Digital camera graveyard
In a blog by Canoe.ca, they say that according to Flickr and PC World the compact digital camera will be going the way of Sony’s Betamax!
This has to be excellent news for professional photographers, since the compact, point and shoot digital cameras have been the bane of their lives.
They also report that WirelessGoodness.com say “While there’s no question that DSLRs and micro 4/3 cameras have found a space at the higher end of the consumer photography market, I wouldn’t be surprised if growth in the low end of the consumer digital camera market slows to a crawl over the next few years.”
With many businesses using these cameras for press releases or product shots they have openly competed with the professional, but without the knowledge, experience and in many instances, the talent.
Despite Apple’s Steve Jobs’s claim that the iPhone4 camera is a higher quality specification than any other “smartphone”, with larger pixel size and the ability to work in lower light conditions, trying to use even the most gadget enhanced mobile phone to take anything approaching professional quality will be unlikely.
The lens on a purpose built camera will always outperform the tiny piece of glass or plastic in the mobile and the reliance on digital zoom to change the focal length of the lens will always be inferior to that of an optical system.
The popular use of mobile devices for quick uploads to social media and websites is obvious and these new phones will fit this market need perfectly, but try and use them where a polished well composed and professional looking photo is needed and you will fail.
This will re-open the door for the trusty professional with the right equipment lenses, lighting and experience.
Yes, it’s true that it’s the photographer and not the camera, that makes a photograph great, but show me a true photographer that would compromise an image by using a mobile phone.
As a commercial photographer in West Berkshire, I for one will not be mourning the demise of the digital compact camera and neither, I suspect, will the majority of photographic professionals.
Great post Mike!
I really should learn to play poker… I keep a very straight and interested face when clients produce their idea of photographs for PR or websites that have been taken with a small digital camera, all the time knowing I need to gently rebuff them and persuade them they need professional shots.
I too think non SLR digital cameras will become less popular and chiefly because of the convenience of cameras being ubiquitous on mobile telephones and while I agree they do not approach professional standards they do have several powerful benefits if you have a smidge of talent!
Composition and convenience. If you know how to frame a photograph and modest camera picture, taken on the highest setting can work for prints and web – indeed I have had phone pictures published – and this illustrates the next point: convenience – being at the right place at the right time and being able to transmit that image means a well timed, well composed, in focus and sufficiently large image will still snag the interest and chequebooks (well, BACS really) of the media. Of course, a professional there with a SLR at the same time will win hands down, but the camera phone has a place.
As a PR with journalism running through my blood I was never without a camera and it is only my latest BlackBerry Torch, with 5MP, that has meant I now only need to be never without my telephone!
To conclude a comment worthy of a post, absolutely, businesses need to use professionals photographers if they care about looking professional themselves.
You’re absolutely right Nigel, the convenience of the smartphone will be one of the determining factors of how photography will be carried out in the future and I believe the compact probably has had its day. Will business appreciate professional photography to promote their professional image – only time will tell.
Thanks for the well considered comment