Michael Reichmann has just posted a wonderfully interesting article about the Canon Powershot G10.

See:  http://www.luminous-landscape.com/reviews/kidding.shtml

Reichmann’s observations are enlightening.

He reports that the Canon G10 images he has made are comparable with images made by medium format cameras costing $15,000 or more!

Reichmann’s article makes me wonder when we will reach the point when our equipment has surpassed our ability to use it effectively? I use perhaps 5% of the capabilities of CS3. I use about the same with my 1Ds Mark II. And, I frankly admit that I have never seriously considered what these tools can produce if I took the time to master just one of them.  Now that tools are available for $500 that rival tools costing tens of thousands of dollars, one is left with an important series of questions.

Perhaps we whine too much.

Perhaps we should stop and look more often for the special grace that light often provides us; it is a trait that I am learning from other photographers whom I admire and respect.

And I wonder, would it have made any difference to van Gogh if he could have bought modern brushes and paints instead of having to make his own? Would his art have been any better?

So, while we applaud the new technologies that come our way, the real quest is how we might use them to improve the human condition.  After all, our work should be about the art form and less about what tools we use to interpret what we find.

The idea that we can produce outstanding high-quality images with inexpensive cameras is revolutionary because it means that tools heretofore not available to many are now within the reach of anyone who desires to explore the photographic art form.

Note:  I have comments turned on, but my access to the Internet will be limited during the next three weeks.  If your comments don’t show up for a while it is because I can’t approve them constantly.