Do you feel out of place?

[SkaGoat]

I was at the dog park with my dog the other day trying out a new lens... I realized that the other dog owners were giving me weird looks. Do others experience this with their photog equipment? At WDW, or local events?

Here's a photo of the kit I had with me at the dog park, would I have stuck out to you?

 

[havoc315]

Yes, I get the looks if I have a large lens on my camera..

But why be bothered? It's just looks of admiration, of "wow.... that's some pretty impressive equipment you are using." And of course, there is the assumption by the onlookers that you must know what you're doing, lol.
Most people will also mistakenly assume your lens is a massive zoom, not "only 200mm."

I definitely noticed when I see a Canon with a "white lens" outside of professional photographers. It's pretty darn rare. I have one white lens for my black Sony A99, and it definitely gets looks, lol.

 

[KAT4DISNEY]

I definitely noticed when I see a Canon with a "white lens" outside of professional photographers. It's pretty darn rare. I have one white lens for my black Sony A99, and it definitely gets looks, lol.

Same here on the Sony 70-200mm. Usually it's Canon shooters coming over wanting to chat and quickly leaving when I show them the Sony.

 

[havoc315]

Same here on the Sony 70-200mm. Usually it's Canon shooters coming over wanting to chat and quickly leaving when I show them the Sony.

This weekend, shooting an extended family event, I got the customary "Is that a Canon or a Nikon?"
"Sony"
".... oh.... "

But then from my wife's cousin's husband, who was shooting with a Canon 60d and "L" glass, I got a bit of envy when he actually tried shooting with my A99. He was blown away by the EVF and the general responsiveness.

Totally off topic for this thread.... but Sony has done an awful job of letting buyers know what they offer in terms of "dSLR." Instead, Sony has chosen to put most of their eggs in the small-mirrorless basket.

But yes.. a "white lens" definitely attracts attention.

 

[SkaGoat]

But then from my wife's cousin's husband, who was shooting with a Canon 60d and "L" glass, I got a bit of envy when he actually tried shooting with my A99. He was blown away by the EVF and the general responsiveness.

an A99 is twice the price of a 60D.

Canon uses white on the bigger telephoto lenses to reduce heating in glass elements. I assume Sony does it for the same reason.

They are doubling down on the smaller mirrorless cameras because that's where they can compete better. Nikon and Canon DSLRs outsell Sony SLTs by a wide margin.

Part of the reason I chose Canon is because the EF lens system is superior to Sony's lens line up. I also don't like EVF. There are lots of other reasons as well.

There are lots of great things about the SLT line as well.

 

[havoc315]

an A99 is twice the price of a 60D.

Canon uses white on the bigger telephoto lenses to reduce heating in glass elements. I assume Sony does it for the same reason.

They are doubling down on the smaller mirrorless cameras because that's where they can compete better. Nikon and Canon DSLRs outsell Sony SLTs by a wide margin.

Part of the reason I chose Canon is because the EF lens system is superior to Sony's lens line up. I also don't like EVF. There are lots of other reasons as well.

There are lots of great things about the SLT line as well.

No question you are right about Sony's logic.
And they would likely never catch up to Canon and Nikon in the "dSLR market"... but they would have closed the gap at least a little with proper marketing of the dSLTs. You are an educated photographer and know about them, and made a considered choice to go with Canon.

But many people in the market for a dSLR don't even know that Sony has an offering. (The EVF is *not* for everyone, but it is a great selling point for many.... especially people who have never known optical viewfinders).

 

[KAT4DISNEY]

Canon uses white on the bigger telephoto lenses to reduce heating in glass elements. I assume Sony does it for the same reason.

Yes, that is usually the reason given. Actually, Minolta had done it with their long telephotos - perhaps as long as Canon - and I think some of it for Sony may just have been following that tradition. For their first 70-400G lens they switched to a silver barrel but it's back to white on the new one and has been white on all the other big telephotos.

Overall I'll get comments whenever I have a large looking lens out. Beside the white lenses attracting the Canon shooters my 70-300 has a lens hood that is almost the size of the lens and that rarely fails to attract attention from people.

 

[photo_chick]

Yes I get strange looks at times. Especially when it comes to street photography. When I have the 4x5 out somewhere I not only get strange looks but people often come up and ask about it.

 

[boBQuincy]

Micro 4/3 is a lot more discrete than APS with a FF long lens. No one has even mistaken me for a Photopass photographer lately, "oh, he just has a little point and shoot...".

 

[traylorc]

I get a number of strange looks if I am using my 70-200mm f/2.8.

Multiply the number of strange looks by ten if I am using either the 200mm f/2 or 300mm f/2.8.

Additionally I get people coming up questioning me if I am a professional photographer, asking how much the lens & camera cost, and the most frequently asked question "is that camera heavy"?

 

[zackiedawg]

Generally, I don't - but then again, I mostly spend a lot of my photography time using a big white lens around lots of other people using big white, black, or grey lenses...if anything, I'm barely in the middle of the pack for lens size - some are carting around 600mm F4s with 1.4x TCs on massive tripods...so my 300mm and 400mm lenses, or 200-500mm zoom, don't stand out much. The most common thing I run into are Canon shooters who go out of their way to ask me which lens I have - assuming a large white lens to be a Canon lens...when I note it's a Minolta APO lens, they think I'm shooting film...then I mention it's a Sony body (many don't realize the connection)...then they start talking about their general dislike of electronic viewfinders, to which I then have to note that mine has an OVF, not EVF. They're usually thoroughly confused by then, so when I show them my second camera body, a NEX, with a 55-210mm lens and a 1.7x external teleextender attached, plus a top-mounted EVF, they think I'm from another planet.

My birding gear - a Sony DSLR with Minolta 300mm F4 APO, plus 1.4x matched APO II TC (hood reversed and cover on, with pistol grip attached):

Backup camera - Sony NEX-5N, with EVF, 55-210mm lens, and 1.7x teleextender:

 

[AmyB2006]

I always get looks when I put my 400mm white lens on. Or people come up and ask if I'm a professional etc.

Heck, even when I just have my regular lens on and a flash, people stare and think I'm some professional. LOL

 

[BeckyEsq]

I recently took my daughter to a character meet and greet at our local mall (Caillou from the PBS Show). There was a huge long line and while we waited for our turn I noticed that I was the ONLY parent in line who even had a real camera (just my Rebel T3 with the walkaround lens). Every other parent was using their phone to take pictures. I did feel kind of conspicuous!

 

[SrisonS]

I recently took my daughter to a character meet and greet at our local mall (Caillou from the PBS Show). There was a huge long line and while we waited for our turn I noticed that I was the ONLY parent in line who even had a real camera (just my Rebel T3 with the walkaround lens). Every other parent was using their phone to take pictures. I did feel kind of conspicuous!

But it's one of those moments when you realize how much better your pics will be than theirs.

 

[2Tiggies]

Heck, even when I just have my regular lens on and a flash, people stare and think I'm some professional. LOL

If your camera doesn't fit into your back pocket, you are generally assumed to be a professional

I think you notice it less as you go out with your camera more often.