On 11/05/2007, at 11:39 PM, Bill Pearce wrote:
> Whatever a professional photographer uses would qualify as a
> professional
> camera. That means that an Ikomat (see the latest Online
> Photographer) is a
> professional camera in 2007.
This would mean that a Hyundai Excel is a truck because a
professional truck driver once used one to pick up a box. Clearly not
an adequate definition. There are people selling Holga images.
> What I see the term meaning is a camera that is specifically
> designed to be
> used by large numbers of professional photographers, that can
> survive hard
> use for many years, and have features that appeal to said pros. I'm
> not sure
> that there are more than two or three cameras that currently meet that
> definition. I do know that the OM1 really, seriously didn't. In the
> day that
> it was first produced, things like removable prisms and titanium foil
> shutters were considered essential. The ability to be used as a
> hammer or
> withstand being used as a step stool was highly regarded, from
> demonstrations by Nikon reps evidenced. Note that cameras are now a
> commodity, so the definition willl change.
>
Oh I'd say that there are more than two or three. The top line N and
C bodies is four, plus say the D200 as a backup/disposeable and the
5D for the 1D III shooter who wants occasional full format. They are
prosumer but appeal to the pro who has specific needs so they are
borderline. Plus the Fuji S5 for the wedding trade. Then there's two
'medium format' systems and anything that you can bolt a Leaf or
Phase One back on to, medium of large format.
> A professional services department with quick repair and loaner
> lenses on
> site at important events is important as well. I think that one
> reason that
> Canon took over from Nikon is the demise of NPS at the same time
> that Canon
> was popularizing autofocus.
Nikon seem hopeless. They seem to have decided that I qualify for pro
status because I've reviewed a few so i get the magazine, plus a
membership card that's expired - that is, at the beginning of this
year I received in the post a card that proudly announced that it
expires at the start of 2006! Cretinously incompetent.
Andrew Fildes
afildes@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
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