Lars1948

First time I've ever posted anything to this site but I was amazed that while @ Holiday World last week with the grandkids I noticed that I did not see a single person with a camera besides me.Holiday World is in Santa Claus Indiana.I always notice other people with cameras.Took the grandkids to Disney World last christmas et there were plenty of people with cameras.At Holiday World it was cell phones.I just found the lack of cameras a sign of the times but I was still suprised by it.

burkphoto Loc: High Point, NC

Do they have a security or copyright policy that prohibits entrance with a camera? Many venues do.

Kmgw9v Loc: Miami, Florida

I am not acquainted with Holiday World; but in my limited experience there are increasingly fewer “real” cameras being at many attractions.
For the purpose of this thread, cell phones are not “real”.

Quixdraw Loc: x

A cell phone is a communication device that has been engineered to be able to take photos. A cell phone is first and foremost a phone which is why it is named and marketed as it is. A camera is a camera - specific tool designed just for photography. Different folks have different views of what is real.

kpmac Loc: Ragley, La

I see that often, also. Cell phones are great for snapshots but they have a long way to go before they are great at "photos".

juan_uy Loc: Uruguay

Maybe being a more "local" attraction makes less tourist from afar there and locals feel that a cell phone is just enough fortheir snapshots/memories?


I do not agree with this. Several years have passed since a cell phone has been marketed as a "phone", and probably in most under-30 users the use of the "phone" features is under 5% of the time if not less (I would even increase the age range to several more years).
Check all the marketing campaigns for top of the line cell phones of the last several years and almost all of them (if not all) will make more emphasis on the cameras capabilities (and associated software tricks) than it's "phone" capabilities

rehess Loc: South Bend, Indiana, USA

From perspective of most casual photographers, cell phone is just as 'real' as Instamatic was when I was high school / college age.

Ched49 Loc: Pittsburgh, Pa.

I think it depends on the venue, a place like Disney World/Disney Land, you might want to take your dedicated camera.

Lionsgate Loc: Sierra Vista, Arizona

I normally travel with both of my Canon cameras (5D and 6D) and a selection of lenses. However, on a recent trip to Oklahoma to visit my kids and grandkids I purposely left them at home. My wife noticed that when I have my camera on family outings I get too involved with the cameras and pay less attention to what is going on around me. Needless to say I missed not having my cameras on a few occasions but my iPhone filled in nicely when it was important to take a photo.

JohnSwanda Loc: San Francisco

You can find sites on the internet with great cell phone photos. Give a great photographer any kind of camera, even cell phones, and they will find a way to make great photos with it.

Lionsgate Loc: Sierra Vista, Arizona

I agree. I also take my cell phone when I'm out on a shoot. I use it to check the general view and lighting.

robertjerl Loc: Corona, California

The cell phone is the new replacement of the Instamatic. Lots of people used those instead of slr and other film cameras.
Simple, easy to use etc for people who are not "into" photography and just want a snapshot for memories.
When digital first came out those people jumped to P&S digital cameras, so easy compared to film and as cell phone cameras got better they have moved to those for their snapshots.
So for a while the digital P&S was riding high and sales went way up for cameras over all. Now those people are going to the even simpler cell phone and camera sales are going back to what they were in the past. But most of the companies acted as if the higher sales would go on forever added way too many P&S, including some overly expensive ones to their lines, expanded factories etc. Now with the "correction" as Wall Street puts it they are having to scale back and the chicken little types are running in circles screaming "sales/profits/my dividends are falling".
As in the Instamatic days a certain % of cell phone users will get the bug and move over to cameras in addition to their cell phones. An even smaller % will really get the bug and join those like us on UHH.

Some photography teachers have embraced the cell phone by having classes where students use them. Instead of the tech side these students are getting composition, subject choice etc, even a bit of PP work. A higher % of them than the general public will get the itch to move up to cameras and get further into photography. The others will be turning out better pictures than just snapshots.

And just as with the Instamatic we will see skilled artists turning out some outstanding images with cell phones. We already have and it will continue.

Oh, I forgot, with some of the apps available the cell phone is a simple substitute for light meters, DOF calculations etc. and becomes part of a camera using photographer's tool kit.

JohnSwanda Loc: San Francisco

The best cell phone cameras today are way better than Instamatics in the film era.

robertjerl Loc: Corona, California

Same goes for cameras.

burkphoto Loc: High Point, NC

[Semi-off-topic RANT follows:]

The smartphone is LEAST of all a phone, and MOST of all a general purpose computer in your pocket! And it is certainly true that the camera is among the most-used features on a smartphone.

In the beginning, mid-1800s, there were clunky view cameras with poisonous wet plates.

Soon, around the turn of the 20th century, there were the Kodak roll film cameras.

Then came many other roll film cameras, and 35mm rangefinders. Fixed exposure, fixed focus box cameras were popular among the general public.

Next came the SLR, and the "point-and-shoot" film cameras. Automation soon made those easier to use, but photography was still too damned complex and expensive for many.

Various cartridge film cameras came along in the 1960s (Instamatic 126), 1980s (Instamatic 110), and 1990s (the APS system).

In 1984, we got the Macintosh. Later, along came Windows.

In 1985, we got the Laserwriter and PageMaker software.

Around 1990, desktop scanners started to become popular.

In 1993, the World Wide Web was born. Soon came bulletin boards, and within a decade, the rise of social media — what I like to call MyBook, TwitFace, and SpaceyGram.

Enter the age of practical digital cameras, in the late 1990s.

By 2005, millions of digital cameras had been sold. Film and scanner sales were on the decline. Consumers wanted to put their images online!

The iPhone — and then Android — were the tipping point. Camera phones went from pitiful in the mid-2000s to AMAZING in 2019. Suddenly, it no longer made sense for non-photographers to carry a second device!

WHY DOES ALL THIS HISTORY MATTER?

I have this theory that the vast number of SLRs, dSLRs, and both film and digital point-and-shoot cameras were sold, simply because that's how you had to get better than average snapshots prior to around 2010. But once folks discovered they could do 50 to 100 tasks with one device in their pockets, it was inevitable that "real" camera sales would tank.

First went the point-and-shoot cameras, because the smartphone can do MOST of what those did. Now, we are seeing folks using smartphones UNLESS they need to be intentional about their photography (meaning, they plan an advanced photo assignment).

Additionally, many folks already have a perfectly good digital camera system that meets their needs. So the market for new cameras and lenses must be for truly NEW cameras and lenses (i.e.; mirrorless).

So now, we are down to mostly the hard core hobbyists, enthusiasts, and pros buying new gear.

The "convergence" of all media is fairly mature. The smartphone represents the best combination of text, photography, video, audio, telecommunications, GPS, and personal organization, because it is totally portable. It's like a Swiss Army Knife — It does most of what you need, in a pinch! Need more? Then you need an interchangeable lens camera, video camera, computer, digital audio recorder...

It has been said that "good enough" is the enemy of greatness. THAT is why we carry smartphones.