National Geographic Photographer Praises iPhone 5s Camera

[giantfan1224]

It's all the rage these days for Pro Photographers to 'slum it with the masses' and use iPhones. Generally I'm wary as a percentage of these stories are based around self promotion.

One thing it does prove it that people who want to get in to photography don't need DSLR's.

Or sometimes professionals don't want to have an SLR strapped around their neck--along with all the equipment to go with it--every time they're out and about. A decent camera on your phone that you carry with you anyway is a great way to still be able to capture a picture in an unexpected situation.

 

[cambox]

Anyone seen a 5C in the wild yet? Seriously has anyone? No bleating from the fanboys about how cool it is and how retro it looks.. just has anyone seen one in the street as we have a book running for the first one to be caught on camera.

 

[Technarchy]

Anyone seen a 5C in the wild yet? Seriously has anyone? No bleating from the fanboys about how cool it is and how retro it looks.. just has anyone seen one in the street as we have a book running for the first one to be caught on camera.

See two in the workplace daily since early last week. One green and the other is blue.

 

[jnpy!$4g3cwk]

It's excellent I agree.

Recently on a trip I decided to not even bring out my D800E for my quick excursions out. The iPhone 5s was more than adequate when the lighting conditions were sufficient.

I'm hoping the price on used D800E's will drop through the floor.

 

[moghulsapple]

Good Camera where's the stock?

Im not surprised Apple are a brand of quality. Can they hurry up and get them in stock so I can actually purchase one!

 

[wovel]

HAHA, Even more so, the phone hasn't even been out that long. Who shoots that many pictures in such a short amount of time?

Seriously? We can assume three things about you:

1. You don't own a 5s
2. You are not a professional photographer
3. You have not read the story at the top of this thread or the one it links to

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If you use Instagram, you're someone who shoots for fun, not professionally.

This is by no means a pro reviewer.

You know he is a very well known photographer that has been published in National Geographic for over 25 years. Where do people come up with this nonsense...

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It's all the rage these days for Pro Photographers to 'slum it with the masses' and use iPhones. Generally I'm wary as a percentage of these stories are based around self promotion.

One thing it does prove it that people who want to get in to photography don't need DSLR's.

He does a lot of photography tutorials on the National Geographic site and I am sure this is one way he hopes to show people what they can do with the camera they have. This is really not a guy who needs a lot of self promotion.

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Anyone seen a 5C in the wild yet? Seriously has anyone? No bleating from the fanboys about how cool it is and how retro it looks.. just has anyone seen one in the street as we have a book running for the first one to be caught on camera.

I saw two of them in the one meeting last week. I have seen dozens just walking through airports.

 

[elvislives]

What we see here is that Apple is genuinely worried about NOKIA LUMIA 1020!

I guess Apple "panicked when they saw how superior the camera on Nokia Lumia 1020 was. National Geographic used the Lumia 1020 and was amazed by the quality of the photos.

Now Apple try to divert from the attention Lumia 1020 and its superior camera
by suggesting users don't want to be able to set whitebalance and other stuff. I beg to differ!

Lumia is getting traction - fast!

That is a good thing for us consumers. Apple better "up their game". No, the iPhone 5s is nowhere close to the amazing quality of the Lumia 1020:s camera.

And that goes for all other smartphones to! If you are into photography (like I am) take a close look at the Nokia Lumia 1020.

"Lumia 1020 and its superior camera" Its not as clear as that...its great hardware limited by the SW...if you read the DP reviews they say the SW is very slow...good for landscape then but not for action shots!

 

[lazyrighteye]

My experience is that the people who know just enough about the technical aspects of photography, but have the artistic touch take WAY better pictures than people who know all the tech, but have no touch.

Absolutely.
Regarding creativity/art, I'll take intuition/feel over know how every... Single... Time...

