The Pro Versus Amateur Photographer Challenge

We've all heard the mantra about how gear doesn't matter (or at least, not to the extent we often like to think it does), but perhaps nowhere does that become more clear than when you give pro and amateur photographers expensive and cheap cameras to illustrate the differences. Check out this great video that pits those combinations against each other! 

Coming to you from Mango Street, this fun video pits pro and amateur photographers against each other using both top-end professional equipment (a Canon 1D X Mark II) and a very cheap point and shoot camera. Of course, to say that gear never matters is a vast oversimplification; there are absolutely situations in which the gear you're using can make the difference between getting the shot you want or not. However, the point is that we often think gear matters more than it does, and that can be detrimental in several ways, first by making us spend more money than we really need to and second (and perhaps more importantly), by making us avoid actively improving our skills to create better images. It's great to see what one can accomplish with a cheap camera and solid fundamentals. Check out the video above to see the full challenge.