Bad reviews - do you always trust them? An example is my Nikon S220

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Permalink Reply by Terry Runion on August 29, 2009 at 6:19pm

Joe, I agree with you, it is not the gear, but the creative person behind the lens, and their creativity!

Typically I read the reviews and then look to forums for the "real deal" , thanks for sharing this! -ter

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Permalink Reply by Joe Barney on August 29, 2009 at 9:27pm

Thanks for the response, and you're welcome! I'll check out forums. It helps to have that more than just experience and "instinct." I suppose some reviews have their own "opinion" though I don't expect them to be perfect but at least in my case, it would help if they were more accurate. I dunno if I mentioned enough but some reviews were decent. They weren't saying it was fantastic but they said it was decent which is basically the truth. I love the idea of the forums! I probably won't have to pay the Nikonian website when I have this.

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Permalink Reply by Neal Gallagher on August 30, 2009 at 8:07am

I don't agree with this statement. A creative person with a good camera can take better shots than a creative person with a bad camera. I think the gear is important too. In challenging light I can get much better photos with my Nikon D3 than with my D2x, or D300. I would never go out to shoot a wedding with a point and shoot.

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Permalink Reply by Terry Runion on August 30, 2009 at 9:23am

Neal, the point I was making is so many people get caught up in "the gear" they forget the important side of the photography world. I have known people who have the best , most expensive gear, and they can't produce a good shot if their life depended on it.

I totally agree with you, at some level you obviously need the higher end gear, like in your example of shooting a wedding.

Thanks so much for posting!-ter

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Permalink Reply by Joe Barney on August 30, 2009 at 11:04am

I agree with you that gear does make a big difference. I could get much better photos with something like even a Nikon D90 or something along those lines. Even a higher end point and shoot would work better, but I do think the skills behind the person make a huge difference. I have a friend that has a wonderful Canon DSLR, but he says himself he can't take good pictures with it if it were to save his life. He takes better photos with his point and shoots. He said he just has to figure out the controls because he knows that it's a better camera. I am not sure which reply you replied to but my main point was that the S220 got horrible reviews in a lot of sites, but it was pretty undeserved. I've taken decent photos, though not professional quality, are pretty good, especially considering the reviews and the fact it's a mere point and shoot. It does have issues with low light, but in daylight, it takes pretty good photos. Thanks for the reply, you remind me I want that DSLR so bad! I'm going to take a look at the Nikon D3 now, and maybe Nikon's website has a wish list? If not I suppose Amazon does.

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Permalink Reply by Camille Lopez on September 18, 2009 at 7:03am

I use reviews on any major thing I'm going to buy .So far they haven't steered me wrong. When looking for a new camera ,I knew exactly what features I wanted, and what didn't matter that much to me.I think reviews should be used as a guide, not as gospel. You have to have an idea in mind as to what you want, and then use the review as a means to finding which product has those features.
Camille

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Permalink Reply by Joe Barney on September 19, 2009 at 6:19pm

You're right, at least with camera reviews, they are usually pretty accurate but I was surprised about mine. They were pretty off, or maybe its me? I've done photography before, and should upload a photo of the camera that shot that cloud photo everyone seems to like. But I like the Nikon much better! It is just a newer and better camera. I still have the old one though. :)

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