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Comment by hbn | Hacker News Reader

> "A bad photographer with good gear doesn't produce good photos"

> Yet still a better photo compared to low-end gear.

Give me an iPhone I can take a half-decent photo.

Give me some fancy DSLR camera with 3000 settings and 20 lenses and I'll have no idea where to even start getting a good photo.

Myself and most other people don't want to learn how to work a camera, we want to point and shoot.

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It depends a lot on what you are trying to do. I agree that most photos an iPhone is sufficient. You do not need bokeh/low light/superzoom for the vast, VAST majority of photos. Once you are going for a certain look or a certain quality of photo though you're going to need to invest in camera gear. It's the margins in which you need the expensive camera stuff, not in the main body of photos, and GP lists some of these margins.

I have put thousands into a lens just for taking photos indoors of my kids. Is it overkill? Absolutely. Do I think every cent of it was worth it for me? Absolutely. Not disagreeing with you though, I wouldn't at all recommend that others do the same as me.

I understand what you're saying, but it wasn't my main point. I probably expressed it poorly.

I was considering an artistically lacking photographer with good gear, that knows how the gear works. That's the typical target of these discussions. So the gap is artistic skill, not technical skill.

I totally agree with your conclusion that most people don't want to bother with any of this.

Most DSLR/mirror less cameras have auto/P mode where you can basically point and shoot and get a picture with better background blur, details, low light performance and less noise than smart phones

Smart phones have smaller sensors and not as good lenses as for example full frame cameras.

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