Toronto Photography Meetup Group

Hi - I am new to the site and when I looked at this section it made me wonder. I am not familiar with a lot of the gear here. I am just curious if the scope of this group is beyond me as I only own a Canon G10 Point and Shoot.

I am getting the impression the overwhelming majority of the group seem to have professional and/or semi-professional gear.

Would this perception be correct?

The majority here is using consumer-grade DSLR's but there are definitely P&S shooters (film and digital) here as well as just about everything else you can think of from toy cameras to pre-1960's film gear.

Most common is consumer-grade DSLR's followed by high-end DSLR's.

Hi Fionah,
Nothing wrong with only owning a G10 P&S. I still use my Canon A70 P&S when the situation warrants.
The scope of the group is never beyond you, you will find plenty of knowledgeable people here that are more than willing to answer any questions you may have.

Nothing wrong with using a P&S camera.... I have a Nikon P6000 which I love to use for geotagging.

Definitely not!

I think every almost DSLR user will have a P&S. What use is having a great camera, but not having it with you to capture the moment?

DSLR has gone down in price significantly in the past couple of years where it has reached the mass consumer. That's probably why you see so much talk of it here. However, I surmise that a significant percentage of the average consumer just uses it in P mode, no different than a P&S (just bulkier).

I also have a G10 and use it in certain situations (ie amusement park, hockey game, and when I don't feel like carry so much gear). Its a very good point and shoot!

If I had to choose a compact, one of the top contenders would be the G10. It has full manual mode, is compatible with Canon EX flashes, and has excellent image and build quality to boot. As a beginner there's nothing wrong with using that camera, and because of the features the camera will be able to keep up with you for quite a while as your knowledge gets more advanced.

Sure, there are some things that it can't do that a DSLR can do, but there are also so many more ways where the photographer would be the limit instead of the gear. The G10 is an excellent camera so I wouldn't worry about the equipment, and instead spend time on learning lighting, composition, exposure etc because learning those things will get you really far in photography.

And I second you on that!

My mentor who has been professionally shooting for 30 years is actually thinking of getting a G10 to always be on his bag wherever he goes. Never underestimate a P&S! It's never about the camera. It is about the photographer who uses it and his ability to let us see what he sees

Don't be threatened by those that use big dSLRs. There is a wide range of experience and abilities within TPMGs membership and camera choice is not indicative of anything. There are lots of people here that use something other than dSLR or other cameras to compliment their dSLR kits.

I prefer compact, manual film cameras but also use a couple of compact digital cameras (Ricoh GRD and Panasonic GF-1), but have used dSLRs in the past and continue to do so when shooting for a specific purpose.