Clearly different people are going to view the importance of equipment very differently. For my own part I would not want my wedding shot with either and F2 or and F3, I would much rather that,if it was being shot with film, that a medium format camera be used. If I am spending over a grand for photos then I would want something better then the quality that 35mm can give. Clearly the portfolio of the photographer is going to be very important and equally clearly a great camera will not make a bad photographer into a good one. I am also sure that there are many people who shoot weddings with 6 MP cameras where the clients are delighted with the results. But for myself, if I am going to hire a pro I want him or her to have pro equipment, others may not care what camera he or she is using but I do.
In the days before digital photographs the pro photographers I worked with all shot medium format, sorry but there is no way we would have hired a photographer that just shot 35mm. I was dealing with things like catalog shoots, our graphic artist would not even consider using a photo from a 35mm camera. Now with digital cameras surpassing the quality of film I would want the photographer to be using at least a 1Ds and I would prefer if he was using a 1Ds Mark II.
If I am hiring a really good photographer and paying a considerable amount of money for his time and skill then I really donĂ¢€™t want to have him limited in any way by his equipment.
To put some numbers on all of this, lets say that a good photographer has a yearly net income of $100,000 and I am sure there are many photographers making much more then this, and lets say that he is investing on average $4000/year on equipment, then in effect 4% of what I am paying him is going to equipment and 96% to his time. To me this says that, yes the photographer is the most important part, after all I am paying 25 times as much for him as I am for his equipment.
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