The vast majority of consumers don't mind these setbacks. Today's new norm is about ease of use over quality.
stanj wrote:
The lens of the iPhone (and probably every other phone) scratches like crazy. My iPhone 5 had to be replaced due to turds on the sensor - and the new one has the same problem by now (it seems like a systemic issue).
At the end of the day, the images that it creates are mushy, poor white balance, and low dynamic range. It's barely good enough to document a car accident. Until they fix that, I will keep my 3 DSLRs and the RX100.
chez wrote:
Yes, and that is the shame of it all. Rather than improving our photos, technology has been eroding away at our standards. It is a convenience world we live in whether it is McDonalds drive through or quick iPhone snapshot...our standards have been compromised.
Compressed digital music--MP3, etc--is pretty poor compared to CDs and prior analog formats. But it's a lot more portable. I hear college students listening to music on tiny computer speakers all the time. Back in the day dorms used to be filled with massive high fidelity audio systems.
stanj wrote:
The lens of the iPhone (and probably every other phone) scratches like crazy. My iPhone 5 had to be replaced due to turds on the sensor - and the new one has the same problem by now (it seems like a systemic issue).
At the end of the day, the images that it creates are mushy, poor white balance, and low dynamic range. It's barely good enough to document a car accident. Until they fix that, I will keep my 3 DSLRs and the RX100.
cineski wrote:
The vast majority of consumers don't mind these setbacks. Today's new norm is about ease of use over quality.
cineski wrote: The vast majority of consumers don't mind these setbacks. Today's new norm is about ease of use over quality.
I think they just don't see it, therefore they don't mind it. They are happy because they don't know any better. It's only when you look at the better (technically better) stuff, find the differences, and then view the previous stuff, you can see it.
When I was shooting my Olympus C-2100UZ ultrazoom, I came from film compact (Olympus XA2), and was happy with all that digital gave me. I didn't see a lot of the mediocre technical performance the camera gave me. I had to use the DSLR with 50mm prime to see the difference in sharpness, IQ and DOF.
Until then, I couldn't see the most of the pictures appeared "flat" because almost everything was in DOF, that there was pronounced CA on the lens, and that it was not particularly sharp.
Now imagine people who start taking pictures because their phone has a "camera".
I'm pretty impressed with the camera in my Samsung Galaxy Note 2. A little custom post processing and you can get some nice (for a phone) output. These phone cameras and apps have been evolving pretty quickly and it is not to hard to imagine that in one or two more generations they will be pretty amazing. New items emerging in the last few months: very thin xenon flashes (vs LED), optical image stabilization, higher quality optics and incredible progress in the app area. Rumored to be on the way: zoom, variable aperture, increased MP and possibly larger sensor sizes. As they improve, more and more photographic work will be transferred to them. The camera in the phone is becoming a real focus on new phones. I am hoping that someone decides to build a whole systems architecture around the camera phone ... offering small external flash, a few lenses or lens/camera modules.
Gochugogi wrote:
Compressed digital music--MP3, etc--is pretty poor compared to CDs and prior analog formats. But it's a lot more portable. I hear college students listening to music on tiny computer speakers all the time. Back in the day dorms used to be filled with massive high fidelity audio systems.
Yes, I remember those days where the speakers took up half the dorm rooms, the amp, pre-amp and turntable took up most of the desk space...but the sound it generated was fabulous compared to today's go anywhere digital devices. Unfortunately, good quality music production will slowly slip away as it is not valued by today's generation. Same will go the route for fine art photography...Kind of sad in a way.
I think that phones are slowly killing off the low end point and shoot market. The high end P&S market will still be around for a while though. Phones have very small sensors and no real optical zooming lenses.
MY tmobile phone is so busy keeping track of incoming emails for everyone in the apartment building it doesn't have time to be bothered with taking photos.
deepbluejh wrote:
I think that phones are slowly killing off the low end point and shoot market. The high end P&S market will still be around for a while though. Phones have very small sensors and no real optical zooming lenses.
