NYT has an article about a pro photographer switching back and forth between classic equipment (Speed Graphic) and modern digital SLRs. For him, the tools are secondary to communicating something that stands out from the standard shots. In his advice for amateur photographers, he follows the same line of thinking:
Pressed for a tip for the birthday-party photographer, Mr. Burnett said: “The thing that bugs me the most when I see people taking pictures of their family or the Grand Canyon or whatever, is that they spend so much time fumbling with the controls that whatever real moment there might have been is inevitably lost.”
The pithy answer to the question “what is the best camera” – a question discussed endlessly on places like dpreview.com – is that it is the one you have with you, since that’s the only one that can capture the moment in front of you, and if you don’t have a camera with you, you can’t take a picture at all. Or, as Burnett says:
“It’s easy to get caught up with all of the gadgets and all of the technology, but the most important thing is just to get comfortable with the tools you have.”
The limiting factor for 99% of photographers (including myself) is not the equipment.