6 Things Photographers Like to Argue About

Let’s face it, as much as we all like to tout community and togetherness, human beings are inherently hard wired to be Us vs Them type creatures. We can’t escape it, our species is naturally predisposed to be wary of the other guy and his way of life. Since the dawn of man, we humans tend to gather in tribes of like minded individuals and look with suspicion on those who have different beliefs and customs, and whenever possible, we like to argue the merits of OUR way vs. THEIR way.

Photographers are certainly not immune to this basic instinctual behavior, in fact, the Us vs Them is well alive and kicking with our crowd. Here are the things that photographers like to argue about:

Nikon vs. Canon: This is the big one and fights have broken out over which brand is better. You choose one when you start out, and although migrations do occur on rare occasion, most of the time you stick with your brand for life. Of course, it doesn’t really matter which type of camera you use, we all know that it’s the photographer and not the camera that make great pictures. Which brand to I use? Nikon all the way. They’re the best.

Film vs. Digital: Although most of us shoot digital these days, there are still some film holdouts who will argue to the end of days why film is better and more beautiful than digital, or at least until they use their last roll and are forced to switch. Film was indeed great, but so were LP records.

Color vs. BW: This one carries big divisions. Essentially, the argument revolves around which one is so much more “artisitic.” Makes for some great roundtable discussions, but in the end, we’ll let Ansel Adams and Galen Rowell duke this one out in the great darkroom in the sky. Or is it the great E-6 lab in the sky. I guess I’ll find out when I get there. Anyway, great photographers have created wonderful works of art in both mediums.

RAW vs. Jpeg: This one sparked a very spirited debate a few weeks ago between me and our other contributor Mike Panic. I’ll let you read for yourself how it went. Sorry Mike, I still hold that I’m right- Shooting in RAW allows you to achieve the highest quality results from your digital imagery.

Mac vs. PC: I don’t even know why this is even on the table. Everyone knows that Macs are the only way to go for serious creative people.

Fixed vs. Zoom: Now this one has real potential for serious discussion, I might have to do an entire post about the merits of fixed lenses vs zoom lenses. Some shooters swear by their primes (fixed), while others love the versatility of their zooms. What do you prefer and why?

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Dan Bailey is a professional adventure, outdoor and travel photographer based in Anchorage, Alaska. You can follow his own blog at danbaileyphoto.com/blog and see his daily Facebook updates at facebook.com/danbaileyphoto