A photographer is only as good as the equipment he uses
That's what Nikon said. 
https://www.facebook.com/nikon/posts/10150316773294620
What do you think? bad marketing? I read a lot of 'angry' replies from photogs...
https://www.facebook.com/nikon/posts/10150316773294620
What do you think? bad marketing? I read a lot of 'angry' replies from photogs...
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What a bunch of babies from those who made angry replies. Have they forgotten that Nikon is in this to make a profit? So it is obvious they would make a quote that focuses, no pun intended, on the gear!
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I'm a bit disappointed in Nikon, but certainly not going to waste my time complaining to them.
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A camera company trying to sell cameras and lenses.
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How many photographers does it take to change a light bulb? 50. One to change the bulb, and forty-nine to say, "I could have done that better!"
Anybody that says equipment doesn't matter is just as wrong as the people who say equipment is everything.
Use the right tool for your application....also your individual standards for success will hugely impact your equipment needs.
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"We know some of you took offense to the last post, and we apologize, as it was not our aim to insult any of our friends. Our statement was meant to be interpreted that the right equipment can help you capture amazing images. We appreciate the passion you have for photography and your gear, and know that a great picture is possible anytime and anywhere"
HAHAHA!
Educate yourself like you'll live forever and live like you'll die tomorrow.
Ed
Company's and people that are swallowed up by this stuff, most couldnt strike up a conversation with the only other person in the street.
That's where you get these one liners that don't make sense. But to be offended by one..who cares
Gary
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Well said, all of you. I completely agree.
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I also agree with the PP who said use the correct tool for your application. I have no intention of using my rebel as my primary for my entire career. I hope to upgrade in a couple years and keep it as a secondary.
What's next? Will we see "You're stupid and unpopular unless you use Canon"? "Panasonic: For Winners Only."? "Pentax: because everyone else just sucks."?
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Sure, there's truth in what you say, and in what Nikon said. There's also truth in "Flaunt your superior lifestyle, go shoot with your Nikon in Ethiopia!".
That something is true doesn't necessarily justify it.
I choose Canon, and I work within the capacities of that gear. In the photography gear world there are thousands of items I will never pick up. For me they exist only as hypothetical gear, which hypothetically could give me "better" images than I do get. There are an infinite number of hypothetically better versions of each image I shoot, but they don't actually exist. You can't cancel out a real image with a hypothetical one. Once you get into hypotheticals, as Nikon has, you're getting into infinities, and I just don't have the time!
Neil
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One of my good friends shoots almost exclusively with a crappy holga. Total POS camera. He gets some really amazing shots. He has even been published in some fishing mags. So for him the equipment isn't important. Or is it? It is hard to replicate that weird dreamy shot a holga takes. It might be the most important thing. Yes he needs to know what to do with it, but without the right tool, his work is impossible.
I did hear that their cameras take really good pictures!
It all has to do with a photographer knowing the "sweet spot" of the equipment he or she is using, and knowing that the sweet spot aligns perfectly with their chosen style of photography.
The crappy Holga fishing photog is a perfect example of how equipment does matter relative to style (though, I'm never going to argue that equipment always beats training and skill). So he gets published with a $25 Holga. Nice. But that is only true as long as he shoots images that work well if shot with a crappy Holga. It's the comfort zone, and only works inside it. If his market wanted any photo other than that style, he's totally screwed. Sharply focused, action-stopped fish with detailed water drops in the air and accurate color? Cannot do it with the crappy Holga, no matter how high the skill level. Time to buy an SLR and expensive glass.
I admit I am not the greatest photographer in the world, but I will issue a challenge to anyone who thinks they are: You get a box camera from Piggly Wiggly I get to use my current gear. I have been told many times my camera takes nice pictures.
The Dgrin folks can be the final judge.
Silly challenge? Of course.......but it does expose the truth behind the overwhelmingly broad and somewhat overstated marketing catch phrase Nikon used in their add.
