[wushuliu]

But the value here is, to put a word on it, "sentimental." It bothers me that other people (close to me) don't see it.

mediocrity goes hand in hand with innovation

[JerryM]

I miss the tactile aspect of handling photographs.  Picking up your photos wherever you had them developed, looking at each one, finding your favorites, grimacing at a poorly timed blink, all the while being careful not to get fingerprints on the gloss.

Looking at pictures digitally is just not the same..

[SET Man]

Hey!

   It is all about convenience and quantity over quality for most people these days 

   Seriously, there's nothing wrong with using phone's camera to take picture. I've got a few memorable pics from my iPhone 5s over the 2 years I've been using it. But the biggest factor is not the phone's camera or a $5000 DSLR with fast lens... it is the person behind the camera 

Take care,
Buddy 

   

[Guy 13]

Iphone camera is the perfect tool to take pictures in a hurry, to do bad framing,
to have underexposed pictures and much, much more.
Convenient does not equal quality,
of course, the person behind the Iphone taking the picture
is part of the failure et success of the result.

Guy 13
on planet Vietnam.

[SET Man]

I miss the tactile aspect of handling photographs.  Picking up your photos wherever you had them developed, looking at each one, finding your favorites, grimacing at a poorly timed blink, all the while being careful not to get fingerprints on the gloss.

Looking at pictures digitally is just not the same..

Hey!
 
   I agreed. Most people don't make prints anymore. I sometime find myself going through a few boxes of old photos or through my negative files and relive them again.

    Talk about photograph prints. I sometime would go to flea markets here around NYC and I'd run into sellers with boxes of old photographs from years, decades or even century ago like tintype and daguerrotype. It is fun to to through them and see how people lived back than. Now we all store photos in HDDs... imagine 50 years from now you go to flea market and see all these HDDs, well I guess it won't be as fun as looking through photo prints wouldn't it?

   OK, now it is time for me to admit that I also rarely make prints these days. But! I still shoot with films sometime and scan them though 

   Sorry for being a bit off topic on this. 

Take care,
Buddy 

[FullRangeMan]

I miss the tactile aspect of handling photographs.  Picking up your photos wherever you had them developed, looking at each one, finding your favorites, grimacing at a poorly timed blink, all the while being careful not to get fingerprints on the gloss.

Looking at pictures digitally is just not the same..

You can print if need at expense of ink and paper.
Books on kindles are much worse than photos, in this case paper books are superior readable.

[Goosepond]

You can print if need at expense of ink and paper.
Books on kindles are much worse than photos, in this case paper books are superior readable.

As long as we're getting off topic, I'll take my Kindle over hard copy every day of the week and twice on Sunday!!! 

Gene

[MtnHam]

Is it just me, or is there a regrettable moment here. I thought we would be over it by now, but I recently can't help feeling otherwise. I'm talking about the cheaping out of photographs of loved ones (children in particular). Surely, a $1k for a half-decent camera/lens to capture photographs that will never ever be repeated is a small investment?

Most cheap digital cameras allow poor photographers to take better photos than ever before! The common problems of the film age (out of focus, over and under exposure) have been mainly eliminated. And, the instant feedback of being able to view what was just taken, allows for a retake. As a professional photographer for over 55 years, I believe the state of art has never been better. The ubiquitousness of the excellent cell phone camera is allowing everyone to capture great photos on the spur of the moment. Nonetheless, the vision of the photographer is still paramount. The best photos are made, not captured.

No regrets here!

[bside123]

Most cheap digital cameras allow poor photographers to take better photos than ever before! The common problems of the film age (out of focus, over and under exposure) have been mainly eliminated. And, the instant feedback of being able to view what was just taken, allows for a retake. As a professional photographer for over 55 years, I believe the state of art has never been better. The ubiquitousness of the excellent cell phone camera is allowing everyone to capture great photos on the spur of the moment. Nonetheless, the vision of the photographer is still paramount. The best photos are made, not captured.

No regrets here!

Well put!

[charmerci]

mediocrity goes hand in hand with innovation

???? 

Are you guys kidding me?

I used to take film shots. Photos stored in a box never to be looked at again instead shared with the world - I mean that literally! I was taking fewer and fewer photos because well, it's damn expensive to take a lot of photos. I take a photo and sometimes it was weeks before I saw whether it was a good photo or not.

Because of digital photography, I no longer worry about expense or where I'm going to keep boxes and boxes of some good but mostly mediocre photos that threw tons of chemicals into the environment. I started taking lots of photos again - giving myself instant feedback on whether the photo was good or not. My photography skills have improved and widened specifically because of that.

Also, I don't have to pay and wait for someone to crop and explain to them how I want the photo modified. I can do it instant how I want to as many times I want to. I can repeat it again and again instantly with minor changes if I want to.

Digital photography is incredible!

[Wind Chaser]

mediocrity goes hand in hand with innovation

Mediocrity has more to do with ubiquity than innovation.

[MtnHam]

Mediocrity has more to do with ubiquity than innovation.

Taken by my s-i-l,  an amateur photographer,with an iPhone.

[thunderbrick]

Mediocrity has more to do with ubiquity than innovation.

+1!   

[ohenry]

Thanks to this thread, I can soon become a hero.  My girlfriend loves to snap photos with her smart phone and I see that while nice, the photo's resolution isn't great.  The content of the photos and lighting, etc. is fine.  I'll get a real camera for her upcoming birthday. 

