So Whats the Silliest Thing Someone Has Said to About Photography?

I went to a car show this past weekend. I just had an XSi with my 50mm 1.4 and had a rubber lens hood on it. A friend of a friend came to say hi, with his 400D, 18-55mm and a battery pack. He quickly points out that "you should add more battery power, you wouldn't want to die after 2 hours". I told him I shot an 10 hour wedding with no issues. So then he jumps to "Oh, and you should upgrade your lens. This one (meaning his) is way better and bigger than that (meaning mine)". No comment. And finally, "What kind of body is that?" "XSi, 450D" "Oh, yeah I was going to get that but the 400D is better and more sturdy.

After that I had enough and had to walk away so I could die in a fit of laughter. Oh, and when I spotted him later on? Shooting in auto.

MelissaRae wrote in post #10530615
I went to a car show this past weekend. I just had an XSi with my 50mm 1.4 and had a rubber lens hood on it. A friend of a friend came to say hi, with his 400D, 18-55mm and a battery pack. He quickly points out that "you should add more battery power, you wouldn't want to die after 2 hours". I told him I shot an 10 hour wedding with no issues. So then he jumps to "Oh, and you should upgrade your lens. This one (meaning his) is way better and bigger than that (meaning mine)". No comment. And finally, "What kind of body is that?" "XSi, 450D" "Oh, yeah I was going to get that but the 400D is better and more sturdy.

After that I had enough and had to walk away so I could die in a fit of laughter. Oh, and when I spotted him later on? Shooting in auto.

That must be a thing with "friends of friends." I have some like that.

When they're like that and you realize they're either immune to reason or just so full of themselves, I just stop interacting with them and excuse myself somehow. I've seen that behavior on more topics than just cameras.

Perhaps that's why they're "friends of friends" and not friends.

I had a 'photographer' ask me about how I get views through windows on interior shots. I began to tell him about the choices...HDR or two shots with different exposures and then using PS to layer them. He cuts me off, looks me straight in the eye, and says 'that's a waste of time, I just hold my sunglasses in front of the lens and that gives me the window view.'

I just had to bite my tounge, wait for an exit point in the conversation, walk away and just shake my head. He puts his sunglasses over the end of the lens....anyone want to guess what this 'photogrpaher' uses for a camera? A $200 Kodak P&S that will fit in your pocket. A pocket camera and a pair of sunglasses and he's a 'photographer'.

TGrundvig wrote in post #10530786
I had a 'photographer' ask me about how I get views through windows on interior shots. I began to tell him about the choices...HDR or two shots with different exposures and then using PS to layer them. He cuts me off, looks me straight in the eye, and says 'that's a waste of time, I just hold my sunglasses in front of the lens and that gives me the window view.'

I just had to bite my tounge, wait for an exit point in the conversation, walk away and just shake my head. He puts his sunglasses over the end of the lens....anyone want to guess what this 'photogrpaher' uses for a camera? A $200 Kodak P&S that will fit in your pocket. A pocket camera and a pair of sunglasses and he's a 'photographer'.

Don't knock him. For all you know, those sunglasses could have been polarized... and being glasses, the lenses were somewhat circular... and he was filtering the light through them!

MelissaRae wrote in post #10530615
I went to a car show this past weekend. I just had an XSi with my 50mm 1.4 and had a rubber lens hood on it. A friend of a friend came to say hi, with his 400D, 18-55mm and a battery pack. He quickly points out that "you should add more battery power, you wouldn't want to die after 2 hours". I told him I shot an 10 hour wedding with no issues. So then he jumps to "Oh, and you should upgrade your lens. This one (meaning his) is way better and bigger than that (meaning mine)". No comment. And finally, "What kind of body is that?" "XSi, 450D" "Oh, yeah I was going to get that but the 400D is better and more sturdy.

After that I had enough and had to walk away so I could die in a fit of laughter. Oh, and when I spotted him later on? Shooting in auto.

Say this to him and he might crack, "I have two whole megapixels more!" It seems like he might fall for that one

spkerer wrote in post #10530849
Don't knock him. For all you know, those sunglasses could have been polarized... and being glasses, the lenses were somewhat circular... and he was filtering the light through them!

Think about it for a second...

If you cover the entire lens with ND, what's that going to do to the Dynamic Range between outside the windows and indoors.

How 'bout, Nothing...

FlyingPhotog wrote in post #10531228
Think about it for a second...

If you cover the entire lens with ND, what's that going to do to the Dynamic Range between outside the windows and indoors.

How 'bout, Nothing...

