Sin of having a big camera!

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ianjmatt

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At a music festival this weekend I had my DSLR and also my Olympus Trip. The Trip was great for candids and just keeping in my fleece pocket.

My kids were both involved in various things during the weekend and on the Monday ha 'showcases'. What was interesting was that even though everyone was taking lots of pics of ALL the kids myself and another person with a DSLR got lots of funny looks and muttered comments from people as we took our pictures.

Strange ...
 
Had this myself even with my DSLR s1600, almost like taking pictures is an alien thing to these people. I was in Buxton taking a photograph of the architecture and heard one guy mutter 'there's always one.' The feeling is mutual lol.
 
ianjmatt said:
At a music festival this weekend I had my DSLR and also my Olympus Trip. The Trip was great for candids and just keeping in my fleece pocket.

My kids were both involved in various things during the weekend and on the Monday ha 'showcases'. What was interesting was that even though everyone was taking lots of pics of ALL the kids myself and another person with a DSLR got lots of funny looks and muttered comments from people as we took our pictures.

Strange ...
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If you did the usual thing of parents with SLRs of stamping to the front, standing up and acting all David Bailey the muttered comments were probably to do with that. Even if you didn't the likelihood is that parents will mutter during their kids' performances - it's what happens.
 
Nope. Sat on the grass in front of a five foot stage with all the other parents taking pics. Comments clearly made towards myself and other person with SLR.
 
Comments like "what's he after taking pictures of with that thing?"
 
Only answer to that would be 'not you dear, you'd crack the lens' :)
 
ianjmatt said:
Comments like "what's he after taking pictures of with that thing?"
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A response to that could be something like "after the best possible images"?

It is sad if people were muttering just because of what kind of camera you use, but people are stupid and ill informed a lot of the time. Could be they just envied the fact that your shots might turn out better than theirs with such a "big" camera :lol:
 
I'm glad my daughter is nearly 18.......then again there's even more to worry a dad now.

Never had that in public and if I did I'm pretty thick skinned, I just think it's a splash of jealousy and ignorance.
 
gingerjon said:
So more an inverted snob thing rather than a "you must be dodgy" thing?

Some people are just dull. Ride with it.
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I'm not sure what they meant to be honest. Just irritated that they did!
 
I think you have to be a little thick skinned nowadays, if you have a DSLR people seem to think your a terrorist or worst, people just need to lighten up a little.

But then with all that's going on in our world now people are always going to be wary.
 
I was walking through Sheffield city last year looking for some nice architectural shots and just happened to have the 70-200 on.

Some middle aged man came up beside me with his compact, held it out in front taking a shot looking at the back LCD screen quickly, and then walked back a few paces to his missus. I heard him say just loudly enough for me to hear "I wonder what he needs such a big camera for?"

I turned around and said loud enough for everyone in a 20 metres to hear "BECAUSE IM COMPENSATING FOR MY REALLY SMALL PENIS"

They made off sharpish.

Rich
 
Smoot said:
I was walking through Sheffield city last year looking for some nice architectural shots and just happened to have the 70-200 on.

Some middle aged man came up beside me with his compact, held it out in front taking a shot looking at the back LCD screen quickly, and then walked back a few paces to his missus. I heard him say just loudly enough for me to hear "I wonder what he needs such a big camera for?"

I turned around and said loud enough for everyone in a 20 metres to hear "BECAUSE IM COMPENSATING FOR MY REALLY SMALL PENIS"

They made off sharpish.

Rich
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I've used an abbreviated version of that - "Since you asked, I just need to compensate". Let them work it out. It often breaks the ice and takes the tension out of the situation.
 
Billy said:
I think you have to be a little thick skinned nowadays, if you have a DSLR people seem to think your a terrorist or worst, people just need to lighten up a little.

But then with all that's going on in our world now people are always going to be wary.
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Because terrorists and worse didn't exist before DSLRs? It's the media hype that's the real problem, although people don't seem to understand when you point out to them that if you were a terrorist, you're not doing the undercover bit very well with a damn great lens on your camera. ;)

Smoot said:
"BECAUSE IM COMPENSATING FOR MY REALLY SMALL PENIS"
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Note to self: buy a 21mm lens and hope for reverse psychology. :whistling:
 
foggy4ever said:
I'm glad my daughter is nearly 18.......then again there's even more to worry a dad now.
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really? What? Haven't really noticed anything different from when I grew up apart from the levels of traffic.
 
