The two camps of iPhone photography delusion
Truly the democratisation of photography.
So why the hardcore title of this post?
I had been hired to shoot a low light live performance for a corporate client.
Shooting alongside me was a member of the agency who was shooting stills with an iPhone 4 (not even a 4S)
He also had a Canon DSLR on his shoulder which he wasn't using.
No big deal.
Then another member of the agency came along and asked him why he was shooting it on his iPhone.
'Oh, this gives better quality than the big camera'
His superior accepted his answer without question.
This, is not the only time I have heard this either.
I'm currently working on a project where the client holds similar opinions.
The latest iPhone 5 gives some really great quality images.
For a 'device'.
But, to think for one moment it gives better quality than DSLR is delusional.
What they really mean, but are not saying, it that it is easier.
Easier for them to shoot pics without faffing about with f-stops, I mean it's good enough...right?
Well, it may well be.
Or it may not.
But crucially easier to post images to the web.
No cables, no card reader required.
Ok, the pic's may not be as good as a DSLR but they can post them there and then.
That is powerful beyond anything else.
So the first camp are the users who delude themselves that the quality is better.
But the second camp are in my eyes much more culpable of delusion are the camera manufacturers.
I have no scientific evidence on this but everything points to the bottom falling out of the market for mid range and bottom range camera's, which on mass must bring considerable profits.
The only point and shoot I see being used regularly is a smart phone.
One does not have to look very far to find evidence of deluded camera manufacturers.
Back in July Reuters reported that Canon, one of the most profitable companies in Japan had trimmed its profit forecasts for the year.
Analysts (I know I should not take too much notice of them as they seem to be the tech/media world equivalent of a 'bloke in the pub' who professes to be a smart cookie but in-fact they don't know very much about the wider world because they are always down the pub...) gave reasons such as the Tsunami, earthquakes, the Euro crisis and the high Yen.
Nowhere, but nowhere in the story was a smart phone mentioned, which by my reckoning is pretty seismic in their sales going down the toilet.
Those pesky analysts also say that Canon has retained a high profit margin cite 'aggressive cost cutting' as a strong suit of the company.
Cost cutting will not turn camera sales around but innovation will.
The kind of innovation I'm referring to is a WiFi card.
Yes, folks that unusual gadget which you may have heard of but camera manufacturers seem to only have a limited understanding of.
Yes, I know they have released a number of compact models and the 6D which is WiFi capable.
A good first step, but the truth is EVERY still camera they make should have Wifi capability.
Expensive WFT modules should become a thing of the past.
If the client had a WiFi capable camera I dare say he would have used that and not his iPhone.
Camera manufacturers need to wake up to the fact that many young kids don't see a camera when they are growing up, so why should they break the habit when they finally get to chose their own camera.
It's about making relevant camera's for a market that exists, not one that used to.