Cognitive dissonance and camera brand users

Cognitive dissonance is a psychological condition that explains a lot, from forum aggression to brand-specific communities.

[@HoggetBlanker]

I was using an entry level APS-C DSLR when I got into using vintage glass and hated not being able to use the viewfinder reliably. That's when my sights turned to mirrorless cameras and six years ago I chose a Fuji camera above the other brands because I didn't want full frame and no other company seemed to take APS-C seriously, as far as lens choices went. But then I kept hearing about the full frame look and eventually I got curious and gave in when I spotted a good deal on a used EOS R. Juggling two brands, I agree with what you say: it really doesn't matter. We can coax a good image out of just about any camera these days. That being said, bias confirmation still has me searching for videos about my cameras every now and then :P

[@bigdspeedshop]

It's a bigger issue than photography. It's every aspect of interaction online. S××tposting is everywhere.

[@ÉricLéser-j1x]

The nationalism of camera and lens brands is something we find just as much with car brands as with soccer teams. We are by nature tribal, with a need to belong, a need to be united against a real or imaginary adversary, and a need to have our choices, assumptions and ideological convictions reinforced and confirmed. This has enabled humanity to develop and survive, but it also creates extremely damaging behaviors and conflicts, especially when propagated and inflated by digital networks. A photographer, whether professional or amateur, can be attached to a brand for many reasons, rational or otherwise. This is perfectly understandable. But making it a subject of conflict or differentiation is just a reflection of human stupidity, an element whose importance should never be underestimated.

[@stevenjohnson4283]

I think you're completely wrong. The photographic industry is the most corrupt industry I have come across besides the bars and nightclub industry which is mostly owned by organized crime groups. The first slr film camera I ever bought was a Pentax MZ-50 back in 1998. But15 years ago I bought my first dslr which was Nikon, because I assumed it was a better brand than Pentax or other brands, and it turned out to be a huge stinker of a camera. Canon and Nikon had the industry in their pockets and were bribing (Which is a crime) photographers and reviewers with free camera gear, to get positive reviews. It went so far that for a least a decade Canon and Nikon photographers were DENOUNCING IBIS (sensor stabilization), and declaring optical image stabilization as being the best and only choice. I was only interested in apsc cameras because full frame was ultra expensive back then, and the Nikon's and Canon apsc cameras were garbage. I went Sony and even Pentax were far better than Canon and Nikon apsc cameras in terms of image quality. Thats because Canon and Nikon put a huge gap between their apsc IQ and full frame IQ which was really really good. Fujifilm comes along and a lot of Canon and Nikon shooters went to Fujifilm congratulating that brand for have better IQ than Canon and Nikon IQ. Thus was born the "Fujifilm Hype" and even I bought some of that gear including a 56mm 1.2, but next to my Pentax gear it was terrible. Its gotten better but their lenses are too sharp and clinical and have very little 3D pop or dimensionality. Pentax lenses have loads of 3D pop and dimensionality over many of the brands that are acclaimed to be the best. Canon and Nikon users suffer the most from any form of "Cognitive Dissonance", because they've been brainwashed to believe that their brands are the best. And when Sony defeated Canon and Nikon and many were switching to Sony mirrorless, the comment sections were filled with STUBBORN canon and nikon fanbois exclaiming how: "I'll never switch to Sony and will rather wait until Canon or Nikon perfect mirrorless because THEY KNOW IT WILL ALWAYS BE BETTER THAN SONY" . And has that day come? No it hasn't as Sony has convincingly beat Canon and Nikon on all parameters. Canon and Nikon users suffer from the greatest Cognitive Dissonance and thats a fact brought about by sponsorship programs and free camera and lens repairs in exchange for websites/blogs and reviews that support the brand. Its a corrupt industry, corrupted by Canon largely and Nikon to a smaller extent. Canon and Nikon are not photographic companies, they are electronics companies posing as photographic companies. The war between Canon and Nikon users against Sony and all other brands is where the problem lies. As Sony was developing mirrorless, the Canikon fanbois and reviewers were declaring that Sony is a pathetic electronics company that makes average TV's and DVD players, and that their users were Beta testers. Yes Sony users were Beta testers, while Canon made the EOS M lineup and discontiued it after the perfected their auto focus, and dumped the lineup and transferred the M lenses over to RF mount - and no one in the industry complained how the EOS M system was the Beta testers stuck with a dead system. Same for the Nikon 1 mirrorless. Canon and Nikon needed to Beta test mirrorless and develop their mirrorless tech on consumers. While Sony made SLT cameras which were a hybrid between a mirrorless and dslr that used a translucent mirror - half way between a dslr and mirrorless. Fujifilm is another realm of cognitive dissonance where people are imagining that dials and aperture rings without aperture locks is "Retro", when its all electronic and not a single mechanic coupling to it. I even had that Fuji dials and controls which are a step backwards and made changing settings annoying, so I set it up in a dslr mode as it was faster to use. Excessive amounts of dials don't yeild any tangible bennifits. The most popular brands have users suffering from cognitive dissonance, and the ones arguing the hardest are Canon and Nikon users who are completely delusional on those two brands. I mean Canon and Nikon wasn't even trying when I used to hold them in high esteem. Canon and Nikon was complaining about sensor stabilization as being inferior and refused to implement it UNTIL its users asked for it. Then the Canon and Nikon user would say: "Ah well Canon and Nikon only implemented IBIS after they PERFECTED IT better than anybody else", which is all delusional nonsense. When Canon or Nikon make it, then its the best, and when Sony or Pentax make it its crap which is why Pentax is the only one that combines a pixel shift images in camera while all the others do it in post and have very large failure rates. Everyone keeps saying how great Canon and Nikon are and they barely innovate any technology. They're waiting for feedback from their pro photographers and then they determine the tech, which is low tech as they're not engineering minds. I just got up to 16:00 minutes and here you are the King of Cognitive dissonance calling Sony "Sony is an electronics company". So I'll have to correct you some more or your cognitive dissonace. And I'm not even a Sony shooter.

[@sneye1]

Thanks. I'd rather stay out of those old arguments. Fortunately, these days it is possible to adapt lenses to a mirrorless body of any make with few compromises. So the fanboy era is soon to be over, hopefully. Never used Pentax lenses except for an old SMC Takumar 28mm. Your claim that they show good pop is interesting.