I am often amazed at the number of posts on forums by owners of cameras who can’t stop testing their camera. Months after their initial purchase of the camera they are still posting test shots. Do they never really use their cameras for any purpose other than “testing” the camera?
How many brick walls, color charts, Etc., do we need to see? Wouldn’t “real” photography under varying conditions of light and various, real subjects, rather than test shots, tell us more about the true capabilities of a camera? Does anyone buy a camera based on test shots of a brick wall or a color chart? I don’t. I always look for actual photographs (not test shots) from the camera I am considering buying, preferably by a photographer who knows what he is doing…. and, if they have actually read the manual, all the better.
I am convinced that there is a small group of Photographers.. er.. scratch that… Testographers who spend 99% of their time testing their camera rather than actually using it for the purpose for which it was created… producing photographs, either for sentimental reasons or artistic purposes. Yes, photography is an art form.
Test shots do have their place and it’s good to see them every now and then but how long does one really need to test a camera?
So I submit that the companies that create dictionaries, online and in print, now need a new word and definition to describe camera owners who cannot seem to produce anything but test shots of brick walls, tree bark, focus charts, color charts, cats and various other items that are set up to test a camera’s ability to capture an image faithfully.
Testographer
Test-og-ra-pher: (noun) 1 A photographer or sometimes just a consumer who tests his photography gear on an ongoing basis. 2 One who cannot compose an actual photograph but is capable of producing numerous test shots at every possible ISO setting and f stop. 3 One who buys a camera for the shear enjoyment of testing it until the replacement of the current model being tested arrives and then begins the process all over again with the newer model.
Don’t take offense to my thoughts if you fall into the category of being a Testographer. Thanks for taking the time to do those ongoing tests but you really should get out more often and do a bit of serious photography. There’s more to shoot than bricks, color charts, cats and your backyard fence. Try it, you’ll discover a whole new world of people, places and things to shoot… and you might just wind up with something worth printing and hanging on your wall.
Everyone is expected to test their new camera gear.. but after several weeks and thousands of test shots shouldn’t the testing phase be complete?