Is it your gear or your skill

I don't think the car thing works. I could put my mother in GT-R and she'd kick my but in my FX35 hands down (family's got a lot of Nissan products lol). Give a pro body to a poor photographer and you'll still get lousy photographs. I think there's a lot of people that believe somehow a high end cameras is magic. If you read the brochures and buy into the advertising I guess it's not surprising. Many don't realize how much talent is required to be a good photographer. How many times have you gotten a complement on your camera followed by the statement that it must be easy to shoot great "pics" with it? Lets imagine giving a beginning painter (who by the way has no talent) and supply them with the best easel, exotic pigment oil paints, camel hair brushes and such. They'll still paint what looks like it came out of a kindergarten class. Same goes for photography. Talent is everything, gear is just the tools the talented use to get the job done. Those without the talent that buy high end gear are simply compensating for something else.

--
http://www.paphotographics.com