Anyone else bothered by camera ads?

[Grant Lamontagne]

There's a camera ad right now for Canon DSLR's that make you think that if you buy it and the right lenses then you will get awesome pictures.  I have used some really nice camera equipment and let me tell you, my pictures are still smurf!  And, I know a couple of guys that could take gallery quality pictures with a cell phone.

Who do camera manufacturers think they are kidding?  Great photos require a certain degree of skill mixed with a healthy dose of timing and/or dumb luck.

Years ago I was in a situation when I think of cameras and the reultant quality.  An old girlfriend and I were at an amusement part and she was wearing a light purple shirt and straw hat, her auburn (reddish brown for the guys out there! ) hair blowing gently in the breeze- she was a shy girl, often with her face tilted down and her beatutiful green eyes looking up at me, and at the time the light was absolutely perfect and she was so stunning that the image was written on my brain forever.  While I couldn't look away, I knew I would kick myself forever if I didn't preserve the moment, so I pulled out my camera and snapped a picture.  Over the next week I thought back to that moment as I waited for the film to be developed- yes, it was that long ago... and when the photos came in I thumbed through them to find that one, that perfect photo that would preserve that beautiful moment forever.... and she looked to be about 50 years old and missing teeth, which is generally considered to be a bad look for a young lady in her late teens.

I was so crushed that the photo not only didn't properly reproduce the image, it also just about destroyed my memory of that moment, and I found I could no longer remember the details.  I am certain a decent photographer with good equipment could have captured the moment well enough (I'm sure no still picture could have caught it perfectly), I doubt I would have done any better with a Canon DSLR, no matter how many lenses I had.

I know it's just marketing, but that one kind of annoys me.  I see the same thing in car commercials where the car is always on a winding road in the mountains, while most of the cars sold spend most of their lives sitting in traffic, but then that's the user's fault really- the driver isn't driving on winding mountain roads, although if they had a mind to they could.  No matter how good my camera equipment may be, I won't get perfect images- the best I can hope for is better quality crap and that's not worth dropping thousands of dollars on a high end camera and a variety of lenses.

Def

[jwh]

It's all advertisements. The right knife doesn't make one an outdoorsman and the right gun will not turn a nitwit into a hunter. If one wants to spend the time to learn a skill they will probably end up at some point spending more money on better quality equipment.

jwh

[Viix]

It's just marketing giving the consumers the paramount "Reason to believe"..


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[sawman]

Whether it be cameras, cars or car insurance, I'm generally sickened by most of the commercials that air today.  I'm no expert on cameras, but I have had my share of pain in trying to get pictures to come out.  It is for this reason that I don't often post pictures on this forum.  That said, I take 99% of commercials with a grain of salt because they're just hype.

[Chako]

I find it best to ignore commercials altogether. I am very good at channel surfing during the lengthy TV commercial runs, or tuning out those pesky online ones. In fact, if I click on a video and a commercial pops up, I automatically hunt for the X to shut the whole thing off

[AimlessWanderer]

The advertising industry uses very clever techniques to sell their clients products, and though some restictions may be in place to prevent false selling (claiming a product/service will do something that it cannot), they still tap into parts of the mind to convince the buyer they are buying more than they actually are. Some adverts push the boundaries in my opinion, but as a rule it's the gullible masses that lap it up without much thought or questioning that frustrates me far more. WAY more. They only do this stuff, because people let it work.

The classic WTF adverts are the ones that are for fragrances ... how do you visually and auditorilly sell an odour? Show them all the stuff that they would like to be associated with, with the unspoken influence that they will achieve this by slapping Brand X all over themselves .... and the muppets are queueing up to buy this stuff at mega bucks per millilitre because of those beautiful images, surreal escapism, and carefully choreographed backdrop of noise.

 

[nuphoria]

I rarely watch ads - load of old donkey's doo doo if you ask me

[jzmtl]

Nothing different than all the ads with sexy models, as if wearing the same stuff make you looks like them. 

[Chako]

Oh you mean like those Axe commercials.

You should see the kids bathing in that stuff at work. 

[MultiMat]

Jeep sent a Ad to my wife "Dear Jodie make this photo a reality....."

