p.2 #2 · Roger Cicala wants to buy a camera system and is still blogging about it
Zebrabot wrote:
Thom Hogan has some serious competition for long-winded articles about nothing.
Roger is a much better writer than Thom Hogan. His analyses are also more thorough. But in the case of this recent, detailed search for a photography Holy Grail, Roger broke stride. I'm glad some people got something out Roger's personal approach. I really am. But as a general guide for buying/selecting gear, I think Roger has taken the uninformed down a wrong path.
p.2 #4 · Roger Cicala wants to buy a camera system and is still blogging about it
When I started I bought a Nikon N60 because I wanted better pictures of tweety birds at my feeders. My little Freedom Zoom 140 just didn't cut the mustard. I was at wallyworld one night and handled both a Canon Rebel and Nikon N60. The Canon didn't feel right in my hand, and seemed chintzy and plasticy. So I bought the Nikon with a kit lens. Now you know why I shoot Nikon. Everything grew from that one purchase.
Roger is using great reasoning skills in pursuit of a camera system. His knowledge of testing systems and analysis are being put to good use. He is testing and taking notes. He is reasoning things out before he spends thousands. He is using his writing skills to inform others of a way to consider cameras. I think his way works a lot better than simply wanting better pictures of tweety birds.
p.2 #5 · Roger Cicala wants to buy a camera system and is still blogging about it
I also think that large purchases should be done by logical deduction, need-driven criteria and actual comparisons.
Most people tend to look at camera gear as some kind of religion, where the unquestionable truth that brand "X" is always best is.... Unquestionable. It would be heresy and a personal insult to imply something contradicting this one true fact.
Actually doing some side by side comparisons can be VERY educating. Especially if you have very stout preconceptions and "opinions".
p.2 #6 · Roger Cicala wants to buy a camera system and is still blogging about it
Roger might be over-analyzing, but so are some people here when it comes to judging his writings. As for me, I like some of his posts and I don't read the ones that don't lure me in. Simple.
p.2 #7 · Roger Cicala wants to buy a camera system and is still blogging about it
johnvanr wrote:
Roger might be over-analyzing, but so are some people here when it comes to judging his writings. As for me, I like some of his posts and I don't read the ones that don't lure me in. Simple.
p.2 #8 · Roger Cicala wants to buy a camera system and is still blogging about it
Why is he BUYING the gear. He's the owner: he can just grab anything in the store and walk out with it. Didn't like that system? Swap for a whole different system next week. "Eenie meenie miney moe ... I will try a whole Leica system this week."
p.2 #10 · Roger Cicala wants to buy a camera system and is still blogging about it
D. Diggler wrote:
Why is he BUYING the gear. He's the owner:
he can just grab anything in the store and walk out with it. Didn't like that system? Swap for a whole different system next week. "Eenie meenie miney moe ... I will try a whole Leica system this week."
Well, indicated above is that he's not the owner, but why would he constantly depreciate the value of his merchandise like that? I mean, sure he gets some gratification out of it but that's his product. He's reducing the value of it by using it for free - he's actively losing money like that.
It's for the same reason that, say, people with rental vacation homes don't constantly stay in them if they're smart about finances. Every week they stay, is a week they aren't getting paid, and another family rotating through, wearing out carpets, appliances, etc., without paying money in to offset it.
p.2 #13 · Roger Cicala wants to buy a camera system and is still blogging about it
I am really hard pressed to see how anyone could possibly be offended by his blog article. I've never understood the people who say it is all the photographer, not the gear, yet go online and read all this talk about gear. Some people like the photography, some people like the gear, some people like both. Don't sit there trying to convince everyone to be exactly like you and enjoy photography exactly how you do.
p.2 #18 · Roger Cicala wants to buy a camera system and is still blogging about it
D. Diggler wrote:
Why is he BUYING the gear. He's the owner:
he can just grab anything in the store and walk out with it. Didn't like that system? Swap for a whole different system next week. "Eenie meenie miney moe ... I will try a whole Leica system this week."
1600 extra clicks just from this thread alone. Even if only 1% of those become new customers, then his "gear buying" would have worked.
p.2 #19 · Roger Cicala wants to buy a camera system and is still blogging about it
I love Roger's blog... very whimsical yet informative. I learned a lot about MTF curves from reading his blog. I think he is doing us a great service by posting on that blog. Of course there will be some people who won't like it, but then there is not a single thing that pleases everyone.
p.2 #20 · Roger Cicala wants to buy a camera system and is still blogging about it
D. Diggler wrote:
WHAT? Since when?
It's a corporation now and I'm just a stockholder.
Corporations (supposedly, at least) have rules that apply to all employees, so everyone has limits on how often they can 'borrow' gear and for how long. Leadership by example works a lot better than 'you guys follow the rules and I'll do whatever I please'.