Sam
Yes, others have said similar, and yes it's a bit silly. But worse it's irrelevant! It's like saying: you drive your car to Mexico and I'll fly my plane - see who gets there first! It's mucking up the meanings of the words we are using. Sure a car and a plane are both vehicles for getting to Mexico, and the Nikon D3s and the PigglyWiggly camera are both cameras that take photographs. You can't take either comparison very far and still talk sense, surely?!
I'm pretty sure the Nikon writers didn't have PigglyWiggly cameras in mind, so why should we? It's quite clear to all of us that they were referring to their major competitors. As an advertising catchphrase it's immature and deserves all the derision it is getting. I think it makes Nikon look desperate.
Even when we keep the terms of the discussion sensible, it's trivial to say you won't get some shots with some gear but you'll get those shots with other gear. It's saying nothing. What sensible photographer gets gear that dooms them to failure?! It's a rubbish proposition!
But having said that, we all have been in the position of considering improving our gear for our purposes. And that is not trivial. This brings me back to my first post above. I know that there is gear out there that potentially *could* improve my photographs, it has the stats. But I will never be able to buy it, just like I'll never be able to buy an executive jet! It's hypothetical for me, as good as not there. So the fact that BrandX has gear that *might* get me better photographs is irrelevant to me if I can't afford it. No amount of inane advertising is going to make that gear real for me.
The basic problem with the *idea* in Nikon's stupid catchphrase is the promise that with their gear a photographer will always get the one true great shot which will kill all other possible shots. Crazy! I shoot an image, a split second later I shoot another of the same subject with the same gear. One image I like better than the other, and so do my wife and kids. What caused the difference? Not the gear obviously! And what if I didn't shoot the other shot? I wouldn't have got the better image! So the gear didn't give me immediately in one shot the definitive best image after all! Question is how long am I gonna stand there taking these images. If every new image is better than the previous, I'm gonna be there into next century! Likewise, if every new bit of gear is gonna give me a better image I'm gonna be buying till I am broke. And then what?! See, Nikon's idea destroys something basic about what we all understand about what photography is!
You see, as I said, hypothetical is not the way to go! You get the gear which is real because you can get it, and because it can do what you want! For me Canon can!
Neil
http://www.behance.net/brosepix
A great photographer with poor gear will produce better images than a poor photographer with great gear...
However, when two photographers of equal capability shoot with poor gear and great gear, the photographer with the better gear will usually come out with the best images...
If you want to get hypothetical, a camera with better AFS, low low light performance and a lens that complements the AFS and produces sharp images will give you more chances to get better shots. It all starts with the photographer. A bad photographer is not going to get better shots with better equipment, but they may get lucky every now and then.
Your hypothetical is based on the assumption we are all brainwashed into buying the latest gear. That is nonsense. Companies count on the human nature to buy the latest and greatest. Lets carry out your "hypothetical". As a photographer, you get to the point of getting good shots so you decide not to improve your skills as you can get the shots that please you.
A camera company is in the business to sell camera gear. If a company stays static and doesn't improve its gear, it goes out of business. If a photographer has the urge and money to buy the latest and greatest, more power to them as they provide profit and fund research for gear that may help my photography. I think you are reading way too much into this that Nikon's approach will "kill all other possible shots" because you don't get the latest gear. That's crazy.
Even this is open to some debate.. You have to define 'best' shot.. Is that technically best as in you could get the biggest enlargement, or the one that catches the moment best, or the best composition? There is so much in photography that is down to the photographer, which I think is part of why we love it so much!
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+1
Educate yourself like you'll live forever and live like you'll die tomorrow.
Ed
By the way, Canon thinks the same thing, and so does Pentax and Sony...every add says so...that's been their marketing strategy for as long as I care to remember. "Look what we can do with our camera...see the pretty picture...you need our gear...ours is better than theirs." The top brands all want you to think the same thing about their gear...as opposed to the other guy's stuff.
