Photo forum participants
By Barry Fitzgerald
A lighthearted look at people who participate in online photography forums.
I've done my share of hanging around online photography forums and have observed about what sometimes goes on there. Here are my definitions of the types of photography folk who participate!
Pixel peeper: Someone who spends too much time looking at 100% crops, posting them and trying to convince others/themselves that a particular model is good/bad in image quality.
Noise freak: A person who hates noise in their images. The noise freak can spot a noisy pixel 20 feet from a monitor...they often resort to noise reduction programs to wipe it out. Noise freak will never buy a camera that may be a bit of a noise machine...he would have sleepless nights.
Megapixel maniac: The MM will buy a camera just because it has more megapixels. Often selling his/her old cam on eBay. Doesn’t matter if the new one is better, they just love megapixels. They often try to convince others that they need "more megapixels"
Lens tester: These people can’t sleep at night unless they have "tested" their lenses. This doesn’t involve trying to take "nice shots" of something; they point the glass at "res charts", "brick walls" and the like. The whole aim is prove to themselves that it was a good idea to dump £1000 on that new lens. They also post shots to try to convince others that their lens it the best and its sharper too. Lens tester is related to "gear head".
Gear head: The GH loves to buy, it’s way of life. More cameras, more flashes, tons of expensive lenses, filters, you name it they have it. If they don’t have it you can be sure it’s on the "must buy" list. Some gear heads do use a camera and some just collect them. Gear head likes quality, and won’t buy cheap stuff. They come in many flavours....
Moaner: Moaner moans about everything and anything. They can’t help it. New camera, noise, NR processing, camera prices, lens prices, raw file sizes, lack of buffer sizes, slow AF speeds, metering. If it’s out there, moaner will find it!
Moaner about moaner: These people go around complaining about those who are complaining! They don’t have any real issues, evidence, or ideas...they just enjoy moaning about those who moan! Related to the "fanboy"
