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6 Things Photographers Like to Argue About

by Dan Bailey on June 29, 2010 · 324 comments

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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

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  • CP

    shoot digital AND film. I still have an LP collection. Plus, when i get my roll of film & 4×6 prints with white border back from my local mini lab, its always feels like a holiday, such as Christmas. Its Christmas about twice a month for me. OH, and what is Nikon again? ;)

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  • http://twitter.com/garytx Gary Oldham

    I like what I like and works for me, and I'm completely OK with y'all doing the same. There is NO REASON for you to like or use what I do, nor for me to like or use what you do.

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  • Andersson Photo

    hmm PC vs Mac: PC performs faster and is also more options on better hardware.. better value for money!
    Mac is soo ridiculously overpriced by the “evil” steve jobs. It even have overheating problems and uses old hardware… Program wise: they're both the same!

    Canon vs Nikon? I use Canon, I chose canon because of their wide choice of lens. As specially their Tele Lenses and other primes. And I like the thumb dial :) I dont like they way that Nikon places their buttons everywhere! But I also use an old 35mm film Nikon FE2 :)

    RAW vs Jpeg? I always use RAW for my serious photos… Family photos I use Jpeg ^^

    Fixed vs Zoom? I use both, but I like primes more, sharper, better CA control.

    Film or Digital: I use Digital mostly… but the film part isnt dead for me yet. I also like Lomography

    BW vs Color? Who cares? they're both useful!

  • Andersson Photo

    Im a semi pro photographer an I use a PC :) There are many photographers out there that uses PC!

    I used to own a mac until I got soo sick and tired of that piece of expensive crap keeps overheating and slowing down!

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  • Matty

    In all the debates, the only answer can be “who cares?” If you're achieving the images you want, it doesn't matter if you're using digital or film, nikon or canon, raw or jpeg and processing on a pc or a mac or even setting your camera to B&W (if digital) or choosing B&W or colour film. Using your feet to zoom or the ring on the lens (or even the little button on the body) is also irrelevant unless we're talking about an f1.2 lens for shooting in the dark.

    My choices from the above…..
    canon (because I did a lot of reading on different bodies and available glass when I first bought into digital SLR and at my price point, the canon was marginally ahead of the nikon)
    pc because the hardware is cheaper to be able to run lightroom and PS
    zooms because I have more versatility and I can handle 2.8 being my widest aperture through zoom range.
    raw because I just dislike throwing away data before getting it into lightroom
    colour because I shoot raw and convert the image I saw from the raw in lightroom
    digital because, well, just because it's cheaper for when I make a right mess of the shots.

    None of the above arguments are relevant when you're getting the shots you want ;)

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  • Goat

    In the tree service world, there are HUGE arguments of Stihl vs. Husqvarna.

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