Too much camera

One of my colleagues at work has just bought a Canon EOS40D. I’m not quite sure why – other than as a status symbol, really – because the photos I’ve seen of theirs taken with a Sony Cybershot compact camera are (to be blunt) bloody horrible.

Seeing them buy this Canon camera, while not knowing anything about what the lenses do, or even that this meant that the lenses detached from the camera body, well, it just saddens me really.

Now OK, I’m not a great photographer – I’d like to think I’m fairly good, but I’m in no way great – but I progressed through the various stages of compact camera, bridge camera, then made my way up to the SLR. And I’m pleased with how things have gone, and will keep on learning as I go on.

But to me that’s the way it’s supposed to be – that you learn, and progress. Not just jump in to buying a bloody great SLR with no understanding, and somehow expect it to “make” you take better pictures. Because the fact is, it won’t. I went from taking pretty good photos with the bridge camera to taking some truly bloody awful ones with the SLR. I’m still learning about it now, just over two years down the line, and still make fuck-ups on a regular basis.

So I wonder how long it’ll be before this EOS 40D is consigned to a cupboard somewhere “because it’s a crap camera”. And I think it’s a pity, because it’s a fantastic bit of kit, and I’d love one. Not as much as I’d love a 5D or a 1Ds Mk III, but that’s life. Maybe one day, when I either a) have made a decent level of money from photography, and can rationalise the purchase or b) when I’ve run up to the limitations of the 20D.