"...You must have a really great camera!"

[cls]

I cannot tell you how many times I hear something like, "Wow, those are fantastic images. You must have a really great camera!"

+1 - I recognize the comment and know exactly what you mean. Still - as also stated above - the tools do make a difference, but good tools only isn’t enough.

Over time I've also noticed that what really makes people go "Wow!" is some basic post-processing. Many are used to watching 8-12 MPix JPEGs straight out of compact cameras on computer screens and/or TVs. Such images can usually suffer from poor contrast and poor sharpness due to the compressed view. A basic levels/curves adjustment followed by downsizing to 1080 px height and a simple unsharp mask can make wonders for the viewing experience on a TV. I believe that the extra touch that the devoted photographer adds in post processing may make just as much difference for the average viewer as the gear used.

Off topic, I’ve discovered that my jogging shoes have degraded heavily during their stay in the closet over winter - I suppose I have to get better shoes if I want to get back to my average kilometer pace from last October.