Art Fair Conversation

[Shadowman]

I attended a local Music Is Art festival this weekend and happened to stop at a photography booth and the following conversation transpired as this local film photography instructor was doing a survey on camera brands. His partner or apprentice apparently teaches digital.

Instructor#1: Hello, you are obviously a photographer with the camera bag you are holding? Are you a professional?
Me: I am a photographer and I am an amateur.
Instructor #1: Digital? I'll bet you have a Nikon in there?
Me: Actually I have two in there.
Instructor #1: I knew it, doesn't any realize that there are more models (as he writes down the brand I have) than Canon and Nikon?
Me: Actually I have an Olympus in here also.
Instructor: No way, let me see what you have.
Me: (I handed him my Olympus Pen EPL1).
Instructor #1: Ohhhh, you've got one of those new models. How do you turn this thing on?
Instructor #2: Wow, that's a nice camera, I like how comfortable this feels and the lens is very lightweight.
Instructor #1: Where's the viewfinder?
Me: It doesn't have one, you use the LCD.
Instructor #1: I don't like these new cameras (as he writes down my model), I need the feel of the camera on my face.

Just a short summary of the conversation. So next time you are out taking photographs, check out the gear of the person next to you and find out how they feel about technology, brands, etc.

[GeorgeM]

I was taking pictures at my wife's high school reunion over Labor Day. A guy there was admiring my gear and I noticed he had a Pen. He later offered to take a picture of my wife and I. I handed him my D90 and he tried to use it with the lcd rather than the viewfinder. I had to show him how to use LiveView. I was puzzled because he knew my camera had a viewfinder; he had remarked earlier that he considered that a plus. He's an accomplished graphic artist, by the way.

[PicsbyChance]

The camera that really got me back into still photography was a little 5mp Sony F707. Had a view finder and a LCD. Both had destinct advantages and disadvantages. My current camera, a Sony a900 only has a view finder, no live view. It has something similar...sort of, but I miss live view. I personally think technology is wonderful, could I learn to go without a viewfinder? Depends on what new technology is offered to entice me away....change is the spice of life.

[Shadowman]

I was taking pictures at my wife's high school reunion over Labor Day. A guy there was admiring my gear and I noticed he had a Pen. He later offered to take a picture of my wife and I. I handed him my D90 and he tried to use it with the lcd rather than the viewfinder. I had to show him how to use LiveView. I was puzzled because he knew my camera had a viewfinder; he had remarked earlier that he considered that a plus. He's an accomplished graphic artist, by the way.

I found the transition between viewing capabilities very easy, having started out with film, where you don't get live view at all, to a point and shoot which didn't have a viewfinder, another bridge camera that has both, and a DSLR that doesn't live view. I do find myself confusing myself sometimes, especially when I am carrying more than one camera. But just a few weeks ago I was at an outdoor festival, carrying all four cameras and ended up switching between at least three of them as my DSLR kept eating up my memory cards. Tpo many Caribbana dancers to photograph them all.

[Shadowman]

The camera that really got me back into still photography was a little 5mp Sony F707. Had a view finder and a LCD. Both had destinct advantages and disadvantages. My current camera, a Sony a900 only has a view finder, no live view. It has something similar...sort of, but I miss live view. I personally think technology is wonderful, could I learn to go without a viewfinder? Depends on what new technology is offered to entice me away....change is the spice of life.

My DSLR doesn't have live view but after two or three years I am used to it.