What makes the picture? Camera body or high end lens?

[Dave_W]

Ha ha, this is such a "digital camera" question. Those of us who used to shoot film never faced such a question. Back in the day it was a given that your camera was merely a light proof box and everything rested on the shoulders of the lens. But today it seems to be a mix between lens and sensor. If you view your image quality by dynamic range, then it's the sensor that matters, not the lens. But from an IQ point of view, it's the lens that determines the quality.

 

[vindex1963]

My first 6 years was with a single zoom 43-86 with a FM, eventually added the 70-210 E series for the next 10 years, then slowly evolved and added lens as budget allowed, just for the pleasure of having more options, and very very slight improvements in quality. but its the picture that matters the most.

View attachment 26379


So,, here is a shot using the lowly (often Scorned) 43-86 Nikkor zoom lens, with old fashion film, taken 32 years ago.....but what if I had not told you that it was....

43-86....I have one of those.

 

[Brusader]

A lot of photographers I've spoken to say to buy the best lenses you can. They replace the camera body every 2-3 years, but have lenses that they know and trust.

When they buy a new camera body, they test it with their lenses first and go from there.

 

[BackdoorArts]

Jake, that made me smile when I thought about the POS Panasonic TZ20s that my wife and I bought last year. Sold within a month, my iPhone was better

I should have qualified that to say DLSR's. There are definitely others that suffer from that and yet will not go away.