Fresh and Funny Take on a "Pro Versus Amateur" Camera Challange

I've been watching Linus Tech Tips for about six years. I'm not even a massive tech geek, but I do use it to get the latest low-down on new processors or graphics cards. But mostly, I just really like their content, and the way it's presented by the man himself, Linus.

Cheap camera versus expensive camera is a common video idea on YouTube and for good reason too — it's entertaining and usually quite illuminating. After all, who doesn't like watching a professional photographer get into a tizzy because capturing interesting images with a child's toy camera or an actual potato is (shockingly) kind of hard? Maybe I just live in a YouTube photography bubble, but I rarely see the idea of a professional versus an amateur, much less a professional with a "non-professional" camera versus an amateur with a "professional" camera. 

In this video from Linus Tech Tips, LTT's very talented cinematographer/photographer, Brandon Lee, is challenged to use a Google Pixel 3, while Linus — definitely not a professional photographer — gets to use Fujifilm's much celebrated GFX 50R medium format camera. The crew put the guys through various hilarious tests, which challenge the photographers both physically and mentally.

As a professional photographer, I really wanted to see Lee win, but as a simple-minded consumer of silly YouTube videos, I think, deep down, I was rooting for Linus. Don't expect a detailed analysis on Fujifilm's deliciously beefy pixels, just grab a beer, sit back, and enjoy the mayhem.

Who do you think won the challenge? Do you agree with the judges? Let us know in the comments below.

Mike O'Leary's picture

Mike is a landscape and commercial photographer from, Co. Kerry, Ireland. In his photographic work, Mike tries to avoid conveying his sense of existential dread, while at the same time writing about his sense of existential dread. The last time he was in New York he was mugged, and he insists on telling that to every person he meets.

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20 Comments

38 minutes? Really?

What's the problem?

I don't have 38 minutes for inconsequential trivia. I've only barely got a 60 minutes attention span for well-written, beautifully crafted, skillfully directed and acted dramas. That's the problem.

But that's your problem, not ours. Reduction in attention span is becoming a general problem (I feel it too often myself), but the remedy is not tailoring content around it. And we do not have to watch every video or read every article in one sitting.

I don't recall implying that it was your problem. It was a personal observation. As a corporate filmmaker by trade, I'm increasingly finding that these wannabees cannot distinguish between what is genuinely interesting to the viewer, and what is self-indulgent tedium.

The Nine Minute Rule was always impressed upon us. If you can't put your message across in 9 minutes, don't expect to have an audience by the 10th.

Your first comment along with the second one came across as attention seeking - whether it was intentional or not. "Hah! 38 min! Must be shit, and I, and others reading this, should not waste our time with it".

But I do not completely disagree with you. After YouTube began pushing for longer videos to grab more viewing hours, the quality of a lot of content went down - with that magical 10 min mark.
I love channels like Dave Lee making 3-8 min long videos that jump right to the point, but some topics require more time if not to feel rushed - and incorporating BTS content in the main video can be interesting and entertaining.

Not attention seeking. Merely a warning.

This web site's not big enough for two attention seekers. I don't want to compete with the sesquipedalian storyteller of whom we speak.

Maybe the reduction in attention is due to the reduction of quality of the content………

That may be one of the factors, but the abundance of content is likely much more influential.

you're clearly not familiar with Linus. he's a former electronics retail worker who likes to hear himself talk.

I am familiar with the loquacious Linus, which is why I know it's inconsequential without wading through 38 minutes of pointlessness.

Lee would still lose.. lol

OMG here is the internet, take it.... Its yours.

Honestly, that seemed like a really embarrassing loss for Brandon. Linus beat him not because he had the better camera but because he did all of the "non-camera" parts of photography better. Linus seemed like he had better framing and composition almost across the board, he did a better job of staging the dog food shot, he made a real effort to capture something about James personality in the headshot and he did much better at directing James and Colton during the couples maternity shoot.

I really enjoyed it, I didn't take it seriously as I know Linus's style, it was actually very well done and Linus admitted he was lucky with some of the shots, I was crying with laughter at the 'couple scene' humour is always welcome in camera related videos which is why I always like Kai Wans YouTube channel!

Linus is a straight-up A-hole who just loves to hear himself talk and bash Apple; he seems to get off on doing that.

I know the guy, as I frequented the electronics store he worked at in my area, that is before they went belly-up, and even in person, his arrogance and hubris was/is obnoxious, and it translates to his YT channel.

Oh, and his tech advice is almost as useless and misinformed in most instances as his ego is over-inflated. Trust anything this guy says at your own peril.

Soooo..... What did you think of the video?

"Cheap camera versus expensive camera is a common video idea on YouTube and for good reason too — it's entertaining and usually quite illuminating."

Personally, I disagree. They seem largely stupid and click-baitey. It is sometimes interesting to see a skilled photographer (or any skilled person in any field, really) be given a dog of a camera and demonstrate how they overcome its limitations.

The only difference here is that the talented person apparently lost against the amateur, that is unusual. Perhaps shooting b-roll of shiny tech toys doesn't translate into other genres so they were on a much closer even footing in terms of skill.

"I've been watching Linus Tech Tips[...]"
That's the moment when the article became irrelevant.

ChallAnge?