I guess it didn't come across in my posting, but that posting was written entirely tongue-in-cheek.

But... if there are bifocal-like sunglasses, maybe they could be used as graduated filters!

I'm seeing a whole add-on market for camera-phones! Those aren't ear-rests on glasses, they're hand-holds on filters! And it's got two filters in case one gets scratched!

And just to make it clear, I'm not too serious in this post either.

No offense to the people in this thread - some comments are pretty entertaining - but most come off rude and arrogant.

If someone wants to have a chat with you and they know nothing about photography what are they supposed to ask you about? "Hey how does your lens coating deal with chromatic aberration - does your CPL cause your wide-angle lens to vignette?" They are just trying to be polite and social. Making fun of their ignorance (e.g. zoom or megapixels) is a bit pathetic.

I'm sure when you approach an economist, engineer, etc you appear just as foolish to them as the photography newbs do to you.

They might not know what a 550D looks like or a Sigma 150-500mm but you might not know how to orthogonally diagonalise a matrix to solve a linear equation or work with indifference curves.

illy wrote in post #10533986
No offense to the people in this thread - some comments are pretty entertaining - but most come off rude and arrogant.

If someone wants to have a chat with you and they know nothing about photography what are they supposed to ask you about? "Hey how does your lens coating deal with chromatic aberration - does your CPL cause your wide-angle lens to vignette?" They are just trying to be polite and social. Making fun of their ignorance (e.g. zoom or megapixels) is a bit pathetic.

I'm sure when you approach an economist, engineer, etc you appear just as foolish to them as the photography newbs do to you.

I agree completely. I have no problem when someone comes up asking questions and its obvious they don't know much about it. I think that's a common cause for people saying things like "That camera takes good pictures" and the like. That's also why I don't get bothered by people saying that.

What I do find somewhat annoying - and will excuse myself from - is people who don't know much trying to talk like an expert and pontificate advice about which they have no clue. I think that's more of what we've been talking about here. The clueless "know-it-alls" - not those that don't know much about the subject and don't try to pretend they do.

I'm sure if I tried to give an economist advice on how to tune some model he's come up with, he'd either tell me I was full of it or just excuse himself and have a laugh afterward. That's what I was talking about above.

illy wrote in post #10533986
No offense to the people in this thread - some comments are pretty entertaining - but most come off rude and arrogant.

If someone wants to have a chat with you and they know nothing about photography what are they supposed to ask you about? "Hey how does your lens coating deal with chromatic aberration - does your CPL cause your wide-angle lens to vignette?" They are just trying to be polite and social. Making fun of their ignorance (e.g. zoom or megapixels) is a bit pathetic.

I'm sure when you approach an economist, engineer, etc you appear just as foolish to them as the photography newbs do to you.

They might not know what a 550D looks like or a Sigma 150-500mm but you might not know how to orthogonally diagonalise a matrix to solve a linear equation or work with indifference curves.

There's a big difference in people asking questions and people pretending to know something they don't.

But, your arguement goes both ways. Try asking a dumb question to an engineer and see if you don't get the 'please, don't even waste my time look'. There are a lot of engineers that will do the same as any other profession. It's just the way some people are. They reach a certain level and then they look down on those that don't know as much as they do. I wouldn't point the finger at photographers because it happens in every time of occupation in the world....doctors, lawyers, engineers, no occupation is immune to arrogant no-it-alls.

Just because other people do it doesn't mean it's not a douche move for a photographer to do it.

No wonder photographers get a back rep.

The only time when it seems approriate to be snarky is when someone comes up to you like they know everything when they obviously don't, like in MelissaRae's response. But personally, I dont waste my time. It's not my duty to correct them... I'm just there with my camera to take photos.

As I have posted before, if someone comes up to me and wants to chat - fine I have no problem.

If someone comes up to me and behaves like an idiot (my cam has more MP, my lens has more zoom etc or some other comment relating to my activity at the time), I reserve the right to respond in kind. I am not their tutor and I have better things to do than teach them the truth. If they cant be bothered reading up on their chosen subject and educating themselves I am not going to do it for them.

And that applies whether I am taking photographs, using my RC stuff or any other activity!

And Neil's been know to tell them to put a caber where the sun doesn't shine. And he's big enough to help them do it.

And he calls me grumpy.

I wasn't approving the behavior my any means, I was just stating the obvious...it happens in all jobs.

With that said, I agree with you completely. It's not my job to correct them and I certainly don't view myself as above anyone.

"you must be rich to afford all of that gear"

'im broke because i afforded all of this gear'