I would like to see a photo...

Hi Great Bustard, very interesting thread, I enjoyed it very much!

If you allow me my opinion, as I do sell my images (and all my competitors do), here we go.

DP review poisons your mind into believing gear is so important, and that all non-important stuff like MP, DR, noise, sharpness, bla bla bla are more important than they really are.

I have a colleague, well, actually he's a fierce competitor in my town.

We're both competing in the fashion photography market, getting hired by small, medium and large companies.

I don't know if he still uses a 40D... but up to 2010 he was still shooting with a 40D, and I guarantee you, he shoots catalogs for large companies.

Those are very well paid jobs, and the marketing department folks hiring him have a varying degree of knowledge about gear and photography.

Some knows very litlle, some knows a lot!

But as I said, those are very well paid jobs, and his 40D is doing a marvelous job in his hands.

He's a fierce competitor, and his work is usually stunning.

Between the two of us, I've always been the gear head. I invest more in cameras in a year than he does in 5.

But I do so because I'm a gear head, I love cameras. It's like getting a new toy or something.

I'll be the first one to admit I've bought a digital back just for the fun, and for marketing purposes (something I call "peacock factor", which you must have when dealing with fashion).

I buy new cameras just for the fun of it, not because I believe my older gear is rendered useless when something new appears.

I admit right now I'm planning to upgrade my D700, but that's a D700 we're talking about, a 5 year-old, 12 megapixel, 2008 camera.

I've had zero complaints about its pixel count, in all those years.

Actually, allow me to tell a quick story.

I've just received (2 weeks ago) printed catalogs from a major company I've shot their campaign.

Those catalogs are beautifully printed. They're quite large (spread pages are something like 60 x 45 cm), and printed on high quality paper, etc.

My 12 megapixel files were 100% up to the task. When I saw those catalogs, my first reaction was:

"wow, 12 mp are more than enough, look at these! I can "pixel peep" from 1 cm away, and it's plenty sharp"

My point is: the more you read these forums, the more your mind gets poisoned into believing 12, 16, 22 (etc) mp are just barely enough for serious work.

But let me put this clearly: 12mp is a lot of data, a LOT. It's almost like 645 film.

Wasn't 645 film really enough in its days for serious work? Well, so is 12 mp.

You guys shooting with 5D II and III, are covered for anything and everything, besides the most obscene print sizes.

Back to your original question: NO, older and lesser gear would not affect your sale, expect in the case you're a fine art or landscape photographer (when pixels really count).

For all other types of work, fashion, weddings, etc, I doubt you'd have any problems selling a 6 mp file.

Even noise is not a problem. Ordinary people cares so little about noise, you'd not have a bit of a problem selling a wedding album made from a Canon 20D.

Of course, I assume many won't agree with me, and that's fine. I'm saying forbidden things on a gear forum!

I'm revealing the forbidden truth about gear hhaha

Except for landscapers, we buy new gear for the fun, or for things related to operational use, like AF, better LCD, more fps, more responsive operation...

But from a simple IQ point of view, I really believe we are covered since the 20D days.

Take my word on this, IQ has very little to do with selling images (again, except in the case of landscapes and fine art photographers).

--
Marcio Napoli

www.marcionapoli.com