It was a postcard photo of our house with a $49,000 Jeep Grand Cherokee in our driveway , cheeky buggers    . I should send them a photo of our savings account balance & say sure , can you trim $40000 from the bottom line . We our saving for a new car  but $50,000 for a car  .

[Stormdrane]

I like to see smaller full featured cameras, but know that they won't help me take better photos, lol...  I get a kick out of the ads that have nothing to do with the product they're selling... 

[Sparky415]

Oh you mean like those Axe commercials.

You should see the kids bathing in that stuff at work. 

Its not working for me 
I don't think I'm putting enough on 

[nuphoria]

I like to see smaller full featured cameras, but know that they won't help me take better photos, lol...  I get a kick out of the ads that have nothing to do with the product they're selling... 

Agreed - that was genius!

If it's actually entertaining/thought provoking and not dumbed down, I think it stays in the psyche for a lot longer and is more effective advertising.

[AimlessWanderer]

That's got to go down as one of the best ever 

[jwh]

This more subtle ad is at the bottom of this page today. LOL



jwh

[Whoey]

funny, I'm getting a nikon d3s ad, only $5000+ 

I'm really happy with the Nikon D5100 I got on my trip to Canada...

[ketchupgun]

(as a pro photographer) it irks me when i hear people say things like "your camera takes great pictures" or " this shot would have been better with a better camera"

As EVERY SINGLE MEMBER OF HIS FORUM KNOWS , tools are tools!!!

I usually reply with quips like "i have a hammer, to you trust me to build your kid a tree house?"

I was once shootng my son & wife at the public pool, with a Canon 1D + 70-200mm lens...the life guard said " that camera msut take great pictures" i replied " those swim trunks must save alot of lives"

I wish i could play drums...it dont matter how expaenive the kit i buy is, without some lessons practice and understanding, i suck.

And if u are curiois what makes a a good photographer, it really is being abel to "see light" and understand it and thus capture it and use it. Understanding that a camera is easily manipulated bcuase its gamut of colour is a fraction of what your eye can see...and its that limitation that creates the effects of a good photo.  Also, dont forget, a photo is 2D...though your eye sees 3D...so knowing how to switch hat off helpa your photography alot!

Hit me up if u guys have any photo questions, im here to help!

[dks]

At least the megapixel and digital zoom wars are slowing down a bit...

[Grant Lamontagne]

So I was right in saying that if I bought a better camera all I'd have is higher quality smurf photos...

Good to know!

Def

[derekmac]

Yeah a good photographer can take better photos with an old 3 megapixel camera than a not so good photographer with an 18 megapixel camera.  You either have the eye for it, or you don't.

Sure you can take classes that can help you understand how to frame your shots, and what aperture means, but if you can't visualize what you want your shot to look like, and know how to make it happen in a split second, you're probably going to end up in the "I need a better camera" crowd.   

Oh, and Def, your pics aren't that bad!

Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk 2

[AimlessWanderer]

I have a Canon EOS 35mm set up tucked away which I have been promising will get upgraded to a DSLR body (probably pre-owned). I got quite reasonably good with the 35mm version even though the lens wasn't very crisp at the edges (Sigma 28-200 and used a 2x Teleconverter occasionally - instant sharpness degredation  ), but sometimes that helped the mood of the shot anyway.

It took me AGES to take a good pic though, as I had to let the camera suggest all the settings, then study them and decide if I agreed or not, switch to aperture priority or shutter priority dependent on the shot, study again, adjust exposure or shift background, then take three bracketted shots (dependent on how adventurous I was being) ..... then forget everything I was looking at by the time the film got sent off and came back. I know a DSLR will help me take some cool shots, but I know I'll never get good/quick at it.

The fiddling and tweaking was part of the fun though, and at least with a DSLR I'll know instantly if I got it right, or WHY I got it wrong, and be able to have another crack at it

[ketchupgun]

@50ftttad
Haha! I remeber shooting film and writing down each frame number all my iso, shutter, and aperture settings them cross referencing them to the prints weeks later!

Digital, instant processing, and metadata have really sped up the learning curve!