This was in the Metro newspaper back in April.
This question and answer interview with pro photographer Rankin stuck in my mind:
"Finally, what is your top tip for anyone getting into taking pictures?"
'Don?t waste thousands of pounds on the latest camera technology, simply head to eBay and buy a 35mm SLR camera. It?ll cost as little as ?40 and you can then get your film processed at Snappy Snaps on the cheap. You?ll learn more about the basics of photography by doing that than you ever will by playing with a digital camera.'
Full article here: https://www.metro.news/my-tech-rankin/583637/
Stuck in my mind 'cos a relative recently asked me about how to shoot film for an art course (I'm not much of a digital Photoshop / Lightroom user) and I've had a quite of bit fun using an Olympus 35RC rangefinder from the 70's as well as Olympus SLRs. Ilford XP2 is great as its mono film that can be developed in high street (Boots & Jessops) colour chemistry. OK you'll get ace and rubbish pics but it's you and not the software doing it, and so you learn.
Still digital has it's place and I seem a bit too much attached to the hip with the Leica D-Lux 109 compact and Olympus Pen-F...

Worry about your skill. Not your equipment.


Really, that advice holds true for many things in life....

Worry about your skill. Not your equipment.

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Hmmmmm . . . when my chest jammer started slipping as I was half-way up Dihedral Route, GG, on Sunday last, I started to worry about my equipment!

I've recently read a quote that was the complete opposite of the OP's

"Spend all your money on the best gear you can afford, then if what you create falls flat on its arse you can only blame yourself."

"If you find yourself in a situation where you could either save a drowning man or you could take a Putlitzer prize winning photograph of him drowning, what shutter speed and setting would you use?" Paul Harvey

Fulk said:

Worry about your skill. Not your equipment.

Click to expand...

Hmmmmm . . . when my chest jammer started slipping as I was half-way up Dihedral Route, GG, on Sunday last, I started to worry about my equipment!

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Ah but equipment can and will always fail you at some point.
Did you have the skill to compensate? Thats always the key!

One my ascenders failed 20ft into a 170ft climb. I made a Texas system and finished the climb just fine. If youve been on rope long enough youve had equipment failure! Key is the skill to overcome it.

Worry about your skill. Not your equipment. 

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Quite agree.
I wonder how may people (myself included) use all the features on their cameras?  I guess different people will use different subsets for different roles in different circumstances so manufacturers have to cater for all in each product.
Still, I tend to use simple aperture priority (AP) most of the time, with a bit of manual and use shutter priority on the 35RC as it doesn't have AP.  This gentleman's YouTube channel is awesome https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-gI1ZTsLMcU
There again digital in body image stabilisation is ace in low light, and some of the cave stuff I've been looking at recently would not be tenable without digital.
I need a decent film scanner!!