Why do we bother with cameras? :-)

[jcuknz]

<p>Thank you folks for some great comments .. attitudes to the matter .... most enjoyable. My cellphone has a mini SD card which means I can easilly download to my editing programme and apply treatments as any other photo from my various digital cameras, no film these days. :-)</p>

[lachaine]

<p>Doing a lot more things has nothing to do with the "quality of the photos", but it has everything to do with the photos you end up being able to take in the first place. Look, I use my smartphone, I use a Canon S95, and I have used a DSLR. I can adjust the custom picture controls on that S95 so I get beautiful pictures straight from the camera, I have raw files when I need them, and I have a pretty good quality very fast short zoom lens right in my pocket. It's actually even smaller than the phone (thicker, but quite a bit smaller in the hand). Yes, it's true that each step up in class of cameras is better in some ways. However, except for the smaller sensor, in order to replicate what I can do with the "P&S" in my pocket, I would need at least a mid-range DSLR and a very high-end zoom lens which I could never afford, and which I certainly wouldn't be carrying in my pocket. Even then, my little zoom would be faster. I am NOT saying that the P&S is as good, but it's pretty good most of the time.</p>

<p>The phone cameras aren't bad in good light and with still subjects, but people are dreaming in technicolor if they think that camera pictures look the same as good P&S pictures (Leica DLUX, Lumix LX-3/5, Canon S90/95/100, Olympus ZX1, etc.), or they just aren't using their cameras in the best possible way. Don't be fooled by internet hype.</p>

[Spearhead]

<blockquote>

<p>but people are dreaming in technicolor if they think that camera pictures look the same as good P&S pictures</p>

</blockquote>

<p><br />Can you point out where someone said they "look the same" please.</p>

[._kaa]

Technically better cameras (phone -> P&S -> SLR) widen the range of the pictures that you can take. They don't necessarily take better photographs, but they do provide more options. Whether a photographer needs or can use the additional freedom is a different issue.

[AlanKlein]

<p>My boss never upgraded the cell phone they gave me. No camera, no internet, no text, no video, no apps, no nothing except for phone calls. So I also carry a P&S (currently Canon S95, before the Canon Elphs) on my belt for shots required when I work (construction management) and for pleasure. It's always with me. When I go out specifically to shoot, I use my E-PL1 M43 digital or RB67 medium format film. </p>

<p>Many people in construction no longer bother with cameras and use their cell phone cameras exclusively. But then again they're for record purpose of everything from nameplate data from equipment to other close, medium and long shots at construction sites. They're handy especially for quick transmission to others who need to see the pictures immediately.</p>

<p>By the time I get a smart phone with camera, maybe they will be good enough to eliminate my P&S.</p>

[Brad_]

<center>

<img src= "http://citysnaps.net/2011%20photos/White.jpg"><BR>

.

</center><P>

 

I use an iPhone. Nothing from Canon or Nikon lets you groove to John Tesh tunes and view the latest Bieber tweets while shooting on the street.

[User_4136860]

<p>"I recently got a new digital camera. It's so advanced... you don't even need it!"<br>

Some of them are so advanced they don't need you.</p>

[rossb]

<p> I just use my camera for taking photos.</p>

[john_tran14]

<blockquote>

<p>Why do we bother with cameras?</p>

</blockquote>

<p>The way I see people who use an iphone taking pictures everywhere is that <em>They care too much for cameras</em>. In fact the question should be:<br>

Why bother that much with cameras that you have to squeeze it into your phone and to carry it everywhere with you? Why can't people let their cameras sitting home and rest for a while?<br>

It's not about the bad low resolution (and other low quality issues) because I myself enjoyed my first digital camera with that kind of resolution. It's more about improvement: I threw away that first digital camera of mine long time ago. In some other threads, I see people are thinking of getting rid of their 5D II. And the phones are proposing in the reverse direction which is going for lower quality than most cameras can. Why?</p>

<p>Just because <em>they want their camera with them at all time</em>. Why do people bother that much with having cameras in their pockets?</p>

[mike dixon]

"Why do people bother that much with having cameras in their pockets?"

 

I take much better photos when I have a camera than when I don't.

[john_tran14]

<blockquote>

<p> Why do people bother that much with having cameras <em>in their pockets</em>?</p>

</blockquote>

<p>I should have said "Why do people bother that much with having cameras <em>on their phones</em>?"<br>

I love to take pictures but not all the time and rarely just by accident. I usually have a plan for the shooting</p>

[mike dixon]

"Why do people bother that much with having cameras on their phones?"

 

Because a lot of people enjoy taking photos any time that the mood strikes them, and they don't limit their photography to specific, planned occasions.

[john_tran14]

<blockquote>

<p>a lot of people enjoy taking photos any time</p>

</blockquote>

<p>That answers the OP question:"Why do we bother with cameras?" Cameras on the phones are still cameras, only of lesser quality</p>

[Brad_]

>>> I love to take pictures but not all the time and rarely just by accident. I usually have a plan for the

shooting

 

There is a huge night and day difference between getting ready and "going out to shoot" with a plan,

looking for photos. And simply experiencing life as it comes along, being receptive to serendipity, and having a

camera with you.

 

>>> Cameras on the phones are still cameras, only of lesser quality

 

All cameras are of lesser quality compared to those that happen to be better (or are shot from atop a tripod). Some people obsess about quality of gear, others about life and photos.

[MichaelChang]

<p>Part of the joy of photography is using the tool you feel most connected with. It could be a cellphone, a P/S, a dSLR; there's no right or wrong, and using one over another isn't anything worth promoting nor is the difference necessarily reflected artisitcally in the resulting work. </p>

[james_smith55]

<blockquote>

<p>Why do we bother with cameras? :-)</p>

</blockquote>

<p>I go on outings with a DSLR, a 35mm camera and a MF camera and multiple lenses... and a camera phone. They are all different tools for different purposes. They can all do things that the other tool simply cannot. Needless to say the camera phone is the one I carry the most.</p>