The Camera Phone Democratizes Photography

I’ve been thinking lately that photography is going through a phase of transformational change, and that change is being driven by smartphone popularity, consumer demand, and new technology. I ran across this article a couple of weeks ago about how smartphones are the Future of Photography: If Mirrorless Is the Future of the Camera, then the Smartphone Is the Future of Photography. 

The article makes some interesting points about how camera sales have not declined in recent years when you consider the number of phone sales. Their analogy of phones now to the Kodak Brownie cameras in the early Twentieth Century is illustrative. Phones are democratizing photography now much like the Kodak Brownie did in the 1920's and 1930's.

In the article they also make some interesting points about the popularity of phones as a photography tool. About the scale of change brought on by the massive sales of smartphones over the last several years they say that: “It's perhaps self-evident that the smartphone has all but killed the camera industry, but the scale and enormity of putting a camera in the hands of 7.5 billion people or about 96% of the global population is truly astonishing.” 

Younger people routinely use their phones as cameras. For them the phone in their pocket is their camera. They don’t have a metal and plastic cube with a lens attached to the front of it stuffed away in a drawer somewhere. It’s just their phone, that’s it. I think the difference goes further though, because younger people use cameras differently and to a different end. The massive popularity of Social Media and the way young, and sometimes not so young, people consume it has redefined what popular photography is. I should say here that a lot of commercial photography work is also targeting social media these days, so that form of photography is also changing.

Photography, and for that matter, many other aspects of communication in the age of social media needs to be more immediate. The pictures you took last week are from the distant past. You need to post to social media the picture you captured 10 minutes ago. Immediacy is important.  In addition, video is a great tool for telling stories, and It fits nicely into the social ecosystem.

According to a recent article on PetaPixel: “Nikon will expand its strategy to try and appeal to “young customers” through entry-level camera models that have lower prices and video-centric features. Additionally, the company says that it plans to provide software that supports the creation of video.” So even old school camera companies like Nikon are changing their business model to gain new relevance in the age of social media as a primary outlet for visual artists. Sounds like they are coming out with a  video-focused vlogging camera in 2022.

More recently OM Digital Solutions, the camera maker formally known as Olympus, “has also teased an upcoming interchangeable lens Micro Four Thirds camera that it claims will leverage ‘the use of computational photographic technology.’” So, OM Systems, a maker of more or less traditional cameras, is working to integrate computational photography technology into its newest products. It seems fair to say they are adapting to new demands in the market for photographic equipment. 

The New DJI Action 2 Looks to be Amazing 

Earlier this week technology company DJI introduced a new action camera. The new DJI Action 2 looks to be absolutely amazing. The new cameras, like this one and others, that have modern hardware and computational photography features can do amazing things. I feel like imaging is at a point of transformation right now. Phones and cameras like this one, for example, capture great still images and video and they both integrate easily with social media workflows. 

Lets face it, most of us are shooting for social media anyway, so what good is a camera that doesn't fit into the social ecosystem? If you are not doing commercial photography work that requires big heavy expensive cameras, then why bother with them? These bulky old school cameras are becoming less relevant in the age of pervasive social media presence. They don't satisfy the most common imaging needs of today. This is what I mean by a point of transformation. Times change and needs change. Use the right tool for the job. Buy a good quality phone and use it for your photos and videos. If you need to up your video game a little bit, cameras like the DJI Osmo series camera’s or the new and capable Sony vlogging cameras and phones could be your best bet. 

DJI Seems to be Completely Disrupting the Non-smartphone Consumer Camera Market.

This recent post from the Yanko Design website about the new DJI Action 2 camera makes some interesting points. "Drone and gimbal makers extraordinaire, DJI seems to be completely disrupting the non-smartphone consumer camera market. The OM, Osmo, and Pocket give you a set of really powerful stabilized on-ground recording capabilities..." Traditional camera makers have been losing point and shoot camera sales to phone makers for years. Now technology companies like DJI are cutting into the non-smartphone consumer camera market. Changing consumer needs make this market ripe for innovation. 

So photography and photography gear are changing to better suit the social lifestyle and also to leverage new technologies to simplify producing great still images and videos. For consumers it’s a great time to be a photographer. For camera makers it’s a bit of a challenge now because they need to adapt and create new products better suited to the demands of the camera market of today. I absolutely wish them the best of luck, and I can’t wait to see what new products come to market in the next year or two.