The equipment used to capture a scene, or the “decisive moment” continues to evolve.
Some old, some new. Some rehashing the past.
Just a few years ago, while attending an event, a young lady offered a Polaroid style instant print of Nancy and I (Fuji, naturally).
For me, perhaps due to the “curse of knowledge”, I prefer the right equipment at the right time. That’s not always so simple, particularly when a long – often heavy – lens might prove useful, if not essential. Or, a sharp, fixed focal length lens, left at home when I decided to minimize the on the go bag.
Further, interesting scenes may avail themselves during extreme light conditions. [1]
Thom Hogan’s latest [2], considers traditional camera makers’ approach to the market vis a vis smartphones. A few recent iPhone images lead me to wonder how long “mid tier” traditional cameras will be relavent? (Smartphones long ago killed off entry level cameras).
Finally, Om has posted a few smartphone notes, illustrating their powerful, in your pocket capabilities. [3]
1. Pentacost: The Holy Spirit, Peace & Multimedia Doves captured with an impressive mirrorless “full frame” camera. I was astonished at the low light capabilities.
Technically, there should be a clear migration path for people who like to take photos: mobile device users discover limitations of their small camera(s), and want to move up (preferably to something compatible with their workflow). They buy a dedicated camera, but eventually outgrow that and want something even more sophisticated. This creates a wide pyramid of customers, with the bottom (and by far biggest area) being mobile device users, the top (smallest area) being the high-end ILC users, and a largish area in between that doesn’t necessarily have to be all ILC.
3. ProRaw and Super Resolution // Proraw; black and white