Just my rant...
Educate yourself like you'll live forever and live like you'll die tomorrow.
Ed
not sure jonh68 if you have read me quite straight?
Nikon is stating the obvious? most people seem to think so. is it Nikon's purpose to state the obvious? that would seem like a dumb advertising move. except... that obviously it has caused a lot of reactions, even ignoring it is a reaction! so it's a smart advertising move?
you would seem to say that the Nikon slogan oversimplifies things. I would agree. but I would go further and say that it hooks into and manipulates a subconscious anxiety, which is that *not* having certain gear, in this case a Nikon, is robbing us of the chance of being the photographer we *could* be. we all worry about this, generally regarding gear, at some level, and it is this insecurity in each of us that Nikon is massaging.
the antidote as I have pointed out is to *consciously* examine that proposition of Nikon's logically. if we do, it evaporates! so Nikon's advertising only works while we allow it to influence our irrationality. when we look at it hard headedly it is meaningless. it has *nothing* to do with the photographer's journey of improving technical and shooting skills and expressive/artistic performance. cameras and gear *do* have something to do with all that, but Nikon's slogan *DOES NOT*! proposing as Nikon's slogan is doing that the latest and future Nikon gear is the only way to becoming the photographer we could be is not the same as you or I or any of us deciding that a Nikon D3s is the best choice of camera for us. it is a very different thing! we might decide that a 1D4 is the best camera for us. or a holga. or a Leica 35mm film compact. Nikon's slogan is true in general but it is false for Nikon specifically. that's strange advertising is it not?
Nikon's slogan is saying that the images which will prove to us and everybody that we have become the photographer we could be, will only come if we buy Nikon! that is just so totally out of touch with reality! our reputation to ourselves and everybody, will have to rest on the images we *do* actually produce with the gear that we *do decide* is best for us. no hypothetical images produced by a Nikon camera *IF* we had one is in reality going to make any difference! the number of images that we *could* shoot - with *any* gear - is infinite, but those images are irrelevant! *that* is where Nikon's slogan breaks down into stupidity!
a photographer is only as good as their equipment = the hypothetical images you could produce with a Nikon will make you the photographer you could be = nonsense
Nikon is free to indulge in such nonsense, apparently, as is Canon etc etc. whether *we* make ourselves a party to it is up to how stupid we are!
Neil
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First you have to begin with separating photographers from people who simply own cameras. Then you have to have a benchmark for what may be considered crappy equipment.
If you don't have the right tools for the job, you are making life tough for yourself.
I use two different systems, the Nikon D3 and the Mamiya DM56. Both systems would be considered at least pretty good by most people. I have heard Hasselblad owners say my gear is subpar. I have had Canon owners tell me my gear is subpar.
When I meet people with lower end gear, I think that they have their work cut out for them in some situations.
In perfect light and in the right situation you can get stunning shots with a Kodak disposable, but I wouldn't want to work with one every day.
Any camera in the right hands in the right situation can capture magic, however we don't live and work in a perfect world. If you shoot in low light and need high ISO your options begin to get a bit limited. If you need to shoot with very fast frames per second, your options get a bit limited.
Any comparison has to begin with apples to apples. Having the right gear for the job is the most important part of photography.
What I notice is that the people saying gear doesn't matter have the option of choosing when and where and what they shoot. For those of us who have to get the shot no matter what people or nature throw at us have a slightly different view.
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I don't think you are reading me straight. I think you are reading way too much into this slogan and I don't come away thinking any of the points you are trying to argue in regards to what this slogan means. Nikon is in the business to sell cameras. For some images, gear does matter. For some it doesn't.
Marketing BY ANY company isn't based on rational thought, but irrational thought and impulse. To get bent out of shape over it is ridiculous just as you going on a rant about Nikon and then proclaiming this is why you shoot Canon.