Cameras - the Extinction?
I read a finance article the other day - it was forecasting the next big 10 companies they expect will go under in the coming year. It also talked about the top 10 products that were no longer going to be produced. I wasn't at all surprised by the companies named. It made sense that those 10 were on the brink of going out of business; but the products?
One of them was a popular "point and shoot" camera. Apparently, a few popular camera makers are getting out of the general consumer level camera manufacturing biz. No one is buying the inexpensive pocket sized models anymore. Why? Because everyone just uses their cell phone. Why have an extra device that just takes picture when you already have a cell phone that does it...or so the thinking goes.
Really?? People think cell phones are an acceptable substitute for a real camera. Have they SEEN the photos they take with their cell? The memories you want to preserve forever of your major life events are these slightly blurry, low quality, and often dark images from your average cell phone. I could scream.
I see these images every day. Photos of kids, relatives, scenery...and yes, sometimes some of these cell shots are actually pretty good. But ONLY shots taken by my friends who are professional photographers or the shot is a total accident. Sorry, everyone else. Your cell pics are not great. I am not trying to piss you off, it's just a fact! And this is now the ONLY photo you have of this major life event. It's blurry, fuzzy, dark and the subject is too far away for me to be sure of what you are trying to capture. And the moment is gone. Forever.
I found it funny a week or so ago when my husband pointed out to me as I happily clicked away at my youngest son's school play that I was one of only 2 people in the entire auditorium with a real camera. Everyone else was watching the play with a cell phone held in front of their faces. Some were snapping still shots and some were making videos. Then again, at kindergarten graduation, I had an actual video camera and everyone else was holding up a cell phone. Even my husband. I found myself wishing I'd brought my camera. Sure, it's bulky, but the images I capture are worth the effort. That moment is gone now. I don't have any photos of my son with his teacher, but John took a pic with his cell phone. It's a little fuzzy, blurry, dark and generally cell phone-ish looking. But at least it's something. I guess.
My son probably won't mind when he sees that pic sometime in the distant future. It will be like the slightly dark, blurry, faded and almost monochromatic looking Polaroids of my past. You expect them to look that way. Everyone's pictures look that way. Except for the "professionals" who used an actual real live honest to goodness camera. Wow! Those photos look amazing! Thank goodness someone thought to bring a real camera to that major life event. Can you imagine if all I had were Polaroids? That would suck.
One of them was a popular "point and shoot" camera. Apparently, a few popular camera makers are getting out of the general consumer level camera manufacturing biz. No one is buying the inexpensive pocket sized models anymore. Why? Because everyone just uses their cell phone. Why have an extra device that just takes picture when you already have a cell phone that does it...or so the thinking goes.
Really?? People think cell phones are an acceptable substitute for a real camera. Have they SEEN the photos they take with their cell? The memories you want to preserve forever of your major life events are these slightly blurry, low quality, and often dark images from your average cell phone. I could scream.
I see these images every day. Photos of kids, relatives, scenery...and yes, sometimes some of these cell shots are actually pretty good. But ONLY shots taken by my friends who are professional photographers or the shot is a total accident. Sorry, everyone else. Your cell pics are not great. I am not trying to piss you off, it's just a fact! And this is now the ONLY photo you have of this major life event. It's blurry, fuzzy, dark and the subject is too far away for me to be sure of what you are trying to capture. And the moment is gone. Forever.
I found it funny a week or so ago when my husband pointed out to me as I happily clicked away at my youngest son's school play that I was one of only 2 people in the entire auditorium with a real camera. Everyone else was watching the play with a cell phone held in front of their faces. Some were snapping still shots and some were making videos. Then again, at kindergarten graduation, I had an actual video camera and everyone else was holding up a cell phone. Even my husband. I found myself wishing I'd brought my camera. Sure, it's bulky, but the images I capture are worth the effort. That moment is gone now. I don't have any photos of my son with his teacher, but John took a pic with his cell phone. It's a little fuzzy, blurry, dark and generally cell phone-ish looking. But at least it's something. I guess.
My son probably won't mind when he sees that pic sometime in the distant future. It will be like the slightly dark, blurry, faded and almost monochromatic looking Polaroids of my past. You expect them to look that way. Everyone's pictures look that way. Except for the "professionals" who used an actual real live honest to goodness camera. Wow! Those photos look amazing! Thank goodness someone thought to bring a real camera to that major life event. Can you imagine if all I had were Polaroids? That would suck.
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