I hate to say it, but my iPhone 4S has been just fine for many of my off-work needs. Canon needs to come out with mirror less camera that easily sorts pics and posts to Facebook. It is too much work for casual stuff to post on FB to use my 5DIII/LR4 workflow. I only do this when I shoot for a decent amount of time or on a trip. I would love a mirror less body with my 24L II with easy workflow.
chez wrote:
Yes, I remember those days where the speakers took up half the dorm rooms, the amp, pre-amp and turntable took up most of the desk space...but the sound it generated was fabulous compared to today's go anywhere digital devices. Unfortunately, good quality music production will slowly slip away as it is not valued by today's generation. Same will go the route for fine art photography...Kind of sad in a way.
But this is exactly what has happened in the film making industry... I work in Postproduction and we get all manners of rubbish to grade.
I remember when everything was shot on film, the DOP had to know what they were doing; nowadays anyone and everyone is a film maker and the end product suffers but this is what the consumer is use to seeing. As Chez says we live in a McDonalds age where everything has to be quick and cheap... does it make it right... no!
1. It wasn't so long ago that many photographers (mostly pros) were complaining that digital was making it easier for anyone to get into the game and produce technically compelling photography. Much of that was compositionally weak, but there are plenty of weekend photogs who can produce stunning results too. This undercut the business since people with real talent were happy to work for recognition since they made their income in another career during the week. The same for video. Both of these trends continue.
It seemed that for the first two decades of serious digital photography the pros were losing ground to the amateurs with each release and with a photographically better-educated amateur crowd (their skills were getting better).
For the pros now, I take this trend towards phone=cameras, pinterest, instagram-- GREAT!
For the first time in a decade, the trend is for photography that is merely good enough. Fewer people taking the time to learn a DSLR, composition, lighting. More silly filteres being employed. Square formats on small format cameras. Light leak simulation. Color Holga in a phone.
What does this mean? It means that those who have honed their skills as professionals are no longer competing quite as hard with a mass of amateurs with DSLRs who each year produce more realistic, better composed, better light-controlled output. It means that high end professional photography once again has a style/look that is increasingly differentiated from what the masses are producing with iPhones and such. Before the masses were narrowing the gap, now the gap is being reintroduced and further differentiated.
I see this as a good thing.
2. The P&S (and DSLR) replacement by phones has already happened. I know a lot of people, including family members, who went from low end DSLRs or high end P&S to their camera phones. After all, they just wanted to document life, and sometimes share it. An occasional print at 4 x 6 or even 8 x 10 is perfectly acceptable. For the few occasions a year they want a high quality print... they break out the DSLR. Otherwise, they don't carry them anymore.
I even use my GS3 camera from time to time. Usually when I'm on a photo assignment but I still want to post images to FB, Twitter, or send via email. Contracts usually don't allow me to publish my real images (5D2, Fuji X-E1) on my own before the editors/publishers publish them-- but I'm free to post camera images that won't be submitted to an editor as freely as I like. And honestly, for FB, they're plenty good.
I think that's an over simplistic view. The people happy using phone cameras are predominantly those in the P&S market, they would never entertain buying a DSLR.
1. It wasn't so long ago that many photographers (mostly pros) were complaining that digital was making it easier for anyone to get into the game and produce technically compelling photography. Much of that was compositionally weak, but there are plenty of weekend photogs who can produce stunning results too. This undercut the business since people with real talent were happy to work for recognition since they made their income in another career during the week. The same for video. Both of these trends continue.
It seemed that for the first two decades of serious digital photography the pros were losing ground to the amateurs with each release and with a photographically better-educated amateur crowd (their skills were getting better).
For the pros now, I take this trend towards phone=cameras, pinterest, instagram-- GREAT!
For the first time in a decade, the trend is for photography that is merely good enough. Fewer people taking the time to learn a DSLR, composition, lighting. More silly filteres being employed. Square formats on small format cameras. Light leak simulation. Color Holga in a phone.
What does this mean? It means that those who have honed their skills as professionals are no longer competing quite as hard with a mass of amateurs with DSLRs who each year produce more realistic, better composed, better light-controlled output. It means that high end professional photography once again has a style/look that is increasingly differentiated from what the masses are producing with iPhones and such. Before the masses were narrowing the gap, now the gap is being reintroduced and further differentiated.
