Hi all.
There are some interesting posts here, thanks for this online channel of communication.
I'm just going to pick up on what a few people said in this thread:
pwp wrote:
I shoot full frame, 1.3x crop & 1.6x crop bodies on a daily basis and move freely between the three. My personal viewpoint isthat there is an overblown marketing department driven perception that full frame is something etherial and almost mystical...it's not. It's useful at times for sure, and very nice to have, but unless your kit is making money for you, upgraditis can be a financially punishing trap.
The magic is in the pictures you take. Mark1 wrote:
Maybe if you shoot flying birds I can understand but the 5D isn't built for that, buy a 7D and get your point and shoot focus with a bit of noise. The 5D was built for landscapes and portaits. Portaits are just awesome with full frame and if you get it right you can capture a kind of texture in people's faces impossible with APS-C.My opinion is that having good equipment helps, but it is not 'the' deciding factor. I've seen award winning photos that professional journalists have taken with a point and shoot! (because a heavier, bulky and more wieldy DSLR would have actually been a hindrance, eg in real up close photos of street battles, where the journalists have to run, duck and hide, etc).
Obviously, we're not all at that 'extreme' (between possibly loosing our life if we're slightly slower at running with a DSLR in our hand, or round our neck). However my point is, (and that some have made above) - that learning about light, and a camera's real limits will give many people a lot more photographic prowess than having the 'top of the line and it's SURE to produce the best images'.
I wouldn't agree that an APS-C camera can not produce amazing texture. I've seen repeatedly that without EXIF data, and unless people almost count the pixels while pixel-peeping, an overall image itself is indistinguishable if used appropriately between a APS-C or a FF. As a generalisation, of course I know FF can give images that have more dynamic range, shallower DOF, sharper 'per pixel' detail, etc.
I learned a lot about photography with an old Olympus film camera, then a few Fuji P&S digital cameras, then moved to DSLRs in 2005. My Canon 350D has served me well for over 6 years, and in more recent years my 7D has indeed allowed my photo skills to continue flourishing.
Some of my 'most prized' photos, yes even of landscapes, are with a 3MP Fuji P&S way in the distant past... ie around 2000.
Paul
