Photographers worldwide, listen up! Who needs a gigantic camera body, with a massive lens attached to it to record an event?
A couple weeks ago, I purchased a compact point- and-shoot camera. I was frightened by the possibility that I wouldn’t have the controls that are present on my professional cameras and almost didn’t make the purchase.
I bought a Canon G15, which is a 12.1 megapixel camera, that has all the same functions as my professional cameras and then some.
My reasons for buying this body were twofold. First of all, there are some events in this job that require a heightened level of professionalism and carrying two large bulky cameras is a little bit over the top. Case in point, the recent funeral of longtime Airdrie resident Ed Eggerer.
The second reason for buying it was the simple fact that carrying around a bulky camera in some of life’s more relaxed moments is very inconvenient.
I will never travel without my professional equipment, typically packing my bags with at least one pro-camera with two lenses and a flash, but after flying to Vancouver and taking a ferry to Victoria for Easter, I have realized it is nice to have a point-and-shoot.
During this trip, which was only a weekend trip to the island, I used my professional body once, which was on the boat, as compared to carrying the G15 everywhere I went during the weekend.
I have been a proponent of taking photos of everything you do, as while we think we will remember everything, our brains are just really soft hard drives that fail on a regular basis. (Just ask my editor about how many brain “farts” I have had in my years at Rocky View Publishing).
I was covering a gymnastics event recently in Airdrie, and while shooting from the elevated bleachers most parents sit, I realized that the world does in fact value the photograph. But the means of capturing that photograph makes me cringe sometimes.
If I remember correctly (because I didn’t take a photo of the crowd) there were no more than two parents shooting with professional cameras. I don’t expect every parent or family member to own these outrageously expensive devices, just ask my bank account…
The thing that made me crazy was the amount of iPhones and iPads being used to take the photos.
Don’t get me wrong, in certain situations, very rare situations, those devices can take fantastic photos. When your child is flying through the air, flipping and spinning on a trampoline, how good are the images turning out?
I am doing my best to avoid sounding like a photo-snob, but I envision that child getting home after his or her first gymnastics competition, still glowing from taking that final spot on the podium and itching to see the photos mom and dad took.
The family arrives at home and sits down at the kitchen table, opens the iPad and finds 65 blurry photos of their child, or who they think is their child on what can only be classified as a water-colour painted by a giraffe on LSD.
The point I am trying to make is that unless it’s a landscape, your iPad does not make a suitable camera for photographing your life.
My iPad is used for reading, scrolling aimlessly through internet sites or going on a mad shopping spree on amazon (I wish). My iPhone is used for texting, calling, and emailing my friends, family and colleagues. I am definitely an owner of the Angry Birds games, as well as a silly app that tells you how healthy your bowel movements are.
Lets look at the evolution of the camera, at least its implementation in the telephone.
The mobile telephone became somewhat mass produced in 1983, and caught on during the mid-90s.
It went from simply making phone calls, to sending and receiving text messages, then on to accessing the internet.
During the same time that phones were getting on the ‘net, someone came up with the great idea to put cameras into them. Great idea for certain things, sending very small and very pixilated images to friends of your latest McDonald’s purchase, but for those important moments, get a camera.
Anyone reading this column must think I am incredibly snobby. “Oh, he has big cameras, and thinks his …photos …. don’t stink.”
The point I want to make is put the iPads and iPhone and Androids or what have you down, and head out and invest in a little, good-quality, point-and-shoot camera. Capturing those special moments, and more than the steak sandwich at your local pub is important. I would suggest the Canon G15 … but that’s just me.
(This was an unpaid advertising column by Covy Moore for Canon Cameras)
