Larry Cloetta
Veteran
Times have changed for photographers. They are not going to unchange, though this is neither good or bad, it’s just going to be different in some ways, going forward.
Phones are perfectly good for, as has been said here, perhaps 99% of the photos taken day to day, worldwide. They are not, however, perfectly good for 99% of photography. Those are two distinct things. Phones are more than adequate for selfies, pictures of your coffee cup and bagel, your lunch, your aunt Margaret at Naigara Falls, and any photograph Henry Cartier Bresson ever took, i.e. most any photograph ever taken with a rangefinder. Phones are not good for sports, most landscapes, wildlife, architecture, most fashion, macro, and most commercial product photography. Nor is it likely they ever will be.
Ever since the advent of the Brownie, the people who bought cameras to take photos of aunt Margaret at Niagara Falls have been the volume buyers, they have been the ones who subsidized the camera industry so that a few others could enjoy sports, wildlife, landscape, etc photography on the cheap, and manage a few snaps of their dinner on the side. Those days are not “probably” gone forever, they are just gone.
This is a rangefinder forum, rangefinder photography is a style of photography, it’s not photography. If that is one’s chosen style of photography, a phone is really the functionally perfect analog (yikes, sorry) to a rangefinder camera. Look at the entirety of HCB’s work and try to find one shot that couldn’t have been made with a phone, and sharper. Other types of photography, and there are many other types, not so much. But the number of people who have a need and desire to do those other types of photography, day in and day out, isn’t so great compared to the sheer numbers of people going about their lives “taking pictures” of their lunch, or themselves.
Sales volumes for “real cameras” are going to go down until they reach a steady state commensurate with the numbers of photographers who need and want a “real camera”. Expect to pay more, possibly a lot more, since uncle Fred’s purchase isn’t subsidizing your purchase any longer, as uncle Fred and most of his friends have moved on. However, makers of “real cameras” are not going to disappear, not all of them anyway. No point in worrying about it. Current cameras are amazingly competent, and competent cameras are not going to disappear. Really.
Phones are perfectly good for, as has been said here, perhaps 99% of the photos taken day to day, worldwide. They are not, however, perfectly good for 99% of photography. Those are two distinct things. Phones are more than adequate for selfies, pictures of your coffee cup and bagel, your lunch, your aunt Margaret at Naigara Falls, and any photograph Henry Cartier Bresson ever took, i.e. most any photograph ever taken with a rangefinder. Phones are not good for sports, most landscapes, wildlife, architecture, most fashion, macro, and most commercial product photography. Nor is it likely they ever will be.
Ever since the advent of the Brownie, the people who bought cameras to take photos of aunt Margaret at Niagara Falls have been the volume buyers, they have been the ones who subsidized the camera industry so that a few others could enjoy sports, wildlife, landscape, etc photography on the cheap, and manage a few snaps of their dinner on the side. Those days are not “probably” gone forever, they are just gone.
This is a rangefinder forum, rangefinder photography is a style of photography, it’s not photography. If that is one’s chosen style of photography, a phone is really the functionally perfect analog (yikes, sorry) to a rangefinder camera. Look at the entirety of HCB’s work and try to find one shot that couldn’t have been made with a phone, and sharper. Other types of photography, and there are many other types, not so much. But the number of people who have a need and desire to do those other types of photography, day in and day out, isn’t so great compared to the sheer numbers of people going about their lives “taking pictures” of their lunch, or themselves.
Sales volumes for “real cameras” are going to go down until they reach a steady state commensurate with the numbers of photographers who need and want a “real camera”. Expect to pay more, possibly a lot more, since uncle Fred’s purchase isn’t subsidizing your purchase any longer, as uncle Fred and most of his friends have moved on. However, makers of “real cameras” are not going to disappear, not all of them anyway. No point in worrying about it. Current cameras are amazingly competent, and competent cameras are not going to disappear. Really.
