Lobotomy Lab: Full Pockets
Lobotomy Lab: Offering piercing insights into photography
Ricoh released their new pocket sized GR IV, an amazing, kind of affordable camera with all sorts of exciting upgrades and new firm ware features I am told are great. It has 53GB of internal memory, less than most SD cards I have owned for a decade but still something. It has a touch screen my nose can use. It is the perfect street cam, but I don't really shoot a lot of street. BUT its also one of the most pocketable cameras out there, except my pockets always seem full with:
Keys
chapstick
pocket knife
nail clippers
phone
metal toothpick case
unlucky coin (to make sure I don't win the lottery)
There is just no room! If only someone had…Wait now that I think about it my phone has a decent camera with a fixed lens similar in field of view to the Ricoh’s 18mm lens. The interface is also very similar to the Ricoh’s touch screen. Now that I stop and think for a few seconds that thing all those ignorant amateurs say on the internet might be kind of true. My Phone can effectively do everything this $1,800 camera can do with far more internal memory, built in editing software and full internet access.
Well DAIDO MORIYAMA has one! You can’t argue with that, well at least that's what Ricoh ad copy keeps saying. Even though at first glance the photos in the ad look a lot more like iPhone photos taken by a 16-year-old and in no way honor his signature gritty street look with low shutter speed blur and lots of grain. OH! I see the added features include “Slow Shutter Speed Noise Reduction, High-ISO Noise Reduction” Hummm… that is kind of an odd even counter intuitive set of features for the street photographers camera.
It is now I am forced to ask a question; at what point is another item in your pocket an imposition rather than an upgrade? For me 7 is more than enough.
For a brief example here are a bunch of photos I shoot years ago on a iPhone 8 with high contrast black and white filter applied. Aside from a few blown out highlights I think these are a very interesting example of Street photography and not all too different from a lot of GR III photo I have seen over the last few years. True photography be it street or portrait or travel is far more about the subject and photographers vision than they are about the camera. A fact marketing departments work hard to make use forget.
I know cameras are cool and in some regards they do offer more features or have better specs than any phone on the market. I love cameras more than most, more than photography its self I sometimes fear. I own several cameras and will for many years to come. I will surely add a new digital camera to my collection in the not too distant future. So if I am asking this question I think it truly does deserve some examination and a thoughtful explanation before everyone starts forking over money for another camera with features we don't need and ‘upgrades’ no-one asked for.
Ask yourself or better yet a few friends; how many end users can truly tell the difference between an iPhone photo and a pocket cam photo? Especially when viewing an Instagram feed on said iPhone. I am not saying everyone need to lug an SLR around all day or that only film can be art. I am saying that if you need a camera on your person at every moment, maybe just use the one you already have. I am going to stick with what I already have and I am also keeping $1,800 in my bank account.