Re Cellphone Cameras

Z by me and me by Z, Father's Day dinner, his treat. Camera used: none

David Vestal used to warn people not to tell him things he was supposed to keep secret. He gave a reason for not signing non-disclosure agreements: "I'm in the disclosure business."

Even though I'm in the disclosure business and I tend to be confessional by nature (in other words: a blabbermouth) I have to be careful sometimes. There are things I've agreed not to say and things I shouldn't say. Occasionally I transgress. The issue makes me nervous, because I have a holy memory and poor filters.

So maybe I shouldn't say this, but here's why I don't like cellphone cameras: I don't sell 'em.

TOP is first and foremost a community. Secondarily, however, it's a store. It generates income when people come here and click through to Amazon and B&H Photo and buy stuff.

Neither "e-tailer" sells iPhones [UPDATE: see Speed's comment below]. Long and short: if everybody shot with a cellphone and nobody bought dedicated cameras and lenses any more, TOP would be history and Xander would have to pay for all my dinners. So yeah, we could do posts about iPhoneography and get all enthusiastic about it and create a lot of interest in it, but...why would we do that?

It's not like I never mention them. We even had a print sale of an iPhone picture (I still really love that piece, by the way. Gotta get mine framed). And we do post things like this from time to time. I'm not averse. I'm just not a fan. The trend to cellphone cameras and away from dedicated devices makes me nervous. I don't like it. But, I freely admit, for purely selfish reasons.

But maybe Xander will pay for all my dinners someday anyway: his latest video got 2,000 views overnight and drew 51 new subscribers, both of which are records for his YouTube channel The Best Hobbies Blog, which, by the way, is now also an actual blog.

And notice how much clearer the video quality is since he got his new Panasonic HC-V550K and he doesn't have to make videos with his dang phone any more.  ;-)

So now you know why you won't find a lot of phone-cam boosterism around here. Maybe I shouldn't have said it out loud. But hey, I'm in the disclosure business.

Mike
(Thanks to the world's best son)

P.S. There's one more reason I don't like cellphone cameras, but it requires its own post. Someday.

Original contents copyright 2014 by Michael C. Johnston and/or the bylined author. All Rights Reserved. Links in this post may be to our affiliates; sales through affiliate links may benefit this site.

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(To see all the comments, click on the "Comments" link below.)
Featured Comments from:

Speed: Re 'neither sells iPhones': Amazon does sell iPhones."

Mike replies: Oh...okay...but TOP doesn't...isn't there some reason why people don't tend to buy iPhones from Amazon? I thought there was. (You can tell I'm out of my league on this topic...I was the last person I know to get a cell phone, and I still just use it to get driving directions and communicate with my son. Oh, and play Angry Birds. At least I know more about phones than I know about video.  :-)

John Camp: "Amazon starts selling the most ballyhooed cell phone in years in the next few days. Like, tomorrow, maybe?

"You should give cell phone photography some coverage, but without worrying about it too much. I don't think you have to cover lenses, sensors, all of that, because they're not important. Cell phones will probably never make genuinely inflected photos—they're snapshot machines. If you're a hipster big on trends, of course, you can use a cell phone to do more serious photography, at least for now, before that trend fades. But, basically, using a cell phone for serious photography is like that Iowa farmer who drove his riding lawn mower several hundred miles to visit his brother. You can do it, but why, when there are better tools, and not all that expensive? (The Iowa farmer's better tool was his thumb—he could have hitchhiked.)

"So, cover cell phone photography as you'd cover snapshot photography. It's totally legit, and can produce some amazing photos, especially of news events. But there's another kind of photography, involving introspection and  long-term study of the subject matter, for which there are simply better tools. You can cover that, too."

Mike replies: Another thing I probably shouldn't disclose is rank ignorance, but until I started searching around to try to figure out what you were talking about in that first paragraph, I had not even heard about Amazon's planned phone. That could cut both ways though. I might sell some phones, but then does that give every Amazon phone user a direct link to Amazon with no need to be steered by little affiliates like me? It's been a pretty harrowing ride for Amazon affiliates over the years, as you may know. Ken Rockwell packed up his family and moved across the country when Amazon temporarily cut off its California affiliates.

