lately allot of amateurs tell me... but you have...

I would just ignore them.

Feeling offended by comments like that actually tells me more about you than them.

You can either choose to "educate" them (hint...they aren't interested) or accept that there are differing views in this world (and guess what, your view isn't necessarily the correct one) and move on.

Was what they said silly? Sure.

Should you care? Probably not...

Well said, nicksan, especially the bit about 'they aren't interested. Not everyone shares our interest in photography - or have the desire to own the latest all-singing, all-dancing SLR. They are quite happy with their P&S. And why shouldn't they be? You'll probably find, on talking to them, that they know far more about a particular subject than you do - but I bet they don't laugh at you because of it. To do so is pure arrogance and snobbery.

I've always told my children, "don't be concerned what others think of you, be concerned what you think of yourself, don't have a fragile ego".
Are you suffering from insecurity? If not, don't worry about the double digit IQ folks.

thekid24 wrote in post #5715394
But we all know that if Ol' Shakes had a ballpoint.....no telling the possibilities:p

Screw pens. He'd have one helluva blog. You'd have to read every entry 12 times just to decipher it but even so...

chauncey wrote in post #5716540
I've always told my children, "don't be concerned what others think of you, be concerned what you think of yourself, don't have a fragile ego".
Are you suffering from insecurity? If not, don't worry about the double digit IQ folks.

Are you saying that only people with a high IQ have DSLRs?

I have had this said to me quite a few times. Annoying for sure if it's random people saying it but also people have seen my photos and then said that I must have a good camera - I thank them as they are trying to pay a complement, even if it is in a misguided way!

Another good comeback, that someone has in their sig is "That was a lovely dinner, you must have an amazing set of pans!"

cdifoto wrote in post #5716553
Screw pens. He'd have one helluva blog. You'd have to read every entry 12 times just to decipher it but even so...

Screw blogs...he could just make videos about folding reflectors:p...in a dramatic way of course...you know Shake's

I would tell him, yeah, you could be right. Size of sensor matters, quality of glass matters, speed of focus matters, speed of shutter matters, dof matters, accuracy of view finder matters, ability to control exposure matters. None of these alone will make an ordinary photographer great, but not having these could hold someone back who is. All those artist you mentioned did use the finest tools available to them. The ability to shape the paint did impact paint flow to canvas. The ability of the chisel to hold an edge did make a difference. A great race car driver can make an awful car go faster than the average person could - but they still wouldn't win a race. You need the convergence of talent and tools to win.

Who knows how much talent these others have... until they have the right tools you may never know. One thing for sure though, even the best equipment will not make an ordinary photographer anything more than a super ordinary photographer with lots of stuff.

I would have thought that DSLR folks had high IQ's, but based on these responses, they also crave a lot of strokes.

It's not enough to know we're good, our egos demand that everyone else know we're good.

I, on the other hand, have a triple advantage, double digit IQ and suck at photography and have an ego measured in negative numbers.

sandro9mm wrote in post #5714152
lately allot of amateurs tell me, but you have professional camera I bet it takes incredible photos - only if I had that I would also take amazing photos...

whats ur answer to this? do u usually try to educate em that pro camera requires more skills more talent and more hard work? they think if u pay 2K for a camera it should do all the work instead of u, but its the other way around!

wtf, this is 2 people in one day already - they are pissing me off, by saying that they are degrading my skills, degrading my vision and style (if I have one of course)...

anyways, enough with nagging, I go sleep now.

Tell them a 30D is an outdated amateur cam. No seriously, tell them that since you bought a good saucepan, you have become an excellent chef.

Being uneducated about photography doesn't make people jerks, it just means that they are ignorant of a field that has technical as well as creative factors that most people are not aware of. Photographers can be jerks as well -- witness the derision that sometimes is heaped on people with P&S cameras. Hey, I shot with a P&S camera a couple of days ago!

And, honestly, those of us with SLR gear got that gear so that we could take better pics in a wider variety of conditions, right?

So, when someone compliments my gear, I smile and don't give it serious thought, unless it's to give an intelligent non-snobbish answer (or in reflection regarding certain threads on the forum).

A lady commented a few days ago "That's some serious equipment!" Now I could have said (or imagined saying) "No, I'm a serious photographer, you silly thing!"

But instead I smiled and honestly said "Yeah, it is serious gear!"

A guy commented a couple days ago the old "That lens can probably catch the hairs on a fly's butt!". Of course at MFD it actually can do pretty good close-ups, but I just said "It doesn't get real close, but it does help me to get some good pictures."

Actually, the only remarks that I get that show a bit of disrespect toward me and my gear are family and very close friends that get impatient with my passion for photography, but they still love me!

Roy Mathers wrote in post #5716954
Are you saying that only people with a high IQ have DSLRs?

Well, triple digit only requires one to be average....

You'll probably find that it's actually an attempt to open a dialogue, and they are just struggling to articulate it.
Engage with them and you'll be pleasantly surprised by either their enthuiasm or knowledge, not necessarily about photography, but for their hobby or proffesion.
"Nice car mate" probably wears a bit thin to Lewis Hamilton too.

chauncey wrote in post #5717706
I would have thought that DSLR folks had high IQ's, but based on these responses, they also crave a lot of strokes.

It's not enough to know we're good, our egos demand that everyone else know we're good.
.

Not necessarily! Just owners of expensive equipment.

I remember a saying from back when I was in to mountain biking that "The best way to make your bike look fast is to win a race with it." There will always be people impressed with the big new toys, but I think the best measure is always what you can do with it.

When people comment on my camera I usually take a few seconds to figure out if they are really interested, or if they just saw something flashy that caught their attention (gear whore). I have no problem spending some time talking to someone who is interested in photography, but I have less patience for someone who just thinks the camera looks cool and is interested for that reason.