Railfan Technology > Snob appeal?

Say you are doing photography of trains in a favoured location
and a fellow railway enthusiast unknown to you appears and is using
s small point and shoot style smaller camera.

Given the circumstance would you be envious or scornful of the
hardware choice of your fellow railway photographer, and why?

Is a DSLR a status symbol, as much as 8"x10" view camera on a large tripod
would be a different form of symbolism in the other direction?

Why would I need to be either one (scornful or envious)? Maybe that's the best he can afford.

Some point and shoot cameras take good pictures. This was taken with the wife's Olympus. It may be a point and shoot but it was by no means a cheap camera.
12T at Lehighton, PA on 8/22/15

Doug Wetherhold
Macungie, PA

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I use a P&S sometimes even though I've got piles of Nikon D-SLRs and lenses. Just yesterday I had a little time to kill near Fullerton Station and I wanted to take a shot from the pedestrian overpass. Good luck doing that with a D-SLR. The holes in the fencing are so small that it's almost impossible to shoot through it with a D-SLR and not get some of the wire fence in the frame. But a P&S can shoot through it unobstructed to I slipped my Nikon S33 into my pocket and headed for the overpass. Admittedly the camera performance is poor compared to a SLR, and the images are not as nice, but P&S cameras have come a long way in recent years.

Everybody has to start somewhere. No point in snobbery. Photography is more about composition and technique than hardware.

Here's a couple shots from yesterday of an eastbound at Fullerton taken with a Nikon CoolPix S33.

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I have both a 'heavyweight' DSLR and lenses and a higher-end point and shoot that I can shoot in full manual mode if I wish, as well as record images in Raw format. Being a fat old geezer, the times I 'take the artillery' when I'm shooting locally (someplace I can drive to). If I'm traveling via Amtrak, I'm limited by the size of the two cases I take with me (an airline size carry on + oversize gym bag) so lately, it's been only the small one vs the DSLR and 2 of my lenses. My biggest issue is 'shutter lag' using the P&S.

So is it snob appeal to carry my 'big guns'? My first SLR was a viewfinder type Minolta that I bought used. It was what I could afford back in 1970. Not everyone has the 'disposable income' levels needed for expensive cameras when food, housing, and transportation bills must be paid first.

My first camera was a Kodak Instamatic using 126 cartridge film. I was in the Army at the time and didn't have tons of money. I learned a few basics about how to develop the film (uses the same reals as 35mm film) and make B&W prints. About a year later when I was deployed overseas I was able to buy my first SLR. Most of us have to start somewhere and usually it's not with a top of the line camera. Some people just don't want to learn all there is to learn about a DSLR, even though they do must about everything automatically if you don't want to learn the finer points. I have a cropped sensor DSLR and sort of envy the guys with the full frame bodies but so what, I usually get the pictures I want. If I see a guy with a P&S, I figure he knows little about photography. I'm not an exert but if I can offer him some advice, I will. It's a hobby we all enjoy and maybe one day he might want to upgrade to a DSLR and figure out how to use all of the features, or he may not.

John

Thumper Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Given the circumstance would you be envious or
> scornful of the
> hardware choice of your fellow railway
> photographer, and why?
>
> Is a DSLR a status symbol, as much as 8"x10" view
> camera on a large tripod
> would be a different form of symbolism in the
> other direction?

I went to a very famous Shinkansen photo location few months ago, and there was a crowd of very serious photogs there. One guy had a Canon EOS-1D X Mark II, so it (and the owner) became a butt of jokes (translated):

"Did someone leave an EOS 1D here? I think I'll take it home..."

"How dare you complain about prices of lens if you own that thing!"

I had a point-n-shoot, but told the group that I was there to take videos. I told them I'm not a pro, and one guy replied, "Sometimes, there isn't much difference between an amateur and a professional" so obviously, snobbery wasn't part of the conversation.

There were other "newbies" there, and much of the conversation was about technique, frame of mind, and stuff OTHER THAN how fancy the equipment was, except to joke about the EOS-1D X. DSLR is merely a tool. If people want to make it a status symbol, let them, but the results from using the tool (crisp night pan shot of a 170 mph train that I was shown NOT using the EOS-1D X, for example) are far more important.

I have both a Canon DSLR and a point-and-shoot. Both take good quality photos. The DSLR is higher quality, but the point-and-shoot takes very good photos, also--they just can't be enlarged to the extent that the DSLR's can be. My point-and-shoot does not have bad shutter lag; my biggest complaint is that it is hard to see the digital viewfinder in bright light. In that regard, the optical viewfinder on the DSLR is far superior (it has both, but I almost never use the digital viewfinder). So, I consider both tools of the trade for railfanning, and I use whichever one best suits my purposes at the moment. I shoot RAW and JPEG concurrently with the DSLR, but I rarely edit the RAW photos. The point-and-shoot is JPEG only, at least for me, that is not a big deal.

