Talk is cheap, so I shall tell and show my story.
Now if you like the shots, is down to taste..but its about time someone threw something up to at least make some point.
I went out for the day a few years ago, went to a well known spot outside dingle, ireland. Had no intentions of doing any serious photography..family day out etc. But I grabbed a panasonic fz-5 camera anyway.
Well the light was good, I could see that..so we stopped off at this area outside lispole. You have a drive in viewing area here, so I nipped out and grabbed the fz-5. Having not planned to do anything serious, I forgot my tripod, had no ND grad filters or anything else..just my £250 at the time panasonic.
I got chatting to a tourist, nice guy..over from Virginia, setting up his canon 5d, 24-70 f2.8L, nice tripod too pano head..cannot remember the make. Cut a long story short, we exchange emails..in fairness he never mocked my cheap camera. I took my 8 shots, only 8..for the pano, he took probably 10 times that no. bracketing etc.
I knew this was a well shot location, so I decided to let the highlights go on the right, and crop in tight on the skyline, in an attempt to get something a bit different. I got an email from the guy and we shared some photos, he was not so happy with his shots, they were ok..but he would say himself, not too great. He liked my pano, a lot..
Few months later I got an email from a publisher who did a web search, they wanted to use my shot for an article they were doing on Ireland. Ok no problems, so I asked for a fee..and they published it.
Not only did I not have a camera that was not very expensive, or ideal for landscape work, but I had none of the usual stuff people use for panoramic shots, no tripod, no pano head, Just my 5mp FZ-5, I used autostitch for the pano, that cost me nothing, its free.
I got a better shot that day, because I knew what I wanted, I could have taken it on a £99 compact, or a top grade camera and L grade lenses.
A few years earlier I was passing through pembroke in wales, and stopped off. I only had a cheap Olympus 35mm compact, again nothing fancy..it was ok for what it is, not exactly ideal landscape stuff, no real WA, no controls or manual modes bar flash cancel. You could buy this on ebay for about £10 if you wanted to, probably cost about £100 brand new when it was ist out.
Bit of luck here, but the camera goofed the exposure, underexposed it somewhat, not great with the film I had loaded..just some cheap agfa stuff. Anyway correcting this led to a really grainy looking image..but one that IMO is not half bad.
I got this..
Now the point of this story is, not that I am a great landscape photographer, plenty out there who are far more talented than I am. It's not even that I have a shoddy technique at times! (or rather dont take the better quality stuff I have out), it is just this...two cameras, neither anything amazing or special..had very little impact on getting the shots I wanted. Not having a pano head top tripod (or any tripod come to that), didnt count for a can of beans..
So to those who still say the gear matters, well it can def help you out, and sure, you cannot do some shots with some cameras. But what counts for a lot lot more, and way more than 50% as some say, is what you do with "what you have" at the time.
I dont cry myself asleep wondering if I could have got sharper shots on those two with better cameras and lenses, just happy enough I got 2 shots that I think, are fairly decent.
Good pictures are taken by good photographers, not good cameras. It sure is nice to have quality gear, but not always needed.
