"This all just seems to be a whole lot of nothing to me. Doesn't matter if the camera is 2 megapixels or 100. If you know how to shoot, you do. If you don't you don't."

It's like driving a 4-cylinder commuter-mobile then suddenly being handed the keys to an 8-cylinder manual transmission monster that can hug the curves like a silk dress. It's the same skill set, different levels of compentency.

On the face of it, taking a picture is not that hard. Really. But it's having good or bad fundamentals that will determine if you can really be competent using any level of equipment.

Think digital audio remastering analog classics - we never really heard those pops, wheezes and other "imperfections" until we were able to hear the track on a platform capable of higher fidelity capture.

Consider the issue of stability alone. A 6MP camera handheld can mask poor technique, especially if it's just for web or small print repro (i.e., chicken wing elbows, just slightly low a shutter speed), but bump that to 12MP and bingo, people started seeing "softness". Bump it to 16MP and oh yeah, people definitely started seeing the fuzzies. Add a slightly heavier prosumer f4 lens, yep, things starting to shake. Move up to pro-caliber f2.8, bingo - nose down and heavy, fatigue starts to kick in handholding.

Tripods - don't even get me started on this. I have a decent consumer tripod, but it's nowhere anywhere *close* to what it needs to be if I moved up to a D3X for example. I'm already paranoid - weighting the center column, using M-UP lock if available, wired or wired release. And some of my exposures still look awful - or would look better with a heavier more stable support.

These are the kinds of issues some people don't think about when moving up to another camera, especially one that significantly exceeds whatever resolving power they had before. It's not just knowing "how to shoot."

"Toodle-loo from Covey22!"

-Armando
Nikonians Team
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My Plan:

Get out of the car.
Get closer to the subject.
Pick the right mid-tone this time.

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