Other Should we tone down the camera comparisons a bit?

[jntdroid]

I'm as guilty as the next person at getting caught up in analyzing these cameras to death, so I'm definitely the pot calling the kettle black here. But I had two scenarios over the weekend that helped bring me back into a more balanced perspective.

I had my 16e with me over the weekend. I've also had a 17P, 17, and Air over the past few weeks (again, pot/kettle), so my wife had no idea I only had the 16e with me this time around.

First, I sent some photos (taken with both with the rear and selfie camera, in mid lighting) of my family to other family and a couple of friends. You know what they said?

"I can't even tell what's going on. Are y'all even in those photos?" And, "Hey, I can kind of make out your face, but your ear is a little out of focus. What phone could you possibly be using that would do that?"

Obviously sarcasm, but actually it was, "Y'all look great!", "Glad to see y'all looking good!", "Your kids have gotten so big!"...

You know why? Because even the 16e did a good job of capturing the moment and the point of the photo.

Second, a group photo in poor lighting - wife offered up my phone b/c she thought I had one of the new ones with me. Nobody else knew the difference. The photo was - by this forum's standards anyway - just ok. Definitely not great, but not bad either. But everybody thought it was taken on one of the new ones, and saw it and said things like, "oh yeah I can see the difference, that's really nice."

You know why? Because again, it captured the moment and did a good job of that. Nobody cared if some small details were a little out of focus, all they cared about was that they could see every smiling face and get an idea of the environment in that moment.

So instead of all of the heated rhetoric around, "You're paying more for a lesser camera" and "you're paying for camera features you don't need", why can't it just be "you're paying for what you want, that's awesome, I hope you enjoy it as much as I'm enjoying what I paid for." It's a little absurd to actually argue over this stuff to the point of conflict... 🤷‍♂️

 

[danpass]

I stayed with the Air over the 17 Pro and kept my 16 Pro as a "camera" because it has ultra wide angle.

Did I miss the ultra enough to reach in my other pocket and grab the 16P this past weekend?

Yes, sometimes, but it wasn't earth shattering to stick with the Air. I knew it wouldn't be. I also knew there would be times I would run out of foot zoom distance. (ie, have to cross the street and THEN take the architecture shot lol)

The post processing on the Air photos is phenomenal. We need those programmers to work on iOS lol.

-

 

[JPack]

Most of the comparisons debated don't seem to be about minor details. It's about the inability to take a shot without ultrawide. If you're indoors, you probably can't stand back further because there's wall or furniture behind you. Same thing with outdoor landscape or cityscapes. Most people can't walk 500 ft. back to take the shot.

 

[jntdroid]

Most of the comparisons debated don't seem to be about minor details. It's about the inability to take a shot without ultrawide. If you're indoors, you probably can't stand back further because there's wall or furniture behind you. Same thing with outdoor landscape or cityscapes. Most people can't walk 500 ft. back to take the shot.

Yeah maybe so, I feel like I've seen a little of everything being debated. But regardless, the conflict that's come up in some of these threads is silly, especially over something that's inconsequential to 99.9% of the population (and no, I'm not new to the internet!).

 

[eyoungren]

Most of the pictures I take are either product shots (stuff on store shelves) that I send to my wife so she can tell me what item to get, or for things I post here.

I have yet to have my wife complain that the box of Hostess donuts pic that I sent her has bad lighting. And I have yet to have anyone here critique the quality of my pics either. The subject matter may be a different story though, lots of critiquing on that over the years.

Ultimately, the quality of the camera is pretty low on my reasons to get a new iPhone.

 

[lkalliance]

Yeah maybe so, I feel like I've seen a little of everything being debated. But regardless, the conflict that's come up in some of these threads is silly, especially over something that's inconsequential to 99.9% of the population (and no, I'm not new to the internet!).

I suppose the people having these debates feel they are part of the .1%. Or aspire to be.

 

[lkalliance]

Most of the pictures I take are either product shots (stuff on store shelves) that I send to my wife so she can tell me what item to get, or for things I post here.

I have yet to have my wife complain that the box of Hostess donuts pic that I sent her has bad lighting. And I have yet to have anyone here critique the quality of my pics either. The subject matter may be a different story though, lots of critiquing on that over the years.

