just to clear some things up:
To me, being a Professional Photographer simply means you are doing it full time as a job, your bread & butter. And its not about just charging like $80/hr (or so) for assignments.
Well, if someone were to do fulltime freelancing (without studio and all those monthly overheads), doing $80/hr jobs on the average like 5 times a month, with 8 hours a day, that's $3200 a month! all this could be done considering that you might not have a degree, you could be a fresh grad from uni/poly! (with correct contacts in life that is)
and of course, this is just using the $80/hr as a ball park figure. you could be well commanding a higher rate if you're doing product shots and have a knack at it...
but well, i might just be a little naive on this part... let me know the realities in life..
doesn't matter what camera a pro uses as long as the client is ok with the final outcome.
why worry?
Well I’m asking, ironically, because every time you hear an advertisement (be it from Canon, Nikon, Olympus or whatever brand it is), their top end machines seems to be "built to order" for really professional professionals.
Just yesterday, I’ve went over to a camera shop down in town, and the shopkeeper was telling me the funny part of his business. Almost all those top end cameras / lenses are sold to young chaps below 25 years old on the average. Serious hobbyists to factually correct!
So whatever happened to the features and selling points of these top end machines? Things like insane 45 point fast AF, insane 100k shutter count reliability, insanely tough hard alloy shell, insanely whopping full framers, insanely fast 10fps bursts and the list goes on...
i guess this threat is more of a self questioning thread. do professionals REALLY use professional equipments?
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Let me relate to you what i feel personally. i might get it wrong, but honestly, upon reaching a certain point in technical aspects, cameras are more or less equal unless you need specifically the functionalities of a pro body. Things like full frame might be something that pros certainly need and might cripple their course of work if there're not using one. but hypothetically (and might jolly well be this case in the not too distant future), what if a full frame sensor comes into a cheap plasticy low end SLR body with say 2fps and probably 5 AF point? Poise this question and scenario to yourself, replace it with a function that you need and you'll be crippled without - but keep everything else spec-ed like a cheapo camera.
Or even better, come forward and tell us how your cheap cameras made you who you are today - totally without the advanced features from a top end machine.
No, I’m not trying to diss and hate top end camera owners, but is there more then that "feel good" and "confident" image you have when you're holding it? How about one day if your top end workhouse dies and your next best hope of completing that assignment was a plastic 300D? (hey 300D's good k? i won a competition using that in the era of 10fps/10mp/ISO6400)
let's talk about your views =)
