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Really interesting observation, but I would say there are still moments that can delight like we restored an old iPhone of my partner's and came across videos a

by benoau 2y ago

Really interesting observation, but I would say there are still moments that can delight like we restored an old iPhone of my partner's and came across videos and live photos of our oldest when they were a toddler. Whether this is actually worth the many, many thousands we have spent on our smartphones to preserve rare moments that matter amongst many that really don't is another question. If smartphones never had cameras at all we'd almost certainly preference our own "lower resolution" memories over carrying a small, cheap, lightweight digital camera everywhere in case of something special.

ip26 2y ago
It’s not even about terribly special moments. Stitched together, those videos and Live Photos of even small moments help me remember what they were like then.
hug 2y ago
This comment seems completely at odds with history and how people actually acted prior to the smartphone revolution. Film camera sales proceeded on a steady incline from their invention until the introduction of the digital camera. Digital camera sales increased year on year for every year of their existence prior to the introduction of the smartphone. Approximately everybody wants to have photos of their precious memories, and the idea that people wouldn't have kept buying digital cameras if smartphones didn't incorporate them is, to be frank, a little bit silly. The primary difference between digital cameras and smartphones was that every family I knew had a digital camera, where every person I know has a smartphone. And every single person I know uses the camera on their smartphone very regularly.
- benoau 2y ago
  > Approximately everybody wants to have photos of their precious memories I guess the idea is all your memories are precious. What the parent poster said certainly resonated with me: most of them are not. Writing is also a big part of history, which also gave us the ability to preserve our most special events since over 6,000+ years ago. This is the first century that isn't permeated with unknowns because few made any deliberate attempt to record things - and we had the option to paint on a cave wall for 10,000s of years before that too.
  - hug 2y ago
    That's not my point at all. My point is rather more mundane than that: People like cameras and taking photos. That's why they kept buying them as standalone devices until smartphones were good enough to replace having a standalone camera. If the king of the universe suddenly decreed cameras on phones verboten, people would go back to buying standalone cameras, not back to floral written descriptions, commissioning a portrait on canvas, or cave paintings.
- swiftcoder 2y ago
  > The primary difference between digital cameras and smartphones was that every family I knew had a digital camera, where every person I know has a smartphone The real difference is the rise of social media. Digital camera photos were taken for you, for your family and close friends. In the post-facebook world we live in now, smartphone photos are taken for other people - a curated snapshot of your life to show off to acquaintences and strangers. Something of the intimacy of photography has been lost.
lobochrome 2y ago
Yeah agreed kids are the difference. Everything else is either dabbling in being an artist - which most people are not - or noise.
Shawnj2 2y ago
Honestly I just have an RX100, physics means that it will always be able to take optically better photos than an iPhone even though the post processing is definitely “worse”. It fits in my pocket just as easily as a phone and I can take both normal photos and selfies pretty easily. It’s not the cheapest option but I appreciate having better image quality in a form factor I can easily shove in my pocket.
- vladvasiliu 2y ago
  > It fits in my pocket just as easily as a phone What kind of pants do you wear? Or are you in one of those locales where you have a coat on year-round? Asking because my iphone barely fits in my jeans pockets. I'm a dude, so I still have somewhat usable pockets.

by benoau 2y ago

ip26 2y ago

It’s not even about terribly special moments. Stitched together, those videos and Live Photos of even small moments help me remember what they were like then.

hug 2y ago

This comment seems completely at odds with history and how people actually acted prior to the smartphone revolution. Film camera sales proceeded on a steady incline from their invention until the introduction of the digital camera. Digital camera sales increased year on year for every year of their existence prior to the introduction of the smartphone. Approximately everybody wants to have photos of their precious memories, and the idea that people wouldn't have kept buying digital cameras if smartphones didn't incorporate them is, to be frank, a little bit silly. The primary difference between digital cameras and smartphones was that every family I knew had a digital camera, where every person I know has a smartphone. And every single person I know uses the camera on their smartphone very regularly.

benoau 2y ago
> Approximately everybody wants to have photos of their precious memories I guess the idea is all your memories are precious. What the parent poster said certainly resonated with me: most of them are not. Writing is also a big part of history, which also gave us the ability to preserve our most special events since over 6,000+ years ago. This is the first century that isn't permeated with unknowns because few made any deliberate attempt to record things - and we had the option to paint on a cave wall for 10,000s of years before that too.
- hug 2y ago
  That's not my point at all. My point is rather more mundane than that: People like cameras and taking photos. That's why they kept buying them as standalone devices until smartphones were good enough to replace having a standalone camera. If the king of the universe suddenly decreed cameras on phones verboten, people would go back to buying standalone cameras, not back to floral written descriptions, commissioning a portrait on canvas, or cave paintings.
swiftcoder 2y ago
> The primary difference between digital cameras and smartphones was that every family I knew had a digital camera, where every person I know has a smartphone The real difference is the rise of social media. Digital camera photos were taken for you, for your family and close friends. In the post-facebook world we live in now, smartphone photos are taken for other people - a curated snapshot of your life to show off to acquaintences and strangers. Something of the intimacy of photography has been lost.

lobochrome 2y ago

Yeah agreed kids are the difference. Everything else is either dabbling in being an artist - which most people are not - or noise.

Shawnj2 2y ago

Honestly I just have an RX100, physics means that it will always be able to take optically better photos than an iPhone even though the post processing is definitely “worse”. It fits in my pocket just as easily as a phone and I can take both normal photos and selfies pretty easily. It’s not the cheapest option but I appreciate having better image quality in a form factor I can easily shove in my pocket.

vladvasiliu 2y ago
> It fits in my pocket just as easily as a phone What kind of pants do you wear? Or are you in one of those locales where you have a coat on year-round? Asking because my iphone barely fits in my jeans pockets. I'm a dude, so I still have somewhat usable pockets.