Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2003/08/17
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]on 8/17/03 4:47 PM, Adam Bridge at abridge@mac.com wrote: > > I'm curious though, what are the missing features that make it prosumer > instead of pro? > Feature sets are not what distinguish a professional-grade camera from a consumer- or prosumer-grade camera. The difference is the expected duty cycles, precision of design and manufacture, and ability to withstand abuse. For example, a professional-grade SLR typically will focus accurately over the entire viewscreen, while many comsumer-grade SLR cameras focus accurately only at the center of the screen. Since this is where the consumer typically places his subject, it's good enough. The professional-grade camera is built to make hundreds of thousands of exposures until it's worn out. The consumer-grade camara is expected to be used orders of magnitude less than the professional-grade camera. From most consumers this is plenty good enough. The professional-grade camera will handle dropping, getting punted like a football, being stood on, rained on, dropped in muddy rivers, and recover well enough to keep making pictures. The consumer-grade camera suffers horribly at this abuse. Most consumers baby their cameras so the abuse tolerance is good enough. Consider an analogy: an all-wheel-drive car and a 4-wheel-drive 3/4 ton truck. The car costs less, is more comfortable, and uses less fuel. For most people this is good enough. If I were to pull a loaded 4-horse trailer or drive on some of the dirt "roads" in Nevada, guess which vehicle will survive long enough to get me there and back? If the D10 is all any professional photographer needes, why does Canon also sell the 1Ds? IMHO the 1Ds is the camera that ought to be compared with the R8/R9 + Digital Module R, not the D10. Doug Herr Birdman of Sacramento http://www.wildlightphoto.com - -- To unsubscribe, see http://mejac.palo-alto.ca.us/leica-users/unsub.html