Sun and Clouds

A few recent iPhone snaps. I take pictures every day; just not that often with...well, a camera. (Frowny face emoji.)

The sun and clouds. There are several clues
here as to what kind of day it was.

The Penn Yan Diner, founded 1925. I've
never seen it empty before.

Patriotic field

I'll tell you what kind of smartphone I need: one with no camera in it. Because then I'd have to carry my camera again. Smartphone cameras are bad for lazy photographers....

Mike

Book o' the Week:

The Beatles: Get Back. The story of the band's last year, coinciding with the release of Peter Jackson's documentary Get Back.

The book link is your portal to Amazon from TOP, should you wish to support this site.

Heeeeere's...B&H Photo

Original contents copyright 2020 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. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.

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

Dave Levingston: "Smartphone cameras produce much, much better quality files than early 'professional' digital cameras. So what's the issue with using them to make photos? Plus, they always seem to nail the correct exposure, unlike my 'professional' cameras which frequently require exposure compensation."

Moose: "Message from the Other Side: I had a good bird photo op yesterday afternoon. Only iPhone 13 Pro at hand. I thought about it, then thought how I would spend time processing the Raw file—and end up with something short of my imagined photo. So, I just sat and enjoyed it."

Bear.: "I'd like Leica to get together with Apple and build an iPhone into a Q2 or 3 or whatever...that would give me both a reason and an excuse to cart a camera everywhere. I might look a bit silly holding a camera to my ear instead of my eye though...but I probably would still buy it!"

John Camp (partial comment): "It may seem a little odd, but one of the major playgrounds of the Miata is Beverly Hills, home of the Rolls, the Ferrari, the Bugatti, and all those other plutonium automobiles. You see them all the time in LA, often fire-engine red [actually it's called Soul Red Crystal, and there's quite a story behind it... —Ed.], with the top down; they have so little in the way of logos on them, that I think a lot of people don't know what they are. Might possibly say...'saw a nice little Ferrari roadster today on Santa Monica....'"

Ernest Zarate: "Happy Father’s Day, Michael. I’d suggest remembering that old adage: The best camera is the one you have with you. I find my iPhone a useful, handy tool. Not unlike a painter might carry a small sketch pad or a writer might carry a small notebook, it gives me a quick and easy way to make visual notes. Most of the photos I make with it will end up in the dustbin, a select few might be useful references or worthy additions to the family photo album, and that very rare one might even stand on its own. But the process of making them remains the same: choose both where I’m standing and when I push the button. Those are essential skills to keep sharp no matter what camera I’m using. Drop the baggage of 'should' from the phone. Just let it be what it is and use it to your own advantage."

Edward Fritzen: "Due to an ongoing 'relocation' I've had to pack my DSLR away in storage. I agree that today's smart phones take great images, and it's very convenient. I really need to force myself to use my iPhone. To me using an iPhone is not as much fun as a traditional camera."

John Abee: "It dawned on me as I read that I'm simply not very good at using my phone (Pixel 6) to take pics, and that's because I have never invested the time in learning how. I suspect I am not alone. I know the ins and outs of my G9 and GX8 but I'm clueless on the finer points of phone photography. There are all sorts of apps and tutorials for this phone but I need to set aside some time to optimize my phone workflow. And I will. Thanks for the prod. P.S. Drove my '90 Miata again yesterday. Even after 32 years it still plasters a smile on my face that requires a lemon to remove."

Mike replies: Lucky dog...! I'm jealous.

Comments

[Aaron]

I'll keep the camera in my phone just so long as someone can figure out how to engineer a viewfinder that I can actually look through or into without changing the form factor of the phone. I know, I know. Physics etc.

[Speed]

My smartphone has made me a better photographer because it is always with me and the film is free. Practice doesn't make me perfect but it makes me better.

And ... the modern smartphone is a powerful editor which allows me to start with a photograph that isn't quite "there" and work with it or retake it.

The result may not always be ideal but it's sure better than no result. And sometimes it is ideal.

[James]

Why don't you sell your car and get a Miata?

It is for the same reason we can't have simple cameras.

Also, for reasons, you can't actually replace your current phone with a Light Phone. There's always something.

Your next phone, you can always get one with a high iFixit rating and then remove the camera yourself.

[darlene]

The Penn Yan Diner reminds me of where my mother was from outside of Philadelphia on the NJ side. Lots of diners there as I remember.

Happy Sunday to ya, and what I find my phone camera is best used for (besides visual note taking), is cats! My friends like to see what my kritters are up to. Here is the latest from Jesse:

[Kaemu]

I seem to have the same “problem”, my phone’s camera system (with three lenses) is so good and so convenient that I barely use my xt-4 and nice complement of prime lenses. Oh, would it that all my problems were thus.

I don’t think it’s laziness, it’s simply that engineers have build an incredible tool that covers most use cases so well.

By the way, having a photographic tool like that when you have young kids is simply awesome!

[hugh crawford]

Who is JB?
Is that a Silk City dinner? There used to be a term for somebody who is “going nowhere“ as being on the Silk City Express. Haven’t heard anyone say that in years although I think it was an anachronism in the 70s. Might have been a line in a detective novel.

Perhaps a novel about a detective hired by her father to find JB last seen in her green roadster. She ditches the roadster and take the Silk City Express. Bad things happen but after some hard boiled coffee and egg metaphors the detective gets the girl and discovers unpleasant things about her father.

[hugh crawford]

Hmm, the Paterson Vehicle Co. or Paterson, NJ didn’t start building Silk City diners until 1927, so the 1925 Penn Yan is probably an O’Mahony or a Worcester.
Source: https://www.roadsidefans.com/diner-faqs

[Good guess, but no..."Manufactured by the short-lived Galion Dining Car company of Galion, Ohio." --Mike]

[Jack Mac]

My son and his girl friend came over for Father’s Day. I wanted a picture of the two of us. I had a choice. I could get out a tripod, connect my camera to a remote shutter app on my iPhone, or just hand the iPhone to let his girl friend take the photo. You know which camera I chose. The iPhone.

[Richard Parkin]

Do you ever set the format to square or to monochrome or use any camera apps other than the default?

[John Robison]

Just as dedicated photographers take up the One Camera One Lens One Year challenge you could have a personal ‘Always take my camera’ exercise. Wouldn’t even need to be for a full year, just a measured length of time.
You probably already did this in the past. Wasn’t there a time in your life Mike when you would no more forget your camera than you would forget to put your pants on before going out.

[John Camp]

It may seem a little odd, but one of the major playgrounds of the Miata is Beverly Hills, home of the Rolls, the Ferrari, the Bugatti, and all those other plutonium automobiles. You see them all the time in LA, often fire-engine red, with the top down; they have so little in the way of logos on them, that I think a lot of people don't know what they are. Might possibly say..."saw a nice little Ferrari roadster today on Santa Monica..."

And oddly enough, the other car you see everywhere in LA is the Prius. I have a serious aversion to Priuses, comparable to my aversion to beets. I also tend to have an aversion to Prius drivers, who have, IMHO, seized the better-than-thou trophy formerly held by Volvo drivers. What is odd about the BH Prius is that BH is the American Veblen summit, and the Prius is the black hole of Veblenism. Or, just a black hole. IMHO.

[rich.l]

good that you caption

[Dennis Ng]

@bear. The phone and the camera may not match. Iphone is better as you can still have > 6 years … still update is an issue.

And as Thom said perhaps 2 decade ago what we need is a better camera that can communicate well with phone, not replacing it.

So far still can get my iphone talk with my z7. Hasselblad x509 use cable with ipad (iphone it cannot do any simple adjustment but still it can connect). That is what we need.