Continuing with the great glass theme, here’s Ben Brooks’ take:

Giving buying advice to someone new to photography is nearly impossible. Lenses are very important, but so is the body. What’s even more important is understanding that everything has limitations. Josh shows some comparison photos between the lenses, and I bet some of you won’t be able to see a noticeable difference, and that’s just as important as the difference.

There are some things that you can and cannot do with certain lenses, but more importantly than what you can’t do, is knowing those constraints. You can, and people do, take extraordinary photos with subpar camera equipment.

Exactly. The fact that we as nerds obsess over gear and lenses and what not should never discourage you from using the tools you have at your disposal. Again, there are no bad cameras or lenses out there anymore. You’d be surprised to see what you can do with a smartphone camera, and Ben’s photo is an amazing example.