Clearly, those bashing Richardson did not read his blog (which MR linked). They only read the MR headline... Maaaaaybe the full MR article. But if you click the link to his blog (I know, who has the time?), he's not remotely talking about replacing his DSLR with an iPhone 5s (and no commercial photographer, making their living behind a camera, is). Amongst other things, Richardson writes...
"Nothing visually profound is being produced here."
"I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t struggling to make pictures."
He goes on to talk about cameras having "a signature." And learning to take the kinds of pictures any given camera is good at taking is imperative to producing good photos [paraphrasing]. So, once he figured out the [I[kinds[/I] of pictures iPhone 5s was good at taking, he started seeing potential photos with that new eye and was able to capture "nice" photos.

He's not really saying anything anyone else isn't already saying about the iPhone 5s camera: the iPhone 5s a capable camera. His National Geographic photographer title just might add a bit more street cred, for some, than words from a random (and anonymous) forum poster. It's one thing to play critic behind the comfy confines of internet anonymity. It's a complete other ball of wax to represent a global brand with your birth name - says the guy posting under lazyrighteye on a Mac forum.

Cheers.

 

[diegogaja]

Strange...

I find it odd that peole think professional photographers don't use social media to promote themselves. Not everyone is on Instagram is just posting pics of food or selfies. Some use different media for different reasons.

I dabble in pro photography and i'm always asked why I don't have a Flickr account (I do have an online portfolio). but I also post a sampling on a facebook page and instagram, etc.

It makes for good marketing (and apparently a good 'brag book' for my mom and family members).

i would never disparage a professional for using social media for personal or even professional reasons...doing so is just stupid and ignorant.

I can't believe a professional said this:



I think I just threw up in my mouth a little bit.

 

[apolloa]

the best camera to have when taking pictures, is the one you have with you.

And it helps when that camera is very capable and good in automatic mode for those quick snaps. Something which has to be said is one of the iPhones trump cards.

 

[JackieInCo]

I guess you fail at simple math. If each picture is about 8mb x 4000 = 32000 or 32 gigs. 64 gig iPhone can easily handle...

I have 4,029 pictures on my 16GB 4S plus 1,244 songs. Plenty of room.

 

[Gasu E.]

How are any of us supposed to determine that was satire?

I agree, it's very hard to do unless you have a Special Edition Satire-Detection Device (sometimes referred to as a "sense of humor").

 

[doelcm82]

And yet here you are posting on MR, and he's getting press as a photographer for NG.

My experience is that the people who know just enough about the technical aspects of photography, but have the artistic touch take WAY better pictures than people who know all the tech, but have no touch.

There was a time when photographers had to make their own cameras and photographic plates, and develop the images themselves.

"Photographers" who use commercially-produced cameras and film are nothing more than posers. They're picture-takers.

The true art of photography died a long time ago. Maybe they take nice Photos, but they didn't do the real work.

 

[Gasu E.]

What's illogical is your assumption that photography is 99% who you know and 1% what you know.

And the fact that you believe that is astounding.

It's not astounding at all that he believes this. He's a real estate photographer, while the other guy is in National Geographic. Obviously, in his eyes, he's the better photographer, but the other guy has a better network.

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There was a time when photographers had to make their own cameras and photographic plates, and develop the images themselves.

"Photographers" who use commercially-produced cameras and film are nothing more than posers. They're picture-takers.

The true art of photography died a long time ago. Maybe they take nice Photos, but they didn't do the real work.

I agree with that. I used to think I was a great chef; but then I realized I was just a poser. So I raised my own vegetables and chickens. But then I realized I was still a poser. So now I gene-splice my own species of vegetables and animals.

 

[tongxinshe]

Sure he might know what it looked like - that doesn't mean he knows how - or cares - to make the photo match reality. I shoot real estate photography with a much better camera than the iPhone, so I've taken more than my fair share of outdoor landscapes, and I know what correct exposure and white balance looks like. This image has zero highlights and there are some areas in excessive shadow. It's just flat out underexposed. And I know what color skies, trees, mountains, and water look like in real life. Here is s rough estimate of what the white balance should have been (bear in mind I'm going off of an image heavily downsized to web resolution so I don't have nearly the editing flexibility as he had).

Image

Compare that to the original images;
Image

If you tell me the second one is more believable, either your lying or your monitor is badly miscalibrated.

