The market is speaking. Availability and convenience are on the side of the phones, flexibility and quality might favor the dslr. There's still a market for high function cameras, but it is definitely contracting.
When the Cubs won the World Series we got an interesting comparison. The Tribune who has a staff of very qualified and outfitted photographers captured a front page picture with a fast telephoto of the players - The Sun Times who had decided to fire their photographers and crowd source pictures from fans printed theirs. These are the differences
https://petapixel.com/2016/11/03/chicago-tribune-sun-times-covers-world-series/
John_F wrote:
In the realm of image capture there are categories where cameras are superior and other categories where smartphone cameras suffice. Suffice does not equal superior.
But smartphone cameras are superior in the category of cameras which are convenient to carry at all times and take snapshots for immediate posting on social media.
foathog wrote:
I'll second that thought
The great thing is you don't have to. You choose to.
photogeneralist wrote:
That is becoming an increasingly difficult argument to make. A dedicated camera can, however, do things under marginal conditions where a phone camera would not be up to the task. Do you know of any phones that shoot RAW, Can a phone take a 30-second exposure of the milky way? a photograph of a bee's compound eye?
It's just my opinion but I feel that as long as there are photo enthusiasts and serious hobby photographers out there, really "dedicated to the purpose", cameras will have a market. For a selfie snapshooter record shot type photographer, a less capable tool (Phone camera) will suffice. Note that I'm not saying that a phone camera cannot be used to take great photos, if the subject conditions fall within their capabilities, just that the folks who gravitate to the phone cameras are USUALLY less discerning and less capable of good photographic art and may be more satisfied with visual mediocrity in their photos.
OK let the flaming begin.
That is becoming an increasingly difficult argumen... (
show quote)
I take RAW Photos with my iPad and iPhone all the time using the camera mode inside Lightroom Mobile vs. the normal camera mode on the iPad and iPhone. Same camera but different controls. I have an older iphone but newer ones are better. They are not the same quality as my Nikon SLR but are pretty damn good. Plenty good for snapshots during travel when two or three lbs of SLR is not worth it. I use Lightroom Mobile which is available to me since I am a subscriber to Adobe CC. These photos are added right into my Adobe Cloud and end up on my desktop Lightroom Classic. Plus when I want to and have wifi available I can easily share [hotos during trips when I create collections of new photos. They are fully editable on my iPad and iPhone with all the same editing tools as in Lightroom Classic. If you don't have LR Mobile and have a smartphone get it. ASAP. FREE. OK Guys fire back.
Just a case of the right tool for the job.
ngrea wrote:
Phones are going to win the battle because they are there more often. The best camera is the one you have with you.
That doesn’t mean more complex cameras will die completely; because some people will enjoy the challenge of manual settings and different lenses.
Not just the challenge, also the capabilities.
Back in the late 70's Popular Photography had an article describing the "Earth Camera" the awesome device that would utilize all the latest and emerging technologies. They waxed eloquent about micro miniaturization and CCD technology, speed, storage, transmitting images wirelessly, etc.
In the end they fell a little short of reality but that camera exists today and it's not a camera - it's your phone!
When will cell phone cameras have LENSES that equal real camera lenses? A lot can be done to miniaturize the electronics down to phone-size, but can the OPTICS of a 6-12 inch lens with double-digit element counts be miniaturized? I think not.
The smaller the lens, the easier to produce/perfect. Have you seen how small the actual camera is in your iPhone?
LMurray
Loc: North Orange County, CA
salewis wrote:
Many of my friends argue that cameras are becoming obsolete. I don't agree, but I would like to know what arguments are best to convince them that cameras do a better job than phones.
First of all cameras will never be obsolete. Phones are cameras. I wonder if when the Kodak Brownie came out if people worried that the large format was becoming obsolete the Brownie is smaller and lighter blah blah. Or 126mm vs slr after all most people were happy with 126 lighter smaller etc. Most people using the Brownie, 126, Polaroid, medium format, rangefinder, flsr/dslr pretty much any camera except large format don't care about "quality" they want record/snap shots. So yes most people will use phones or whatever comes next. But serious cameras will always have a market and be here. Like the large format that's still with us after being supplanted by 4by5 then 33mm then digital. What we're using now will still be here in 100 years maybe in niche but never obsolete.
I admire people who can actually take a picture on their phone. I have trouble doing check deposits! I love my DLSR/film cameras. I enjoy deciding which lense to use and how to set up the photo. Creating special effects. Buying software programs I have no idea how to use. Printing my ‘ works of art’. (Well in my mind they are great works of art) Going to out of the way areas to find a great shot. Just everything. Taking a snap on my phone just isn’t the same. I am not worried about obsolete. I am enjoying what I have now.
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