I still break out an old Nikkormat (Japanese Nikon) 35mm when I get ambitious.  It produces fine quality photos and is limited only by me.

[jqp]

I agree with your sentiment John. Photos that could be treasures are sometimes botched due to use of inferior camera/ lack of due diligence.

Sometimes it's the excitement of capturing the shot combined with ignorance about photography. Sometimes just the ignorance about photography.

We can probably blame Apple/Samsung for their advertising, and may as well blame the internet also, for making people think that with these fancy phones they are now photographers.

In a perfect world, owners of a mobile phone should take photography lessons for using their phone camera. And they should be taught to use a real camera when possible.

You may have to make the effort to get some good treasures for them.

[Guy 13]

Last year when I was in Montreal's subway (Metro)
I saw a dozen posters ( 24X48'') on each side of the corridor
with pictures taken by mobile phones built in camera.
Different subjects, mostly people, children, etc...
But with good resolution, colors and lighting.
I suspect that the raw pictures where Photoshopped
or had some kind of treatment.
Yes, they looked nice, of course, it's to convinced potential buyer to buy their products.
Marketing, of course.
Now, can everyone do the same ? No, but manufacturers don't care,
it'a bout dreaming and $$$$

Guy 13
on planet Vietnam.

[MtnHam]

Last year when I was in Montreal's subway (Metro)
I saw a dozen posters ( 24X48'') on each side of the corridor
with pictures taken by mobile phones built in camera.
Different subjects, mostly people, children, etc...
But with good resolution, colors and lighting.
I suspect that the raw pictures where Photoshopped
or had some kind of treatment.
Yes, they looked nice, of course, it's to convinced potential buyer to buy their products.
Marketing, of course.
Now, can everyone do the same ? No, but manufacturers don't care,
it'a bout dreaming and $$$$

Guy 13
on planet Vietnam.

Please look again at the photos in my previous post (#31). They are taken with an iPhone 5, by an amateur who happens to be my son in law, and not photoshopped. Their resolution is excellent, more than adequate for most people's needs. I could post many more. I think they clearly show that anyone can take excellent shots with these cameras. High quality cameras are now being built cheaply, and are included in many mainstream smartphones.

[drphoto]

The advent of digital photography started a downward spiral for pro shooters in small to mid level markets (like mine) Sure, the guys at the top of the food chain are still doing well, but a lot of the work I used to get is being done by someone in PR or the in house graphic designer. And 99% is crap. But its "good enough".

There's a pic of a Toyota Tundra on a car lift on my website. It's not a 'wow' image, but the thing is.....it was shot in a dirty factory/warehouse where the lifts are made. But it looks like it was done in a studio. That takes real skills. (maybe not talent, but experience) Now the company just does the work themselves, and it's cars on lifts in a dirty warehouse. But it's free and they don't care.

So yeah......I think a lot of people don't care about image quality anymore. It's not related to cell phone pix so much (I've seen beautiful stuff shot on phones) as just a lowering of standards in general.

Ironically, in an age when we are inundated with images, it seems more important to me to get pictures that stand out. Not just be more visual clutter.

Of course digital did open up a whole new market for us, which is e-commerce. That's what I've been doing for the past two years to pay the bill.

A lot of the local photographers now shoot for Amazon, and the money is great. I work for a company called Industrial Color, based in NYC. E-commerce work is not very interesting from a photo standpoint, just products on a white background. But it pays, however I did enjoy shooting golf clubs. They are really tricky to light, as most are shiny and reflective.

[JLM]

Phone photography has been a boon for everyday applications.  I love the convenience and the idea of taking all the snaps you want.  And like "real" photography occasionally you'll get a good picture.  OTOH now you see tons of (typically young) people suddenly taking hundreds of garbage pics and then waste time immediately viewing them, or endlessly take selfies.  But that's just an abuse/overuse of technology (like we experience in audio all the time) and hopefully just another fad.

With the convenience comes the dumbing down, the tons of crap produced, the cheapening of the whole concept (kinda like the internet).  I understand that.  I also understand there's much more to photography than the gear.  Great gear isn't needed to take some great photos, but it releases more limitations of what you can do.  Composition, lighting, and a hundred other factors enter into what makes a great photo.

Photography used to be a hobby of mine, nothing super serious.  But rarely did I have my camera bag (bodies, lenses, rolls of film, flash, tripod, etc.) with me because I felt like I was "missing the moment" (viewing life through a small screen and not experiencing it) when behind the lens.  And I detest looking like a tourist (especially when I am one).  So I grabbed my bag only when I planned for a scenic event or picturesque setting.  Even at home rarely was everything ready to go when life's special moments appeared, baby being cute for instance.  Note this was a hobby, not a job for me.  So I ended up trading in my gear for an auto-focus, auto-exposure SLR with built-in flash when the kids came along and then down scaled again to a point-and-shoot (all film based) to gain more convenience.  I don't even know if we still have that camera.

I suppose it's like audio.  If you're serious about it you'll make the sacrifices (space, time, money) and it will cut into whatever else you could have been doing with your life (other hobbies, family, and/or altruistic pursuits).  Fortunately for you drphoto its a job, not a non-paying hobby.

Rant on:  One of the things missing on nearly all the Star Trek shows is photography or videography.  Drives me nuts when every away team has to describe what they're seeing.  They have warp drives, phasers, shields, and transporters but not real-time image transmission?  Rant off.

[syzygy]

A photography professor that I had in college said that the best camera in the world is the one that you have with you.

taken with iphone 5s, no manipulation