I've been watching you guys debating and had no desire to side with anyone in any way, until I saw these two pictures. Now I fully believe the other guy's implication that you have almost ZERO sense of art.

 

[giantfan1224]

The true art of photography died a long time ago. Maybe they take nice Photos, but they didn't do the real work.

And all the great writers have died out too, those that had to press their own wood pulp to make paper and pluck a quill from a large bird and make their own ink from animal or plant stock, and then painstakingly hand write their words one calligraphy letter at a time. To think that someone using a computer word processor would dare call themselves a writer...

 

[doelcm82]

I used to think I was a great chef; but then I realized I was just a poser. So I raised my own vegetables and chickens. But then I realized I was still a poser. So now I gene-splice my own species of vegetables and animals.

And all the great writers have died out too, those that had to press their own wood pulp to make paper and pluck a quill from a large bird and make their own ink from animal or plant stock, and then painstakingly hand write their words one calligraphy letter at a time. To think that someone using a computer word processor would dare call themselves a writer...

And don't get me started on those posers that call themselves "doctors" these days.

 

[Keerock]

I guess you fail at simple math. If each picture is about 8mb x 4000 = 32000 or 32 gigs. 64 gig iPhone can easily handle...

He never said he left them all on his iPhone. perhaps he offloaded into iPhoto anyway... So both of you may be wrong ;-)

 

[imaginex20]

He never said he left them all on his iPhone. perhaps he offloaded into iPhoto anyway... So both of you may be wrong ;-)

Regardless if he had a laptop or not. The iPhone could still handle 4000 pictures....#

 

[HenryDJP]

Seriously? We can assume three things about you:

1. You don't own a 5s
2. You are not a professional photographer
3. You have not read the story at the top of this thread or the one it links to.

The arrogance in your post is completely unnecessary and what I wrote didn't warrant it. And me having a 5S or not has nothing to do with what I wrote.

 

[9000]

It didn't state anywhere that he took the iPhone 5S as his only camera did it? Am I missing something or is it implied?

No, it didn't. I didn't mean to imply that he did, just that he's using the 5S as well. There's no reason to use the 5S unless you need the camera to be small.

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Do you even know who this photographer is?

The last thing this guy needs is publicity.

No, I don't know who he is. That kinda goes with my point. Even famous people can always use more publicity.

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It's all the rage these days for Pro Photographers to 'slum it with the masses' and use iPhones. Generally I'm wary as a percentage of these stories are based around self promotion.

One thing it does prove it that people who want to get in to photography don't need DSLR's.

Yeah, this is what I think is going on. And it's true that it's not a total necessity to have a DSLR unless you're actually a professional. People always whine that the iPhone camera is not meant to do the job of a DSLR...

 

[diegogaja]

And...

And race car drivers aren't real drivers unless they can build a care from the ground up..
And chefs aren't real chefs unless they grow and harvest all their own food...
and tailors aren't really tailors unless they weave their own fabrics...

ignorance....

And all the great writers have died out too, those that had to press their own wood pulp to make paper and pluck a quill from a large bird and make their own ink from animal or plant stock, and then painstakingly hand write their words one calligraphy letter at a time. To think that someone using a computer word processor would dare call themselves a writer...

 

[Pyrrhic Victory]

I've been watching you guys debating and had no desire to side with anyone in any way, until I saw these two pictures. Now I fully believe the other guy's implication that you have almost ZERO sense of art.

Now I fully believe that you have almost ZERO sense of what constitutes sense of art.

 

[someone28624]

I guess you fail at simple math. If each picture is about 8mb x 4000 = 32000 or 32 gigs. 64 gig iPhone can easily handle...

Not to mention he was likely there for several days and could have easily uploaded to a computer or the cloud and deleted off the device along the way.

 

[MacinDoc]

Now I fully believe that you have almost ZERO sense of what constitutes sense of art.

It's clear that a sense of what constitutes art is subjective. There are those of us who prefer warm, natural colors, with subtle textures and variations, and others who prefer more pronounced highlights and a cooler color balance.

There's nothing wrong with that. If everyone liked exactly the same art, how could it be considered art?