before landing, Taken by Kalum Carter with his OPPO smartphone
Toronto. An article in Digital Camera World out of England called, “I left my compact camera in the hotel and shot Sweden with my phone” resonated for me. The photographer had traditional digital cameras along, but settled for his two ‘smart’ phones with their tiny Hasselblad designed cameras (the artistic “H” below the photo). Sadly, the OPPO model Carter uses is NOT offered outside China in spite of its excellent Hasselblad designed camera.
Our youngest and her family holidayed in Stockholm a few weeks ago. Both her and her husband captured many exciting digital images – all on their phone. No film or digital camera in sight!
We received a couple of emails from them, each with a digital image attached – correctly exposed, balanced and sharp. One image was taken indoors at a museum; the second outdoors at an ancient church door in sunlight.
Arriving home, my daughter and her children dropped by with her phone. We saw all the images my daughter had captured on their holiday, often zooming in on details too tiny to see clearly at the original image size.
I couldn’t help but imagine the difference between the speed of availability, technical perfection, and ease of presentation with my own vacation photos of old (limited to the shots that ‘came’ out) which took time to process (days to weeks) by me or processed by others, sorted, stored, and located when needed. At the time prints arrived, some were delivered to those nearby; some mailed (an added week or two) to others.
The modern trend seems to be not only digital, but smartphone technology, with features too easy and too impressive to use, instead of a standalone instrument (film or digital). So camera collectors one and all, be aware of our beloved instruments of times past. They are destined to go the way of so many once popular products. CB (GRS) radios, anyone? Vacuum tubes? Film? Flashbulbs? Albums? This list can go on and on …