As I always say, something's gonna kill TOP, I just don't know what it's going to be yet. I just plan to ride this horse all the way to the inn and have a good ride along the way, that's all I can say.

Gunnar Marel: "I'm a film guy (case in point, I just finished mixing up a fresh batch of D-76) but last year the local photography museum contacted me and offered to host a small show of my pictures. Of course I was thrilled. But what did they want to exhibit? A selection of my Instagram (i.e. cell phone) photos (theme: abandoned shopping trolleys). As I've read somewhere: 'You know what they say: Oh well.' It opens next week if you happen to pass through Reykjavík, Iceland this summer."

atmtx: "Mike, your honesty is refreshing."

Mike replies: Honesty being refreshing reminds me of one of my favorite ads. A Washington, D.C. bank had decided to be up-front about all of its small charges and fees, and was running a campaign on the theme of "Honesty: Isn't It Refreshing?"

So in the ad, a fresh-faced young couple are standing at a kitchen counter, on which are spread stacks of plans and drawings. On the other side from them is a contractor, a rough-looking heavyset middle-aged man chewing on a cigar. Behind them all is a wall with a window in it.

The contractor says, "Oh, your new kitchen is gonna be beautiful. You're gonna love it. Now, the first thing we're gonna do [he gestures to the wall], we're gonna knock down this entire outside wall. Sure, that will open your house to the elements for a while, and anybody who wants to can waltz right in, but ya gotta do what ya gotta do when you're remodeling, you know what I mean?

"Then, me and my crew, we're gonna disappear for—oh, I don't know, four, five, six days. You're not going to know what the hell happened to us. Sure, you can call the office, but you'll just get the secretary and she won't tell you anything...."

The young couple exchange bewildered looks and the voiceover says, "Honesty—isn't it refreshing?"

No offense to any contractors in the audience!

Vachnie: "Given the monthly service fee, which in some instances is $200, some iPhone users will have paid enough in four years to have purchased the Leica APO lens."

Gato: "My only real gripe about my phone camera (cheap Android) is how slow and awkward it is to use. Otherwise it is perfectly fine for many kinds of photography—family memories (as you demonstrated), record photos, quick sharing of daily experiences, and even once in a while a print up on the wall. My last vacation I carried a small camera, a tablet, and a phone. I hope within another year or so I can do all that with one device. I'll still keep a more serious camera for the kind of pictures that demand the flexibility and technical quality, but it is also nice to have a phone included in the one compact device that is almost always with me."

Comments

[BH]

I don't have enough fingers or toes to count the number of times my iPhone battery has died while composing a photograph. It is absolutely maddening. Little things like this, or the fact that the iPhone obscures roughly 25% of the image with interface overlays are what keeps me from thinking of my phone as a serious photographic tool. Not that it can't be used as such... but I simply have no urge to try and use it as such. Some day, I guess.

[Bulent]

I thought you were on a diet!
(You don't need to disclose, if you are not, anyway!)

[Lee Johnson]

Funny you should say this. Flicker has just announced that the iPhone is the most popular camera on its site.

On a personal note, I'm with you. I like my phone to be a phone and my camera to be a camera. I don't want something that is a jack of all trades. Something usually suffers.

[bill]

Mike it is totally OK, I get it at many levels. e.g. I still can't get into that newfangled abomination called color film.

b

[Bill, Kodachrome was introduced in 1935!! What, were you born in the 1890s? [s] --Mike]

[HT]

Whoa, John Camp goes for the jugular! As luck would have it, Thom Hogan recently published an article debating the merits of using an iPhone for photography: http://www.dslrbodies.com/newsviews/is-the-iphone-good-enough.html

[Hugh]

I'm a late convert to Smartphones - having had several, and detested them. Android finally seems to have matured, and the Motorola Moto G is a hell of a bargain.

I did it the cunning way - bought the kids identical phones at the same time...

Going on vacation, and effortlessly sharing the holiday fotos on Flickr and Facebook when you got back to the hotel's wifi was impressive.

