The Camera in a Smart Phone World Part 1

 

In the past,  not so very long ago, anyone who wanted to make a photograph had to use a camera of some kind.  Most people used a compact camera.

Yesterday,  my wife and I took our grandchildren to a popular Sydney tourist attraction. As usual there were great crowds of  people, many taking photographs. On my extremely rough estimation about 80% were using a smart phone, 10% a tablet of some kind and 10%   a camera. There were compacts, superzooms and the occasional ILC.

Most of the tablets, the screens of which were readily visible, appeared to be making good pictures.

I think the negative part of the answer to this question is rather obvious already  --- most people don't want and probably don't need  a camera at all. The corollary of this is that the once popular compact camera is likely to become extinct.

I think that for the majority of amateur users,  the camera has become to photography what the sports car is to motoring. Not necessary for transport from A to B, but fun to drive.  A camera is not  necessary for making pictures but it is, or can be if properly designed, fun to use.

The camera can  provide the discerning user with performance, engagement and control .  There is an inverse relationship between automation (as typically found in a smart phone) and  control  as found in a well designed and operated camera.

Of course there are plenty of users who buy a sophisticated Interchangeable lens camera (ILC)  then use it in Fully Auto Mode with  monitor view.  I suspect these people hope that their expensive camera will make better pictures and like the ideaof  performance and control. Or maybe they just like the idea of having something better than the mob.

I call this the Proper Camera.  It has the following minimum feature set:

Inbuilt electronic viewfinder, fully articulated monitor, inbuilt flash unit, anatomical handle, anatomical thumb support, zoom lens, good enough picture quality, good performance with still or moving subjects and a comprehensive, ergonomic user interface, reliant on hard (i.e. operated by the fingers) user interface modules (dials, knobs, buttons, levers etc).

It  could have a fixed lens or interchangeable lenses.

It has a user interface which allows the operator to quickly adjust  primary and secondary exposure and focussing parameters in the Capture Phase of use, while looking through the viewfinder and without having to change grip with either hand.

I recently read an interview by a photography magazine of the marketing director of a camera company which had just announced a new M43 camera without a built in viewfinder. The marketing director was quoted as saying   "....this is a CSC [compact system camera with interchangeable lenses] designed for a smartphone audience..."  I wonder  if  it occurred to this hopeful gentleman that the smartphone audience was already taking pictures with their smartphones, making the camera as a separate entity largely irrelevant for this group.