Still from Video shot – NEX-6 camera.
Toronto. About 35 years ago, I used my Leica to take a few shots of my girls during school concerts. I was the odd man out – few parents had a camera, and those who did had cheap little box cameras with a built-in flash that did little if anything to capture the antics of the children on stage.
Last night as I videoed a grandchild with my digital still camera, it seemed everyone had a camera – iPads, iPhones, point and shoots, the audience was awash in cameras. A few had huge DSLRs and some even had video cameras – three on tripods.
A young woman with an iPhone slipped in front of me. She read her messages, texted some people and took stills and short videos – some in landscape, some in portrait. As I watched she casually checked the images, using her fingers to enlarge them with the now common place Apple iPhone motion. As I looked down over her shoulder, I could see that all her photos and videos were automatically in focus and properly exposed.
What a change a few decades have made! Everyone has a camera that adjusts for light and focus; that works fine in the dim school auditorium/gymnasium. The cameras seemed to work whether the bright spot-lights focussed on the stage where on or off. Two people – parents – stood on professional stands high above the audience recording the concert, perhaps to make DVDs available to other families.
