I think you're absolutely correct - it is not the camera that takes the picture, it's the photographer and his view on situations and places... it is just the same in music - it's not the Steinway, but the piano player which makes the difference ;-)
Just like photo cameras now have the HD-video function, this works just as well the other way around: Since I bought my Panasonic 707 last summer, I constantly "misuse" it for taking pictures. While the photo function in older video cameras was more a "toy", this baby is really a beast: Leica lens, 14 megapixels, a 10x optical zoom and all the options you may (or may not) need, including highspeed-series of 180 pictures in 3 1/2 seconds... I rarely use my good old Rollei any more (though I also took some very nice pics with it - it also had a 10x zoom and the ability to adjust everything manually, if needed) since the Panasonic just does a wonderful job on both video and photo, and it's a very good compromise compared to the Leica M9 which costs 6 times the price of the 707 (after all, it's the lense that counts ;-)).
Just like photo cameras now have the HD-video function, this works just as well the other way around: Since I bought my Panasonic 707 last summer, I constantly "misuse" it for taking pictures. While the photo function in older video cameras was more a "toy", this baby is really a beast: Leica lens, 14 megapixels, a 10x optical zoom and all the options you may (or may not) need, including highspeed-series of 180 pictures in 3 1/2 seconds... I rarely use my good old Rollei any more (though I also took some very nice pics with it - it also had a 10x zoom and the ability to adjust everything manually, if needed) since the Panasonic just does a wonderful job on both video and photo, and it's a very good compromise compared to the Leica M9 which costs 6 times the price of the 707 (after all, it's the lense that counts ;-)).