Got a 20 year old nephew who is on a 6 month round the world trip - India - Far East - Australia - USA. Been sharing his travel pics via Facebook the same way.

[Ri chard Newman]

I don't think you can ignore cell phone cameras. They continue to evolve, as did the Box Brownie. There is at least one that claims 40 meg resolution, and the latest I hear is that there is now an app for HDR. Apparently in high contrast situations it takes two exposures, one based on the high level light and one for the low level light. Then it averages them. I don't have the details or know what algorighm they use, or even if it works well. The point is that changes and improvements in cell phone cameras will continue, and that they will become better at making images. Of course that doesn't mean the picture shooter will become better, but still... Anyway, I'm not trading my DSLRs in any time soon.

[Peter]

The only digital phone I have is my Android phone, which I got because of the Vignette app (not originally available for iPhone), and I got the Vignette app because it does an excellent job of replicating the Diana toy camera which was my thing.

A couple sets

http://www.hookstrapped.com/album/phoney-diana-street-shots

http://www.hookstrapped.com/album/phoney-diana-cibao

[hugh crawford]

Gee Mike, the phone section of the bricks and mortar B&H is bigger than most camera stores, and they seem to sell a lot of them online.

No iPhones but they do sell iPhone accessories such as steadicam mounts for iPhone etc, and just about everything else Apple makes

[Trecento]

Mike,
The number one thing you benefit from, from the existence of cell phone cams is this: a whole generation is learning to see with a fixed 35mm-e or 28mm-e lens. They are learning about light, about perspective, about blocked shadows and blown highlights. They are learning about grain. Grain! Grain of all things! If the camera manufacturers had their way, all there would be is an endless ladder of point and shoots at 5$ increments, stretching up to the sky. If they had their way, everyone would learn to see with a 28-300-equivalent slow zoom, and grain and fine detail would be carefully smeared out into smooth and shiny shapes, and nobody would understand anything about how framing and perspective interact.

Most of all, thanks to the cellphones, people actually share their images with an audience, instead of plopping their drugstore 4x6s in a shoebox that is later thrown away by accident. God bless them, every one.

[bloodnok]

it's unfortunate that t.o.p. is dependent on amazon to survive. amazon is evil. amazon will destroy the rest of retail and then it'll finally be able to justify its obscenely ridiculous p/e to the vultures on wall street.

also mobiles make really awkward cameras even if the picture quality is almost as good.

[c.d.embrey]

Mike and Thom, and most of their readers, are on the wrong side of forty. People who've read David Vestal and Herbert Kessler really aren't the right people to discuss the merits of iPhoneography ;-)

The kids have grown up using iDevices, so they don't see anything unusual about making art with their iPhone and their iPad. And it's not just photography, check-out Animoog http://www.moogmusic.com/products/apps/animoog-0 There are a lot of music apps, as well as photo and drawing apps at the iTune Store.

But not to worry, there are still a lot of old folks that are still interested in, and still buying cameras ;-)

[I know stereotypes are comforting, but in my case yours aren't warranted. I know how to use a cellphone camera. I like cameras better. --Mike]

[MHMG]

Mike wrote: "Ken Rockwell packed up his family and moved across the country when Amazon temporarily cut off its California affiliates.

As I always say, something's gonna kill TOP, I just don't know what it's going to be yet. I just plan to ride this horse all the way to the inn and have a good ride along the way, that's all I can say."

Folks like Ken Rockwell, you, and dare I say myself, don't publish our ideas and our personal perspectives on the internet because we think huge profits are just around the corner. We do it because we are passionate about what we like to do. So, no one and no new technology will kill your passion until you lose it on your own behalf.

cheers,
Mark
http://www.aardenburg-imaging.com

[Bill Wheeler]

I had burgers with one of my sons, his wife, and child on Father's Day. Just perfect.

[Stan B.]

@ John Camp-

The lawnmower was the right move- and The Straight Story proved it.

[Luiz Kamnitzer]

Mike,

Some months ago you had a sale, a father and son sale. Father was using a view camera and son an Iphone...

Regards
Luiz Kamnitzer

[Paul De Zan]

I don't exactly "like" my iPhone 5 as a camera, but I sure do respect its ability to get the shot when there are no cameras around.