Honestly, if you hear these comments then I think it's every photographers duty to challenge those statements, otherwise we're just letting the daily mail mentality win?
 
Smoot said:
I was walking through Sheffield city last year looking for some nice architectural shots and just happened to have the 70-200 on.

Some middle aged man came up beside me with his compact, held it out in front taking a shot looking at the back LCD screen quickly, and then walked back a few paces to his missus. I heard him say just loudly enough for me to hear "I wonder what he needs such a big camera for?"

I turned around and said loud enough for everyone in a 20 metres to hear "BECAUSE IM COMPENSATING FOR MY REALLY SMALL PENIS"

They made off sharpish.

Rich
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I have a saying " C U Next Tuesday" by the time they've worked it out I'm half way down the street with a big smile on my face!
 
Byker28i said:
really? What? Haven't really noticed anything different from when I grew up apart from the levels of traffic.
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I think you've missed my point, the op was commenting on his kids being involved in the festival and I was just saying mine is no longer doing stuff at school etc that would have had me taking my gear along to mingle with other parents.
 
been commented on many many times on here before - big camera + lens . 50mm in lenght = nonce to the average chav "because I can take photos on my phone innit yeah?"


Just tell them you are only taking pics of the pretty kids - so they need not worry because theirs are as ugly as....- that is a joke by the way!
 
Lynton said:
been commented on many many times on here before - big camera + lens . 50mm in lenght = nonce to the average chav "because I can take photos on my phone innit yeah?"


Just tell them you are only taking pics of the pretty kids - so they need not worry because theirs are as ugly as....- that is a joke by the way!
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:lol:
 
How times change, at one time all cameras were ****ing big and no one got upset then :( it was f e c k honest :)
 
ianjmatt said:
Comments like "what's he after taking pictures of with that thing?"
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Just say "Because I know what I'm doing and I don't play with toy cameras."
 
The only comments i've had is how much the camera cost and that i must be loaded.
they don't realise that i have cut back on other things to afford a big camera which is by far not a top of the range job.
bless 'em
 
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I think all this will change once people stop buying compacts and buy bridge or DSLR's.

I have just spent 3 weeks in USA, had my camera with me at all times,and not one person looked at me let alone said anything, I had my daughter with me aswell so was taking pics in Disney land too, now if there was one place where there would be 1000's of kids, its there, and again not one person even looked at me.

This could be because very few people had compact camera's, nearly all had a bridge camera or an entry level DSLR.

Peoples mentality needs to change, or be told to change by the powers thats caused this in the first place.

spike
 
"Well, I used to use small cameras but I kept losing them..."
 
SpikeK6 said:
I think all this will change once people stop buying compacts and buy bridge or DSLR's.

I have just spent 3 weeks in USA, had my camera with me at all times,and not one person looked at me let alone said anything, I had my daughter with me aswell so was taking pics in Disney land too, now if there was one place where there would be 1000's of kids, its there, and again not one person even looked at me.

This could be because very few people had compact camera's, nearly all had a bridge camera or an entry level DSLR.

Peoples mentality needs to change, or be told to change by the powers thats caused this in the first place.

spike
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I think you are spot on as entry DSLR are at a price range that's completive with the compact camera.
Compact is almost useless in bright light as no can see the LCD.
Lens size will be the main issue.
I think what you wear could make a difference. Maybe by wearing tea shirts with Talk Photography or Camera club will show that you are an enthusiast and they will understand why you use this type of gear. Not just because mine has to bigger than yours. Also friend told me that once he wore a yellow reflective jacket and he ended up with people posing for him thinking he was an official photographer.
I am now starting not to let it bother me as I enjoy photography too much.
 
I had a police car slowly cruise past me a few times while I was walking home last night about 1am. Luckily they did not stop me and I tried to avoid eye contact but it was pretty unnerving! Almost certainly because I had a DSLR.
 
boliston said:
I had a police car slowly cruise past me a few times while I was walking home last night about 1am. Luckily they did not stop me and I tried to avoid eye contact but it was pretty unnerving! Almost certainly because I had a DSLR.
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Most likely because they were wondering whether you were on your way home from a burglary. I was once stopped while moving house because it was 2am, my car was registered to my old address 150 miles away and it was packed full of stuff. Quick chat with the police confirmed that it was my car and they apologised for stopping me and wished me luck with the rest of the move.
 
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