I see this as a good thing.
2. The P&S (and DSLR) replacement by phones has already happened. I know a lot of people, including family members, who went from low end DSLRs or high end P&S to their camera phones. After all, they just wanted to document life, and sometimes share it. An occasional print at 4 x 6 or even 8 x 10 is perfectly acceptable. For the few occasions a year they want a high quality print... they break out the DSLR. Otherwise, they don't carry them anymore.
I even use my GS3 camera from time to time. Usually when I'm on a photo assignment but I still want to post images to FB, Twitter, or send via email. Contracts usually don't allow me to publish my real images (5D2, Fuji X-E1) on my own before the editors/publishers publish them-- but I'm free to post camera images that won't be submitted to an editor as freely as I like. And honestly, for FB, they're plenty good. ...Show more →
I think some people see this as a shortcut to "art". Make it look like that and that - instant "art"! Give your picture a LOMOtomy - instant "art"! I think that is only a short fashion trend which will be soon replaced by another cool thing, while the folks who use DSLR will just carry on.
They're never going to replace DSLRs - or whatever eventually replaces DSLRs - for artists, professionals, and enthusiasts. But, they will certainly replace most other cameras for snapshots.
The panoramic feature on my iPhone 5 produces jaw-droppingly good results. I had 6"x20" prints made from a photo of the family at the horse races and they looked amazing. Some of the best pictures from my vegas trip were panos of the family at various locations. And it's just soooo easy to use.
I don't think camera phones are quite there yet for "our" needs, but I think they will be soon. I think they're already there for the majority of consumers.
1. It wasn't so long ago that many photographers (mostly pros) were complaining that digital was making it easier for anyone to get into the game and produce technically compelling photography. Much of that was compositionally weak, but there are plenty of weekend photogs who can produce stunning results too. This undercut the business since people with real talent were happy to work for recognition since they made their income in another career during the week. The same for video. Both of these trends continue.
It seemed that for the first two decades of serious digital photography the pros were losing ground to the amateurs with each release and with a photographically better-educated amateur crowd (their skills were getting better).
For the pros now, I take this trend towards phone=cameras, pinterest, instagram-- GREAT!
For the first time in a decade, the trend is for photography that is merely good enough. Fewer people taking the time to learn a DSLR, composition, lighting. More silly filteres being employed. Square formats on small format cameras. Light leak simulation. Color Holga in a phone.
What does this mean? It means that those who have honed their skills as professionals are no longer competing quite as hard with a mass of amateurs with DSLRs who each year produce more realistic, better composed, better light-controlled output. It means that high end professional photography once again has a style/look that is increasingly differentiated from what the masses are producing with iPhones and such. Before the masses were narrowing the gap, now the gap is being reintroduced and further differentiated.
I see this as a good thing.
2. The P&S (and DSLR) replacement by phones has already happened. I know a lot of people, including family members, who went from low end DSLRs or high end P&S to their camera phones. After all, they just wanted to document life, and sometimes share it. An occasional print at 4 x 6 or even 8 x 10 is perfectly acceptable. For the few occasions a year they want a high quality print... they break out the DSLR. Otherwise, they don't carry them anymore.
I even use my GS3 camera from time to time. Usually when I'm on a photo assignment but I still want to post images to FB, Twitter, or send via email. Contracts usually don't allow me to publish my real images (5D2, Fuji X-E1) on my own before the editors/publishers publish them-- but I'm free to post camera images that won't be submitted to an editor as freely as I like. And honestly, for FB, they're plenty good. ...Show more →
It's only a good thing if the customer you are selling to actually appreciates great compositions and lighting. Judging from today's masses of data being populated on the net, quality of images is certainly slipping. Just like today the majority of people use their digital devices attached to some $20 earbuds to listen to their music, then same low level of quality will be the norm in the future for photography.
Sure, there will still be those that care about a great photo...but the masses are moving away from it in groves.
