Quote:
I guarantee that you could give Ansel Adams a Kodak Instamatic (well, you could if he hadn't died 23 years ago) and turn him loose for a day and he would bring back better pictures than you or I could get in a week even using Dan Wallach's dream SLR.

Thinking about this some more, I'm not convinced. Ansel Adams does have an incredible eye for composition and light -- there is no disputing that. But Ansel Adams was also a master of manipulating his prints in the darkroom (he wrote a book on it). Seeing his prints is not the same as seeing his original photograph. Consequently, we're comparing a bit of apples and oranges, here.

Many of our shots may not be that great on an initial pass, but I'd be willing to bet that there would be others which could be substantially improved via cropping or darkroom-type adjustments.

Where that digital SLR would give us an advantage over Ansel Adams, is in the ability to shoot reams of photographs. That gives two things -- one, a choice in which photos we can actually use, and two, a faster process for honing our skills (provided you take the time to actually study your photographs).

(Note that I'm not attempting to suggest I can be as great as Ansel Adams, of course.)

On an interesting side note, I share my birthday with him.