D40 Or A Compact And Bike Stuff

[Tony Harrison]

A decent camera won't make a shit photographer good, but it'll make a good one better.

Yes, it's possible to get excellent results with a compact, but you'll find the limits far sooner. I suppose it all depends what you're taking photos of, how much you're using it and what you expect to get out of it.

Anyone who likes the convenience of pointing and shooting, fully automatic exposures and an LCD to compose the shots with may be better off with a compact pretend SLR, like the S5600, which is a good compromise between a delicate thin silver thing and a fully functional DSLR.

[Joe Papasnap Maher]

So your saying someone could take a better BMX photo with a disposable, than with someone who has a 1DmkII, a 15mm Fisheye, and two flashes on Pocketwizards?

But....look at the scenario...

d40...THEE, most basic dslr on the market(on ....lol....hes not getting no fancie crap.

And to be honest...you cant really fault some of the compacts about at the mo...

Ive taken a fair few GOOD, shots with my compact..that easily stand up to the qulity of my d100

[Rob_P]

Same applies to people who think you should just get the picture right there and then, but tell me how often someone wins a photo competition without having spent hours on Photoshop post processing?

Think you've contradicted yourself there, you were saying it's the camera and the equipment that helps you get better shots? True. So I don't think spending hours in Photoshop on a photo that you've already taken with decent kit is going to change much. If the photo needs fully re-correcting then you (not actually you) must be a pretty crap photographer and may as well have a compact.

Don't know about you but I never ever spend hours on end in photoshop changing an image to get it to 'competition standards'

Normally just the usual levels, maybe B+W if it needs to, a crop etc, just the basics.

If you want advice on camera equipment, don't post asking about it on here, join one of these forums:

I wouldn't say that was fair, there are many knowledable photographers and designers on this site who know what there talking about.

[Tomm]

Don't know about you but I never ever spend hours on end in photoshop changing an image to get it to 'competition standards'

Depends what your standards were I guess, but a LOT for printing in books/magazines/competitions will have had extensive photoshop work, much more than just a tweaking of the levels. You can certainly make photos better with photoshop.