Chris Anthony wrote:
My phone already has replaced a p&s, still have one but it's rarely used
Same here. Although I never really invested in a P&S camera since I really didn't feel the need for one. My iPhone works perfectly for when I want to mess around and take random pictures. My 5DIII is for my more serious work. Plus, my fiancee has a Nikon P&S that she usually brings on vacations, so we have that area covered with her P&S and both of our iPhone's.
I agree with the sentiment that they already have. I use it very occassionally but the camera phone has some nice features like touch focus, GPS tagging, facial recognition, burst shot, automatically picking the best photo from a burst, HDR, additional forward-pointing camera, and anti-shake. The real advantage is that everyone already has one, and it's always on your person. (the old saying about how the camera you have is better than the camera you don't have).
There are even apps to give your in-phone camera DSLR-like functionality. I know they are working on an app that will identify who is in the photo using a combination of facial recognition and phone-to-phone communication, automatically tag everyone and post to facebook, meetup, etc. if that is your thing. Already we are starting to see some apps that are capable of taking and posting photos automatically, all without any user input or intervention.
These kinds of add-on apps and ability to customize as well as automate the taking and posting of photos, the connectivity with social sites for instant posting is a big plus for casual users. Imagine going into starbucks to have a latte with a friend, your phone recognizes you are in a starbucks using a combination GPS and WiFi, recognizes your friends face, automatically snaps a photo of them and then uses the forward facing camera to snap a photo of you, combines the two photos, and posts it on facebook and twitter with the caption "in starbucks with <friend's name>". All without any effort from the user. The automation of this photo taking and posting to social sites is probably the next big 'killer app' for these devices, at least for the casual social site user.
On some occasions a cellphone camera may be all that is available and can provide memories that would otherwise go unrecorded. This is my daughters first deer taken in a very remote location with her Iphone 4. This was downloaded to my computer, adjusted slightly with Photoshop Elements and resized. It made an excellent 11 X 14 print that even surprised me. I almost always have my Cellphone with me and thankfully she had hers with her for this moment.
CIPA publishes monthly camera sales data and P&S cameras have been declining since 2008. The overall market however has grown due to CSC and growing demand globally for DSLRs. Also lens sales have grown over and above lenses sold with the camera. The CSC market is small in the US but now sizeable in Japan and some parts of Europe.
The sensor in an iphone or even the 40MP sensor in the Nokia cannot compete with CSCs or DSLRs for anything other than facebook et al.
Has this not been an ongoing debate since photography was conceived? There is always SOMETHING that is degrading the art and craft of photography, dumbing it down and sacrificing quality for convenience. It's only the "what" that is constantly evolving. 15 years ago it was this digital thing, today it's cell phone cameras, in a decade it will be something else.
My iphone4s has been terrific for quick snapshots and that sort of thing. I've used my eye-fi card in my Fuji xpro1 and been able to transfer photos wirelessly to the iphone, that's been super useful. Could never get the eye-fi to work reliably using an adapter when I had my Canon 5D2, but it works flawlessly with the fuji (and I'm sure it would with any other SD card camera).
jeffa4444 wrote:
The sensor in an iphone or even the 40MP sensor in the Nokia cannot compete with CSCs or DSLRs for anything other than facebook et al.
If I had access to a DSLR (which I do), then surely I would use IT for my truly memorable moments (which I do). But, I don't think it unreasonable for most non-photogs to be mostly happy with the results from an iPhone much of the time.
Now, some of the other features are worth raving over, as well. Yes, I could photostitch a panoramic image from multiple images from a DSLR, but the process certainly takes longer than it does on an iPhone. I took this picture in 5 seconds. The exposure is a little dark, but I could have easily re-taken it if I was that concerned with the results. This image made a beautiful print, BTW.
I'm sorry, people were taking crappy photos WAY before teh Internets and cell phone cameras.
Firstly, most photos are ruined by the photographer, not the technology. That's not a new thing.
Second, does anyone else remember 110 film? Or those cameras with the film on posterboard wheels? Even consumer grade 35mm P&S cameras weren't so hot back in the day. The film wasn't nearly as good as 35mm film today, lenses weren't as good and were hard or impossible to focus, and the metering system usually consisted of a switch that you set to "sunny", "cloudy" or "flash". My iPhone is better than the consumer P&S cameras I had in the '70s and '80s.
To the original point, IMO the P&S market is drying up because the average consumer can shoot just as bad a selfie with their phone as they can with their P&S, and the phone is a *lot* more convenient.
I use my Galaxy Note 2 for pictures all the time, and my 1d2N for anything "important" or planned. My phone is for snapshots, while my camera is for photos. I have a Canon G9, which I haven't turned on in probably a year, just because the pictures I would use it for are just as easily taken with my phone.
I have found that loading the phone pics onto my computer and doing a little post work can take the pictures a lot further.
Besides, most of the photos I take are going online anyway, so taking them with my phone and uploading directly from the device makes things both faster and easier.
+1 for the Galaxy Note 2. Excellent for people who love photography. With a cheap micro-USB card reader, I can almost instantly share something that I just took with my real camera. The size of the screen is just awesome for doing what Photoshop/GIMP can do on a computer. PhotoEditor is a great app on there!
