iPhone Photography Awards 2014

[Mike Farley]

Still think that you need your DSLR?

http://www.ippawards.com/?project=2014- ... rettyPhoto

Thom Hogan's take.

http://www.dslrbodies.com/newsviews/is- ... nough.html

[Nina]

I am having my doubts. I don't have an iPhone but my Samsung does well enough. Should we ask the members if they want another mobile phone evening to be included in the next year's programme?

[davidc]

Hmm I think it's maybe slightly early days to suggest that mobile phones are a total replacement for an actual camera

I'd even say the same for CSCs but that's a discussion for a different thread!

It's great to have something like this in your pocket if needed and what some people can achieve with them is quite impressive but after last year I lost track of the number of times I *only* had my phone and wished I had a camera instead. Having said that, the "look how good these photos are, and it's from a PHONE!" arguement is a bit cliched - you can get great photos from a pinhole camera after all!

Personally I want more from my photography than a 72dpi image that goes straight to facebook. If you can get the results you want purely from a smartphone then great, you have saved a ton on gear costs, however I want better, more varied results and I actually enjoy the process of thinking about & shooting with an actual camera. Each to their own, but I do find the whole "cameras are dead, long live the iphone" stance amusing

[Nina]

Miniaturisation is the way to go in my opinion, but like you I want to be able to take full control of how I take my pictures. As far as I know no phone gives you that facility.

[davidc]

I'm not against miniturisation per se, I just don't like it when it leads to loss of quality. Sure, some of that quality is only lost at pixel peeping levels but other effects (such as DOF, diffraction limits) are much more tangible and are some of the main reasons why smaller is not necessarily better in my view

Though I will admit, the main reason I don't want to go mini yet is actually the cameras are too small. With my gigantic hands I find smaller cameras harder to operate, much harder to hold & grip correctly (I've dropped one before, in a Dixons at the airport *ahem*) and less "reassuring" when they are lighter. Personal preference, I freely acknowledge

It reminds me of the time when mobile phones were on a trend of getting smaller and smaller until they were too difficult to use. Now that's reversing and as people want functionality/usability/quality, phones are getting larger again. I wonder if that trend will happen in cameras once the latest CSC is the size of a matchbox

[Mike Farley]

These days I do actually have a camera phone, albeit one from the low end of the market, and it does exactly what I want*. It produces OK images, but takes forever to focus. That's good, because I am not tempted to use it. Apart from the embrassing occasion when I made a longish journey for a shoot only to find when I opened my bag and found only my infrared camera inside.

Yesterday at AP's Sony sponsored event, there was a promise of being able to try my Canon lenses on an A7/R body using an adapter. So I took a heavy bag of gear only to find that Sony had turned up sans adapters. It meant that beforehand I was shooting my 7D for the first time in a while. I like the camera and think that it has the best user interface of any camera I have tried (note that this is different to having the best interface of any camera). But boy, did it it feel big, heavy and cumbersome after a period of exclusively shooting m43.

* In other words, make phone calls when I am out and occasional Internet use to find out useful info such as when trains and buses are actually coming or there is a good place to eat nearby. For such a cheap device, its colour reproduction is good and I have found it useful for showing people the occasional photo. Most of the time my phone is off, but even if someone does ring I usually don't hear it.

[Mike Farley]

Though I will admit, the main reason I don't want to go mini yet is actually the cameras are too small. With my gigantic hands I find smaller cameras harder to operate, much harder to hold & grip correctly (I've dropped one before, in a Dixons at the airport *ahem*) and less "reassuring" when they are lighter. Personal preference, I freely acknowledge

I have started such a discussion in my Epiphany? post. You might find the Sony A7 models better suited to your hands.

viewtopic.php?f=2&t=1015

It reminds me of the time when mobile phones were on a trend of getting smaller and smaller until they were too difficult to use. Now that's reversing and as people want functionality/usability/quality, phones are getting larger again. I wonder if that trend will happen in cameras once the latest CSC is the size of a matchbox

I once heard of a female attendee at a conference being amused by all the men there arguing about who had the smallest.

[Nina]

I once heard of a female attendee at a conference being amused by all the men there arguing about who had the smallest.

Now now boys less smut on the forum if you please.