Is it the camera or the photographer?

i think from a professional stand point the tog makes the shot but from a noivce/amatuer position the camera can do it, cameras are so suffisticated today that most people can pick them up put it in P mode and take a decent shot, but there is a huge difference between decent and professional/keen amatuer, unfortunately these days people think anyone with a camera is a pro

I don't know what you folks are arguing about. All cameras based on the 35mm standard are entry level gear. They all can take fairly decent photos without much training and you should be able to start with any of them without the risk of public humiliation. The camera doesn't tell you a thing about the photographer and why should it?

Now if I see someone fiddling with a large format camera I would naturally assume they have a little bit of experience but with the smaller cameras - not so much.

Tandem wrote in post #5730288
Now if I see someone fiddling with a large format camera I would naturally assume they have a little bit of experience but with the smaller cameras - not so much.

One would hope so. I certainly agree there's no reason average joe newbie couldn't use a 1 series camera, however if we're talking about out of the box performance that new guy would likely prefer the more heavy default processing that the Rebels typically have (as far as I understand) over the bland/blah processing of a 1 series.

Still, I love shooting 4x5. I think one of my camera dreams though would down the road when digital backs have both matured and dropped in price be a digital medium format view camera system.