[Dillan]

Every time someone brings up 'cellphone photography,' I start thinking about how this could be the beginning of the end for photography as we know it. Maybe the next generation won't see the point of buying into a 'real' camera system. If that happens, I'll be a dinosaur, babying my ancient Canon gear and grumbling about how convenience triumphed over quality and how I completely disagree with that point of view. Sigh. I don't want to talk about cell phone photography.

[Steve Smith]

I was the last person I know to get a cell phone

I don't have one. I was going to write 'yet' but that would imply an intention to get one!

[Nige]

At work I receive many photos from many varied sources and I've come to the conclusion, that although phones may be able to take decent photos, the general public cannot actually achieve that.

[Robert Roaldi]

This is me begging. Please please please, when writing about smartphones, please tell people to hold the damn things horizontally when shooting video. I am just so tired of seeing amateur videos with those big black bars on the sides because this so-called tech savvy generation cannot understand the simple concept of aspect ratio.

[tom]

"if everybody shot with a cellphone and nobody bought dedicated cameras and lenses any more, TOP would be history and Xander would have to pay for all my dinners."

If photography is worth discussing and the the content and esthetics are the main factors, does it really matter which kind of machine has been used ?

[No. But that misses the point. The point was about making money.

Believe me, I've always been able to find plenty of things to do for free. He said ruefully. --Mike]

[psu]

The iPhone has done in-camera HDR and panoramas for about the last four years or so. I continue to be mystified as to why people will write off an entire class of capture devices as incapable of "serious" work just because they don't fit the traditional mold of a serious camera. But whatever.

Also, apropos of a previous post, that youtube personality "PewDiePie" was written up in the WSJ this week. He made $4M last year.

http://online.wsj.com/news/article_email/youtube-star-plays-videogames-earns-4-million-a-year-1402939896-lMyQjAxMTA0MDEwNjExNDYyWj

[You miss my point too. I'm not "writing off an entire class of capture devices as incapable of 'serious' work." I'm saying I need a way to make money, and if cellphones eventually destroy camera sales I won't have a way to do that. As I said, selfish. --Mike]

[c.d.embrey]

Mike, what stereotypes did I use. Thom's readers voted for Not Having Video - I didn't make it up ;-) And you did work for Darkroom Techniques ;-) If I wanted to read about iPhoneography I'd find a site more attuned to the zeitgeist.

And I did stick to the subject of making money. There really are enough old folks, to click through to Amazon, to keep you going for a long time.

BTW I was born before WWII, so I do qualify as old folks ;-) And my cameras run from a Toyo 4x5 to an IPod Touch G4.

[A. Costa]

I really don't get why every activity connected with an Apple product must be called "iSomething" and transformed in a trend. For me, photography done with a cellphone is just PHOTOGRAPHY. And it is a good thing that can give birth to an exceptional piece. Just like photography done with a Lomo camera, a DSLR, a pinhole camera, a digital medium format back, a mirrorless...

[Chris]

Glad you had a good Father's Day Mike, Zander also.

One downside of the small-sensor phone camera is that depth of field you don't always want.
I notice that, presuming both your phones applied some level of selective focus, the high-contrast backgrounds 'push forward' , leaving the softer flesh tones of you both as the 'main subject' looking slightly, soft focus.
Fashions for large sensor/minimal DoF, or it's opposite, can both be useful, or tricky.
Traditionally, a 'real camera' experience teaches us the value of using different lenses/focal lengths to play with these qualities. No doubt it can also be done now with software/touch screens.
Somehow making things easier often reduces our chance to learn.
Chris

[Filippo M.]

Cellphone photography is much less about hardware and a lot more about software. I don't think anyone here would want or expect Mike to review photo apps but it could be nice to show serious work done with phonecameras by talented photographers. Isn't it all about the picture at the end?
For example I heartly invite you all to take a look at the (wonderful, in my opinion) work by Viviana Peretti:http://www.vivianaperetti.com/#/iphoneography/easter-in-colombia/Easter_01

[TommyBlack]

Looks like you've lost weight. How did you do to achieve this?