chosenbydestiny wrote in post #4734851
Today someone told me "That's one cannon of a lens! Is it loaded?"

nice, and how did you respond? 2 gigs worth? or 4?