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Bridging Tech and Creative Photography
Bridging Tech and Creative Photography
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Features

How Cameras Can Be More Like Phones

Chris Gampat
No Comments
04/11/2016
3 Mins read

Chris Gampat The Phoblographer Olympus  (1 of 4)ISO 2001-20 sec at f - 2.8

Cameras and smartphones (with really good cameras) are working in ways to try to be more like one another. Smartphones are starting to shoot RAW more often, they’ve got lens systems, etc. But what have cameras become? They’ve got WiFi to transfer images to phones, some have apps that can improve them but otherwise the traditional digital camera hasn’t really changed. But if you look at mobile photography and social sharing culture, you’ll notice that the whole thing is really about fun.

In some ways, cameras just haven’t gotten there yet.

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

So what am I talking about?

Well let’s look at the most obvious example here: Instagram. The platform is centered around the use of filters with a fairly simple but powerful editing interface that doesn’t force the user to leave the app or the phone. But with dedicated cameras, the logic is to edit on the computer. For many cases, this makes sense, but in many other cases it really doesn’t. Modern cameras deliver excellent quality JPEGs that when viewed on the small mobile phone screens will look incredible as they are.

But why haven’t cameras adopted the crazy cool filter looks in a way that makes it simpler to use? Olympus, with their Pen F, made the use of high contrast black and white easy and very addicting. Canon, Sony, Nikon and Fujifilm have had their own artistic filters for a while but with the exception of Fujifilm’s film profiles, they aren’t used very often. The reason: they’re difficult to use and require digging through the menus. Most recently though, I learned how to create black and white photos with my Sony a7 that look like Ilford film–and I’m smitten with them.

So why isn’t this easier for photographers who love the mobile web? Why does there need to be a step on another step on another step, etc. It’s kind of crazy!

Chris Gampat The Phoblographer Olympus OMD EM10 Mk II product photos (7 of 7)ISO 4001-40 sec at f - 3.5

Now you may say that you don’t want to do that–and that’s totally fine and dandy to say. But considering the fact that many camera sales are down overall, finding a way to reach out to this audience and cater to them makes sense.

Then there is the next super big thing: SnapChat. I can’t tell you how many of those stupid filters and overlays I find on my various feeds with friends and colleagues simply just having fun and laughing endlessly at how cool and enjoyable the short content they create can be. If this were possible with a dedicated camera, it would be super crazy cool!

Chris Gampat The Phoblographer Fujifilm X Pro 2 product images review (7 of 12)ISO 4001-30 sec at f - 2.8

But on top of this, a bigger problem is that all of these companies aren’t finding a way to work together. I use the word problem very specifically because they can all help to contribute to the progression of the medium. If Instagram said tomorrow that they wanted to work with Canon, Nikon or Sony to have automatic exporting of their filters in the according built in app, that would be huge!

As each day passes, photography as we know it will continue to change and be more about the mobile web. In all honesty, it has been for a while–most readers of this site and mobile users. And at the same time, camera companies will need to find a way to move forward.

camera canon fujifilm instagram nikon phone snapchat sony
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Written by

Chris Gampat

Chris Gampat is the Editor in Chief, Founder, and Publisher of the Phoblographer. He provides oversight to all of the daily tasks, including editorial, administrative, and advertising work. Chris's editorial work includes not only editing and scheduling articles but also writing them himself. He's the author of various product guides, educational pieces, product reviews, and interviews with photographers. He's fascinated by how photographers create, considering the fact that he's legally blind./ HIGHLIGHTS: Chris used to work in Men's lifestyle and tech. He's a veteran technology writer, editor, and reviewer with more than 15 years experience. He's also a Photographer that has had his share of bylines and viral projects like "Secret Order of the Slice." PAST BYLINES: Gear Patrol, PC Mag, Geek.com, Digital Photo Pro, Resource Magazine, Yahoo! News, Yahoo! Finance, IGN, PDN, and others. EXPERIENCE: Chris Gampat began working in tech and art journalism both in 2008. He started at PCMag, Magnum Photos, and Geek.com. He founded the Phoblographer in 2009 after working at places like PDN and Photography Bay. He left his day job as the Social Media Content Developer at B&H Photo in the early 2010s. Since then, he's evolved as a publisher using AI ethically, coming up with ethical ways to bring in affiliate income, and preaching the word of diversity in the photo industry. His background and work has spread to non-profits like American Photographic Arts where he's done work to get photographers various benefits. His skills are in SEO, app development, content planning, ethics management, photography, Wordpress, and other things. EDUCATION: Chris graduated Magna Cum Laude from Adelphi University with a degree in Communications in Journalism in 2009. Since then, he's learned and adapted to various things in the fields of social media, SEO, app development, e-commerce development, HTML, etc. FAVORITE SUBJECT TO PHOTOGRAPH: Chris enjoys creating conceptual work that makes people stare at his photos. But he doesn't get to do much of this because of the high demand of photography content. / BEST PHOTOGRAPHY TIP: Don't do it in post-production when you can do it in-camera.
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