What I like about the point-and-shoot is that I can carry a full-zoom camera with pretty good optics in my shirt pocket. Both of my cameras, while good quality, are several years old now. I know that there are better models available out there, but I just don't shoot enough photos to justify buying them. As for "snobbery," I couldn't care less about what anyone thinks of my photo equipment or anything else that I own. I got over the "mine is better than yours" garbage before I got out of high school.



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 01/26/18 05:14 by WW.

I really don't see the snob appeal in a DSLR, I sometimes question the high end zoom "glass" or two camera bodies in the digital age just to shoot "choo choo's", smile. I think there is a lot more "snob in "glass" than camera's themselves. I have a few pretty expensive primes but they don't look like much.

Bob

Thumper Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Say you are doing photography of trains in a
> favoured location
> and a fellow railway enthusiast unknown to you
> appears and is using
> s small point and shoot style smaller camera.
>
> Given the circumstance would you be envious or
> scornful of the
> hardware choice of your fellow railway
> photographer, and why?
>
> Is a DSLR a status symbol, as much as 8"x10" view
> camera on a large tripod
> would be a different form of symbolism in the
> other direction?

I have and use both depending on the circumstances. If somebody looks down on my little pocket camera when I'm using it, I don't care what he thinks.

John

I say that if you were buying a camera to impress
people trackside, you need to figure out a better
way to spend your money (charity?).

The newer DSLRs are great at low light-level shots, but
honestly, a DSLR that's 10 years old does well in
daylight with the sun coming in over your right shoulder.

It comes down to what you are using the camera for. The
newer ones do really well in low-light situations, while
the older ones just deliver good shots in most lighting
situations.

John.

If you are determined to be the gear snob, make sure it has the red dot !

Hay, I started out with a 116 kodak, then advanced to 127. Course thats back a few years.

I taught a high school photography class in the late '70s. One of my students had the most expensive camera, a Nikon F. Unfortunately, his photos did not match the price of the equipment.

I am amazed at the quality of some of the photos I took with digital cameras from the late '90s. I had an Olympus fixed focal length camera, then a Minolta Dimage-X (which I still have but don't use).

I use a DSLR but always carry a "Chick Shooter" with me as well. Did the same thing in film days.

I use what I need at the time and don't care what others are using.

There will always be that issue. I remember one fellow that was very serious that if you did not have $10,000 worth of Hasselblad equipment you should not ever bother taking pictures and they had to be B&W to boot. Then there is always as we would say the dick measuring contest where somebody would pull out a big expensive lens and waggle it around to try and impress people.

I have always been of the opinion that as long as you are having fun what difference does it make whether you use a P&S or etching the image on a copper plate it is just pictures of choo choo's.

I like to talk about what equipment people have mainly as a way to start a conversation and then go from there. I have used a little Nikon P&S and it worked very well until I dropped it then I got a smart phone and it actually takes pretty good pics. I use a mid level Nikon D7100 DX camera with my old film lenses and I think I do OK. I have never had the top of the line equipment mainly because I could never afford it and mid level works just fine for what I need to do.

It is just a hobby after all. If you make it a profession then that is a different story you cannot compete in NASCAR with a used Yugo after all.

Scott O'Dell

The only time I get upset is when I see a bigger lens than mine.....but of course it is not the size that matters, it is how well you handle the camera

Posted from iPhone

Variety is the spice of life! I’m blessed to have a DSLR camera with a zoom lens. The RAW image capabilities are great especially for editing in Adobe PhotoShop.

However, portability and advancements in smartphones has me using an Apple 🍎 device rather frequently. Ease of operation & less ‘fear factor’ when photographing people subjects has its rewards...no snob appeal-just a handy tool.

I’m impressed with the long lens images some photographers obtain but can’t justify the $$$ on my budget.

Thank goodness we have the variety offered in today’s market...😊

Be it a top of the line DSLR or a low-end P&S, the camera can only capture what the photographer sees. One of my favorite pictures is this eastbound TTC streetcar near Dundas Square in Toronto, taken on July 27, 2007 with a Minolta Dimage Z2. It was all I could afford at the time, so I made the best of it.

Dwayne



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/26/18 16:09 by MrGrumpy.

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First-rate night shot.
Bob