“It’s seldom discussed, except amongst digital photography buffs, but the various smartphones, led by the iPhone, have largely killed the market for small-sensor, pocketable cameras,” John C. Dvorak writes for PC Magazine. “But that’s just the beginning.”
“Small cameras were doomed once Apple took photography seriously and managed to get professionals to champion the iPhone… even I have to admit that they’ve produced many stunning images,” Dvorak writes. “While it is unlikely that a smartphone camera will knock out the large sensor mirrorless and mirrored DSLR anytime soon, there is probably no reason to have any sort of small camera at all if you have an iPhone… This seriously disrupts the digital camera business in much the same way the digital camera revolution wiped out the film business.”
“Besides wiping out a market for small cameras and impinging on professional cameras, the societal impact of the camera phone is also remarkable,” Dvorak writes. “I wrote a column long ago discussing how small cameras have created Little Brother as opposed to Big Brother. This is playing out all the time now with the emergence of videos showing police gunning down innocent victims. Some municipalities have tried to ban these public uses of smartphone cams, but there is no stopping it.”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: Beyond the politics in Dvorak’s article – some may say “define ‘innocent'” – the iPhone camera did indeed wipe out the small format digital camera market. After capturing some image with our new iPhone 7 Plus cameras, it’s amazing to think that the first iPhone had only a 2 MP f/2.8 camera rear-facing onboard!
As for the politics: The police obviously need better training. Driving While Black™ is indeed a thing and it’s a contemptible and revealing thing indeed. Regardless of the color of your skin, when confronted by a police officer: Stop moving! Don’t decide to reach for anything from anywhere. Don’t move unless told to do so. Follow the instructions you’re given. If your rights are violated at any time, there’ll be plenty of time to deal with that later since you’ll likely still be alive.
SEE ALSO:
Professional photographer Benjamin Lowy puts Apple’s iPhone 7 Plus cutting-edge camera to the test – September 20, 2016