Quote Originally Posted by osnap
im not accusing anyone of talking down to anyone, relax. And im not even talking about low-end SLRs specifically, just people getting SLRs in general.

...And fair enough, I haven't seen you directly saying these things, I just thought I'd seen you associated with some of the threads im talking about. to be fair i havent paid THAT much attention to it, and this wasn't meant to be like a callout at you or anyone in particular, dont get all up in arms about it.
Quote Originally Posted by osnap
I really don't understand why a lot of you guys (speedminded, AP, etc) are so up-in-arms about people wanting to buy a D40 and have at it. Its not a "bandwagon", and don't act like you started it - automotive photography is by no means a new entity, and you guys had to start somewhere too - AND you were inspired by someone else's work, I'm sure. You guys seem to feel so threatened and insulted by people just dicking around with their first SLRs... let your experience speak for itself in the picture quality.
Where have I acted like or said I feel threatened? It's not my money so I could care less.

If someone wants to get into photography i've always suggested they start shooting with a point & shoot with manual modes. A point and shoot half the price of a entry DSLR will shoots cars and landscape just as well or better than a entry level to higher end consumer DSLR. If you want to shoot people you can get a point & shoot with a hot shoe for a flash and still be at half the price of an entry level DSLR and a flash. Using a onboard pop-up flash on a DSLR produces no better photos than any mid level point & shoot on portrait mode.


Reasons for getting a point and shoot and learning the basics first:

1) Composition is composition, doesn't matter what camera is used. Work on that then work on quality or being capable of larger prints. Most point & shoots have such high megapixels you can still do large prints. I've done 18x22 prints with a 5.0mp point & shoot before and turned out fine.

2) Getting a point & shoots still allows you to learn how to shoot manually.

3) If you want to pursue photography beyond that you have a backup camera. I see cars and random stuff driving down the road all the time, there is no possible way for me to simply pull my DSLR out of my camera bag and take a shot within seconds like I could with my Sony's, especially if I want to zoom.

4) Big camera's get you attention & harassment, whether positive or negative. If you don't have the experience to talk your way out of something then you can easily get knee deep in something you don't want to be involved with. Nobody thinks twice about people using a point & shoot, they aren't threatened by being around them.