Let's not forget that the vast majority of smartphone "photographers" don't actually aspire to the title. They're just in it to take snaps of their lives that they can post for their friends (who may be no more discerning than they are) and to save as memories.
The other thing to bear in mind is that it is completely possible to make serious art with amateur tools. You could probably make an argument that says it requires more creativity and artistic vision than using professional tools.
IMHO it's best to judge the result, not how it was obtained.
For myself, struggling with creativity and vision, I stick with equipment much better than what the average person has and tell myself that it makes a difference. 😉
Yeah, if you're satisfied with the prime focal length equivalents, you can treat 'em that way. (I've got a range of primes from 24mm-200mm and a 500mm mirror lens, so I admit I'm not exactly normal there. ^^;;)
Yeah, my iPhone 13 mini will get some DoF when you get right up to the subject, but that's not what I was talking about. When I said 'control', I meant 'able to control DoF by adjusting aperture.' The default camera app on iOS doesn't do it, and from what I've heard Android's camera app doesn't either; not sure about third-party apps like Halide.
I have an iphone SE2. I use the camera in it only to take informational photos when I have no "real camera" with me. With the phone I often end up with additional shots of my feet or videos that I dont want, and I find it easier to take photos with my Canon R6 or Sony RX100 when I have them on me. For these reasons, despite its technological competence, I consider the iphone camera to be vastly inferior to the other two.
The aperture in iPhone cameras is fixed. The only control you have over DOF is managing the camera-subject-background distances and to the computational blur applied if you’re using Portrait Mode.
This doesn’t make the camera any less real. It’s just a limitation. All cameras have them. Understanding where they are, and working through them — or stepping back and taking another tack — are part of the process. Sometimes that course steers you away from a specific photo and towards another. I’m okay with that because I have to be while practicing my usual one camera/fixed prime reportage photography.
One can use a Z9 to take a snapshot. Or a phone (or pinhole) to make a considered photograph. If you want professional results from your camera then you must approach the process with a professional attitude. The tool is a factor, and certain tools are required for certain photographs. But it doesn’t inherently define real photography or label the user.
There was an earlier mention that phones aren’t generally good for BIF. That’s true, if our definition of BIF is limited to a detailed closeup of the subject. I’m okay with that limitation in a working definition. My M6/35 Summicron wouldn’t make those shots either. (I used an SLR and long lens for wildlife closeups and certain action/sports events.) Was the Leica generally unsuitable for photography? Was it somehow not a real camera because of specific limitations?
Lack of aperture doesn’t prevent me from using the phone for creative work. It imposes constraint and a different set of challenges, while offering unique tools compared to my dedicated cameras. I’m fortunate to be able to choose from a selection of great tools, but the person making deliberate images using only their phone is no less a photographer.
Most smartphone cameras only have a fixed aperture, so it doesn’t matter what app you use. Samsung experimented with a camera that had 2 aperture positions a few years back but I think that was a one-off.
Of course there are software emulations in the portrait modes many phones have, but that’s the limit of DOF control available.
Well have I got news for you - you're not really concerned about what some 15yo girl calls herslef on IG, you're actually worried about getting old and feeling irrelevant. Sorry, but that's that hard-truth.
Now before you get to wound up, I'm willing to confess the thought has concerned me from time to time as well.
Oh and the rest of you with all your hand-wringing over having someone call your phone a toy - just stop. You aren't making the place any better. You're just pushing your own form of censorship.
Yes, lets refocus the thread back to your posting philosophy, which is much more interesting. I will 100% support your desire to say anything you want, regardless of how polite or inelegant it may be, and I will also support any response you might get from it, with the same caveats. And frat boys don't get to take photos in strip clubs. Nobody does.
Basically, yes, most likely, something like that. You invest your time learning all these variables, taking pride in what you at least try to do, then some $2 everyman comes along with a toy and at least it appears anyway they can do the same? It absolutely cheapens the art form if any $2 nobody can do it with an everyday device. It's insulting, a slap in the face.
I can't personally see it quite like that. While a smartphone can do some magic to produce an usually sane exposure and handle most of the post processing, it's not foolproof. And the user still needs to take care of matters like composition, being in the right place at the right time, having good light etc. After all, giving a random person a high-end dedicated camera with pre-set good settings for the situation doesn't guarantee much either.
I still have my Versalog and the HP. There’s another rotary slide rule, and a Bowditch in my sextant case, just in case (the electronics fail.) To the best of my knowledge, that was the last slide rule sold at MIT. I got it from the museum store. The remaining stock had been transferred from the bookstore.
For everyday use, all have been replaced by the iPhone, P Calc, and Soulver.
If that's the kind of attitude you adopt then I'm afraid that you're going to end up bitter and disappointed. All this improved technology has expanded your potential too, why not direct your energies toward taking advantage of it and enjoying all the possibilities?
It's the same world out there for all of us. The choice to resent it or be grateful is ours. I for one don't want to spend my precious time dwelling on the negative.
I suppose you have a point, I should "keep on keeping on" posting shots taken with my Nikon Z50 or Sony RX100 III and make a point to remind people that they were NOT smartphones used and that any Photoshop or Lightroom was only very minor "retouches," that is, don't let the pollution of the junk (as I see it) dissuade me from doing it the better way.
