Sunday, November 25, 2012

Is the iPhone the Only Camera You Need?

F. Martin Ramin for The Wall Street Journal (cameras, phone); Lisa Corson/The Wall Street Journal (sunset)

The iPhone simplifies the photographic process—you can shoot, edit, share and order prints using one device.

I, POINT-AND-SHOOT, hereby call to order the inaugural meeting of the Secret Society of Digital Cameras That Are Sick and Tired of the iPhone. Ultra Zoom. Micro Four Thirds. Budget Digi Camera that takes AA batteries. Thanks for coming.

Photos: iPhoneography

View Slideshow

Lisa Corson/The Wall Street Journal

A photo taken with the Hipstamatic app

View a slideshow of iPhone photos.

Share Your iPhone Photos With Us: #morningWSJ

It's your turn to show us how you use your phone to snap pictures. We'll feature the best in an online gallery.

Here's how to participate:

  • Use your phone to take pictures on the theme: How do you start your morning?
  • Email the photo to yourphotos@wsj.com or share them on Twitter and Instagram with the hashtag #morningwsj
  • Include your name, date, time of day, type of phone you used, and location for the photo

Disclaimer: By submitting any photographs to The Wall Street Journal/Dow Jones through any medium, including social media, (the "Photographs"), you agree that The Wall Street Journal and Dow Jones (collectively "Dow Jones") have the perpetual right to modify the Photographs and publish or republish the Photographs or portions of thePhotographs, in any medium now known or hereinafter developed. Dow Jones, in its sole discretion, can credit you by name if it publishes your Photographs.

You represent and warrant that (a) the Photographs are original and that you own the rights to your Photographs, (b) the Photographs do not violate the rights of any third party, (c) the Photographs have not been altered and do not convey a false or misleading impression, and (d) any additional information you submit about the Photographs is accurate.

You also agree to the Subscriber Agreement and Terms of Use, located here.

Readers' Photos

View Slideshow

Bob Cummins

Departing Phoenix at 6:30 a.m. on March 29, 2012. Device: iPhone 4S.

I think everyone knows why we're here in the basement of this abandoned Circuit City in Ho-Ho-Kus, N.J. I mean, it's in the name of our club: the iPhone. A lot of you have been sitting in junk drawers, so I'll bring you up to speed. It ain't just a phone. It has a camera. And not one of those 1.3-megapixel numbers from a decade ago. This is the real deal. People have already started documenting their breakfasts with it. We're in trouble.

Have you checked out Flickr lately? The iPhone is the site's most-used camera. Instagram, an app that let's people share photos, reached 27 million users to become one of the world's biggest social networks. It hit that milestone purely with the iPhone. Last time I checked, we took photos. Where is our piece of the zeitgeist pie?

There was a time when we were renegades ushering in a new era of photography. Mavericks, really. We kicked those old film cameras into flea-market stalls. Now only pros and artsy types use them. Guess what? We're the ones starting to collect dust. And don't think anyone's going to revisit us. Film cameras occupy the same hip space as vinyl. Where are we going to fall on the technological nostalgia spectrum? Next to the LaserDisc.

The digital photography revolution was a promise to streamline things for the everyman. To let him shoot as many sunsets and cats wearing bread (seriously, Google it) as he wanted without having to worry about film. Anyone with a laptop could edit like a pro. Like the Brownie and Polaroid before us, we were democratizers of photography.

Not any more. The iPhone hijacked our vision for the future—our legacy!—while we were busy fooling people that more megapixels meant better pictures. (Sorry, Budget Digi Cam, it doesn't.) Talk about simplifying the photographic process—you can shoot, edit, share and order prints without taking your mitts off an iPhone. We're on our way to becoming a footnote on its Wikipedia page.

Related Video

No comments:

Post a Comment