Ultimately, the quality of the camera is pretty low on my reasons to get a new iPhone.

Yesterday I was lying down and looked over and there was my dog zonked out in the sun. I picked up my new 17 pro and shot the attached photos.

No phone I’ve ever had could have gotten this quality (just upgraded from 13 mini, this is my first pro) without my getting up and moving closer and probably waking her up and losing the shot. It gave me some pleasure. It was nice to share them with my wife without wishing they were better shots.

Even if they disappear from my mind within a day, it was something pleasant that happened and that’s nice. This kind of thing happens to me often enough that having this great camera for me is a huge positive even if I never do anything “professional” with it.

 

[eyoungren]

Yesterday I was lying down and looked over and there was my dog zonked out in the sun. I picked up my new 17 pro and shot the attached photos.

No phone I’ve ever had could have gotten this quality (just upgraded from 13 mini, this is my first pro) without my getting up and moving closer and probably waking her up and losing the shot. It gave me some pleasure. It was nice to share them with my wife without wishing they were better shots.

Even if they disappear from my mind within a day, it was something pleasant that happened and that’s nice. This kind of thing happens to me often enough that having this great camera for me is a huge positive even if I never do anything “professional” with it.

We have a number of shots like that, but our last cat died I think over two years ago. We don't have any more pets after him and I don't expect anymore. 20 years of being the only person in the house bending over the litterbox every other day and I'm done with all of that.

Of course we have all the important family shots (first day of school, graduation, etc), but in large part we don't have a lifestyle where we are taking many pictures.

Cameras and taking pictures aren't a big deal to us.

 

[lkalliance]

We have a number of shots like that, but our last cat died I think over two years ago. We don't have any more pets after him and I don't expect anymore. 20 years of being the only person in the house bending over the litterbox every other day and I'm done with all of that.

Of course we have all the important family shots (first day of school, graduation, etc), but in large part we don't have a lifestyle where we are taking many pictures.

Cameras and taking pictures aren't a big deal to us.

Do you have some other form of creative outlet? This conversation makes me wonder how many of us have something in their homes, some piece of equipment that they use to do something personally fulfilling that you wouldn’t find in just any random home.

I would be pleased to know that it’s common.

 

[eyoungren]

Do you have some other form of creative outlet? This conversation makes me wonder how many of us have something in their homes, some piece of equipment that they use to do something personally fulfilling that you wouldn’t find in just any random home.

I would be pleased to know that it’s common.

I would simply direct you to click on the link in my signature that says '10 Displays'.

Computers have primarily been my life since 1980 when I was 10. A modem came into the house in 1985 and I have never disconnected since.

In 1983, Advanced Dungeons & Dragons came along…I've never abandoned my intense interest in traditional RPGs. In 1988, along came David Eddings and his series of novels and in 1990 Robert Jordan and his books.

I'm a graphic designer, so creative outlets for me tend to revolve around how I can use computers, InDesign/QuarkXPress, Photoshop and Illustrator to create content for gaming (RPGs) and my own interests.

If you look at the link I mentioned above you'll see that my wallpaper spans six of my monitors. That was a 3-5 year process finding artwork and getting it just so - just for one Mac. Today, I'm still tweaking it from time to time. Everything in my wallpaper represents something, but just to me. It's all one very large Photoshop file with lots of layers.

I have other Macs and PCs. The wallpaper on those computers (and on my devices (phones/tablets/etc) are all designed by me based on their purpose.

Those and things related to them are my outlets.

 

[Love-hate 🍏 relationship]

If you cannot sustain the idea that a device you bought might not be good (which is pretty subjective, but i'm assuming we're comparing products of a similar price range), you can't ask people to refrain from expressing their sentiments. you might not care about the details but many people do .

fine details, textures, color rendering, might be inconsequential to you if your only intent is to capture the moment, but that's not the sole focus of everyone here

 

[fatTribble]

I used to take photographs on my Kodak 110 Pocket Camera and my Kodak Handle.
That’s when you had to buy film.

My iPhone beats both of those so I’m happy.

If I’ve learned anything from the forum it’s that I’m not nearly as OCD, uptight and obsessive about things as I thought.