{"id":633,"date":"2012-04-12T17:44:38","date_gmt":"2012-04-12T22:44:38","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/admiringlight.com\/blog\/?p=633"},"modified":"2012-04-12T17:45:15","modified_gmt":"2012-04-12T22:45:15","slug":"are-you-a-photographer-or-a-camera-enthusiast","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/admiringlight.com\/blog\/are-you-a-photographer-or-a-camera-enthusiast\/","title":{"rendered":"Are you a Photographer or a Camera Enthusiast?"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Canon's 70-200 f\/2.8L IS II and 100 f\/2.8L IS<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

I was perusing the net at many oft visited Photography related websites, and came across this post<\/a>\u00a0on 43rumors.com. \u00a0It basically shows some images of the upcoming Olympus 75mm f\/1.8 lens for Micro 4\/3. \u00a0There was certainly nothing wrong with the post, but the comments on the post had me scratching my head.<\/p>\n

It wasn’t just that post, of course, but something I’ve seen and heard discussed at many times over the past few years, and it begs the question…are you a photographer or a camera enthusiast?<\/p>\n

See, if you read the comments, there is one predominant theme. The discussion isn’t centered on things such as “Wow, I hope Olympus produces yet another great prime lens like they did with the 45\/1.8 and 12\/2.” or “It’ll be great to finally have a native fast telephoto lens for the system.” \u00a0Or “it’s a focal length that isn’t useful for me.”<\/p>\n

No. \u00a0The predominant discussion is “I can’t believe it’s only available in Silver.” \u00a0Ok…I sort of get it. \u00a0Aesthetics are important to people, and many people (myself included) get some sort of pleasure when their gear looks good as well as performs well. \u00a0This isn’t just true for photography, but any hobby. \u00a0Audiophiles want speakers that both sound good and fit in well with the room. \u00a0Car enthusiasts want raw power AND sleek lines. \u00a0But a rather large portion of ‘photographers’ are increasingly getting caught up in how gear looks rather than making pictures. \u00a0In that linked post, there were many people who actually stated that they would NEVER BUY an Olympus lens if it were only offered in silver.<\/p>\n

And…that’s where these other parallels really become close. \u00a0See, many car enthusiasts really just want a car that looks and feels cool, rather than performs. \u00a0DRIVERS want a car that responds well and drives beautifully. \u00a0I’d imagine aesthetics are a distant thought in importance. \u00a0Similarly…camera enthusiasts may place a real premium on aesthetics. \u00a0Photographers<\/em> just want equipment that can better help them get the shot they have in mind.<\/p>\n

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Olympus E-P1 with Voigtlander Nokton 40mm f\/1.4<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Now, before everyone crucifies me for this, I do realize there are legitimate reasons for not wanting a silver camera lens. \u00a0If you’re shooting wildlife, the silver color may notify animals of your presence. \u00a0It’s a little more conspicuous. \u00a0I get it. \u00a0But let’s face it…this is not a birding lens.<\/p>\n

Going more generally, I see a lot of photographers and budding camera buffs getting so caught up in either the looks of a camera or lens (“I really want a Canon WHITE lens!”) or the prestige of a brand (“look…it’s a Leica…I can’t take a decent photograph to save my life, but it’s a LEICA”) that they forget to focus on making pictures.<\/p>\n

Look…gear is fun. \u00a0And there is something intensely satisfying about using a beautiful and well crafted piece of equipment. \u00a0But if a piece of gear has exactly the image making properties I need, but is really ugly? \u00a0Well, then the aesthetics don’t really matter.<\/p>\n

So…are you a photographer? \u00a0Or a camera enthusiast? \u00a0Frankly, being either one is just fine. \u00a0There’s nothing wrong with being a camera enthusiast. \u00a0Just make sure you’re honest with yourself.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I was perusing the net at many oft visited Photography related websites, and came across this post\u00a0on 43rumors.com. \u00a0It basically shows some images of the upcoming Olympus 75mm f\/1.8 lens for Micro 4\/3. \u00a0There was certainly nothing wrong with the post, but the comments on the post had me scratching my head. It wasn’t just […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"cybocfi_hide_featured_image":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"enabled":false},"version":2},"_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[21],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-633","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-opinion"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p28RGq-ad","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/admiringlight.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/633","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/admiringlight.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/admiringlight.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/admiringlight.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/admiringlight.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=633"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/admiringlight.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/633\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":640,"href":"https:\/\/admiringlight.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/633\/revisions\/640"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/admiringlight.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=633"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/admiringlight.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=633"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/admiringlight.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=633"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}