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You don't need the best gear for (that kind of) Instagram, an iPhone that takes fantastic photos _and_ lets you edit and post in a frictionless manner is probab

You don't need the best gear for (that kind of) Instagram, an iPhone that takes fantastic photos _and_ lets you edit and post in a frictionless manner is probably a more productive platform. People don't _look at_ Instagram posts in the same way they might a fine art photograph. It's a double tap while scrolling through hundreds of posts. I say this as an avid amateur wildlife photographer who posts on Instagram and gets a handful of likes while friends get hundreds or thousands for an out-of-focus image of a milkshake and bagel.

TheOtherHobbes 7y ago
The word that fits here is "lifestyle." The iPhone is a lifestyle product. It does a lot of things, but it does some of them quite poorly. The new camera is better than it used to be, but it's still a long way of short of the quality you'd expect from a high-end professional photo studio camera. As a lifestyle product, the important factor is the narrative that buying it will put you within reach of that professional creative lifestyle. In a sense it will, if your definition is limited to lifestyle social sites like IG and FB. But in a more honest and realistic sense it won't, because it lacks the quality and the flexibility of real professional equipment. A good DSLR + glass will still kill it, and medium format - which is what the most successful full-time studio pros are likely to use - will absolutely destroy it. There are still situations where that high end is needed. Fashion, ads, and high-end portraiture and photojournalism all rely on it. I don't think studio photographers working in those fields are going to be moving to an iPhone any time soon.
- Swizec 7y ago
  Correct. My point was mostly that the definition of “pro photographer” is much wider these days than many people realize. For many values of “pro” an iPhone Pro is going to be absolutely fantastic and a better fit than higher-end pro.
- petepete 7y ago
  > In a sense it will, if your definition is limited to lifestyle social sites like IG and FB. That's precisely what I meant. It's what most people do most of the time. Taking a shot of my breakfast smoothie with my 150mp Phase One, editing on a calibrated workstation and exporting to have it resized to 2mp for display on mobile phones is beyond pointless.

TheOtherHobbes 7y ago

The word that fits here is "lifestyle." The iPhone is a lifestyle product. It does a lot of things, but it does some of them quite poorly. The new camera is better than it used to be, but it's still a long way of short of the quality you'd expect from a high-end professional photo studio camera. As a lifestyle product, the important factor is the narrative that buying it will put you within reach of that professional creative lifestyle. In a sense it will, if your definition is limited to lifestyle social sites like IG and FB. But in a more honest and realistic sense it won't, because it lacks the quality and the flexibility of real professional equipment. A good DSLR + glass will still kill it, and medium format - which is what the most successful full-time studio pros are likely to use - will absolutely destroy it. There are still situations where that high end is needed. Fashion, ads, and high-end portraiture and photojournalism all rely on it. I don't think studio photographers working in those fields are going to be moving to an iPhone any time soon.

Swizec 7y ago
Correct. My point was mostly that the definition of “pro photographer” is much wider these days than many people realize. For many values of “pro” an iPhone Pro is going to be absolutely fantastic and a better fit than higher-end pro.
petepete 7y ago
> In a sense it will, if your definition is limited to lifestyle social sites like IG and FB. That's precisely what I meant. It's what most people do most of the time. Taking a shot of my breakfast smoothie with my 150mp Phase One, editing on a calibrated workstation and exporting to have it resized to 2mp for display on mobile phones is beyond pointless.