Professional...

[Elsie N]

Professional to me means something that, or someone who, delivers. That means getting the primary task finished by overcoming distractions and problems.

I also believe there are different levels of professionalism.

EDIT: Or perhaps... someone who is proficient in their profession?

 

[Mark Collins]

Something I was taught from a schooling perspective:

Professionals make it up as they go along and it works.

Experts teach what the professionals come up with.

 

[Carmel Bruno]

amateurs

amateurs

in terms of cameras / movie equipment

- choice!
I have task a) I take my gear and it does the job perfectly
I have task b) totally different task but my gear can take it all
so whatever I imagine, my gear can fullfill and won't stop halfway through

- make the otherwise impossible, possible.
If I want to shoot a jumping black cat in a dark alley, a mile away from me, I want to get that shot. in slo-mo
If I want to shoot a white dove backlit, two miles away from me, I want to get that shot. in slo-mo

- best picture quality
- robust built
does not stop working whatever you put it through
- faster images / in terms of focus and per sec

- did I mention choice?
I think that the professional gear should be able to make everything you dream of possible for you.

oh, and
features of which amateurs don't even know what the name stands for
so we can speak in a way to make amateurs feel stupid - muhahahaa

maybe what we should be discussing is 'what is an amateur?'
it seams to me that in todays world, the professionals & amateurs are much closer then ever... and a good professional would never rubbish an amateur or try to make them feel stupid

 

[tillHavis]

Standing by your word and conducting yourself in a decent way.
Understanding and taking the consequences of your actions and being honest in your dealings.
Being good at your job and committed to becoming better.

Being professional is a badge that tells people I trust this person to do business with.

 

[Petr Dvorak]

It`s all about reliability.
Delivering best product or service on demand and in time. Taking responsibility for quality. Knowing your limits and anticipate problems long before other will even think about them. Continuous improving, learning and research ... and ofcourse knowing how to make good income from that what you are doing.

... but in real life it doesn`t work so ideal as it should be. Suprisingly at some bigger and prestigiuos companies I came across
terrible and unprofessional behaviors, which was tolerated just becase of personal, internal politics or whatever reasons.

 

[J Davis]

commitment and passion

 

[D Fuller]

Professional means uncompromising.

A professional is trusted to deliver, with no excuses.

A professional will not "show up with a sword at a gun fight." He or she knows what it will take to get a job done, and, while innovative in developing new approaches that do more with less, will not come to the job without the right people and tools to make it happen.


Professional tools are powerful in the hands of skilled, knowledgable users. They are reliable and consistent. They are efficiently designed, either by generations of refinement, or by relentless re-work by capable designers.

Professional tools do not sacrifice power on the altar of user-friendliness. Their makers understand that these tools are used by people who spend their lives with them. A bit of practice and study are expected. On the other hand, once learned, a professional tool should be elegantly efficient and uncompromisingly effective at what it does.

 

[Jose Poernomo]

Put your name behind everything you do...

 

[Danno Anderson]

<<<< We profess to make professional cameras >>>

Then why so many different models ? Especially when the development costs are rising for each model. Fewer models would translate into lower selling prices for each model, right ?

 

[michael zaletel]

Professional means not wishing you were using another currently available tool 20% of the time.

-michael zaletel

 

[Jay A. Kelley]

For me professional means:
"Getting paid to produce something that someone else will pay for..."

Doc.

*however in applying this thinking to professional equipment the black gaffa tape i use is proffessional equipment* hmmm... need to rethink that one.

This is the winner for me. Although I would add "And conducting yourself in a manner that brings your customers back time and time again"

As for the camera:

Quality - Endurance (Toughness) - Excellent support from manufacturer.

Jay

 

[Ryan Farnes]

Visual distinguishability from a consumer or prosumer products' image.

 

[Elsie N]

This is the winner for me. Although I would add "And conducting yourself in a manner that brings your customers back time and time again"

As for the camera:

Quality - Endurance (Toughness) - Excellent support from manufacturer.

Jay

I have to disagree with this "getting paid means I'm a professional" mentality.

Was Van Gogh a professional? My understanding is he never sold many, if any of his paintings. He lived at the pleasure of his relatives and friends who supplied him with the means to do so in order that he could follow his profession. I'm sure there are many other examples but this one stands out in my mind.

 

[Jeff Coatney]

Visual distinguishability from a consumer or prosumer products' image.

With all due respect, Ryan- this is exactly what I hope doesn't happen. Try telling someone who cares about recording a moment or stopping in time a subject that is important to them that they can't have the best tools they can afford.

 

[Patrik Forsberg]

If I turn to a professional to take care of something for me, it means that I turn to someone reliable, someone I trust. It could be a car repairman, an architect, doctor etc. If I turn to an unprofessional or a semiprofessional I turn to someone who can do the job cheaper.Main Professional usp (unique selling proposition, reason for buying)reliable, trustworthy. Main reason to buy unprofessional, semiprofessional usp=price.

My two cents (cheap=unprofessional thesis)

 

[Vinit Borrison]

Parts that don't break in the same way over and over again....

 

[Gunleik Groven]

There are four terms mixed here

1. Definition of professional equipment
2. Definition of professional conduct, drive, capacity, craft and vision
3. Having something as your profession
4. Passion and will

One can get pro results with bad equipment if you posess #2 & #4
One can get crap result out of great gear, even if one have #3

#3 merely means that you're living from it
#1 is what we want from RED, and we crave #2, #3 & #4 from Jim and his team to get that done. (Yes, I meant that: We want RED to be the definition of what a pro digital Cinema camera is amd the dream of what it should be...)

And somehow that seems to go for most great work. Some make it without #3, but most have a hard time without money...

 

[Jeff Coatney]

In the past, money and power determined the quality of the imagery One could capture.

Now, in the age of the Internet and global inter-connectivity and communication, the individual is the client.

Its possible to be a "consumer" or a "prosumer" and still have your images and footage become wildly monetized virally via the internet. In some cases they can earn more than the content produced by the established professional world. Quality aside.

So, by definition, One can transit the chasm between "amateur" and "professional" based on merely monetizing one's content. So, money, the Client / Vendor relationship and Commerce can no longer apply as modifiers alone to describe "Professional"

These lines are blurring.

Therefore: "Professional" should mean: "Impeccable Quality" - its as simple as that, IMHO.

Professional = Impeccable Quality.

 

[George Butterfield]

I want a System/Workflow whereby I can make 2D movies of equal quality as can be produced by the big Hollywood Studios. It (the whole process) must be affordable, what I consider affordable and what Spielberg considers affordable are two different things. A digital camera would seem to figure heavily in this equation. If the pool of "Hollywood level" filmmakers can be made larger ... the "Art of filmmaking" will be cranked up a notch. Now if an individual is solely a Cinematographer, the equation is vastly different, he wants the best tool to hire himself out with to the highest bidder. So there may be two types of RED purchasers .... indie filmmakers and Cinematographers ... a third potential customer would be the big studios. Right now the RED is at the upper end of my affordability scale ... I am willing to go higher to get more "professional" ... but there is an upper limit to what I can afford ... at that point I will have to throw in more gratuitous nudity.

One other item ... One must consider BD as a final output .... bypassing the "Big Screen" ... if the puppeteers get all ... "bent out of shape"

 

[Dan Kanes]

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