Large file format - necessary ?

I wouldn't do a shoot on my phone, and at least one superstar model on here has said she wouldn't go through with a shoot if the photographer was using a smartphone.

But as everything converges into the catch all of "Content Creation" it's all going to become less and less relevant.

Unfocussed Mike said

FWIW I will say again that enlargement factor never quite goes away. Yesterday I was in the Photography Centre at the V&A, which everyone should visit at least once**. I stood staring at Mrs Cameron's portrait of Herschel. Even though it is a very soft image, there is something about the 1:1 factor (it's a contact print) that makes it incredibly vital. Next to it was an extraordinary carbon print of some flowers from the same era.

 

Anyone who wants to call him- or herself a "photographer" should at least once stand before a large-format exhibition print and bask in its splendour.

Even at 5" x 4" colour transparencies could be simply breathtaking. I haven't experienced that awe at image quality once since digital imagery displaced film.

I'd say a well-exposed full-frame DSLR image is about the minimum requirement for an exhibition print, depending on the genre of work of course.

OK so 99% of people couldn't give a stuff and are quite content to post web images at 900 pixels wide - good luck to them; but for me that's the shallow end of the pool.

Bullets said

Unfocussed Mike said

Bullets said

Personally  I cant use my own phone for Photos I find it frustrating. I would like to see Phones be able to connect to Studio Equipment!  it would be nice if your Phone also acted as a wireless trigger where you could do a Studio Photosoot with full lighting.

This kit kinda-sorta exists, but it's the app and phone hardware side of it that is the puzzle. There was a Godox slave flash that worked with iPhones and some Android phones and could trigger studio lights, but since phone cameras cannot reliably be synchronised at that level of granularity, they ditched it.

I remember seeing something similar for the Smart Phones the Godox A1?? perhaps where it connected with the phone and acted like a tiny flash but then I think you could only optically trigger your main lights.

EDIT: article on it

https://www.diyphotography.net/godox-has-killed-off-its-a1-bluetooth-smartphone-flash-trigger/

~B

Edited by Bullets

Edited by Bullets

Ahh yeah, A1. Optical triggering would be enough, though; the main issue with phones is that their LED flashes are unreliable triggers. But it looks like the A1 could do Godox flash triggering.

If that article is correct and some of the current flash triggers can work with bluetooth, that would be great. But you'd presumably need a specific camera app to do that for the phone's camera.

Edited by Unfocussed Mike

JME Studios said

I wouldn't do a shoot on my phone, and at least one superstar model on here has said she wouldn't go through with a shoot if the photographer was using a smartphone.

I totally would shoot with my phone if it fit what I had in mind, and I'd expect any serious model not to bat an eye if the shoot had been properly discussed and they could see if was serious-minded. Just like I'd do a shoot on Instax if that was what I wanted. One of the coolest shots I have ever seen on Purpleport was taken with a phone.

Art is art, right? This is a non-issue and has always been a non-issue. Phone cameras have, or at least had, a recognisable, quite indelible aesthetic.

Now, whether models want to do purpleport glamour or erotic nude shoots with random internet amateurs who turn up with only a phone is another matter. Paradoxically, the better phones get, the more this might be a problem.

Edited by Unfocussed Mike

I suppose making a switch that closes briefly when it receives a Bluetooth signal can't be hard, and mounting it on a jack plug ditto.

Been done yet?

The app/let also how hard can that be, but getting it hooked in to the camera and then into the official shops to download might be deliberately difficult?

MidgePhoto said

I suppose making a switch that closes briefly when it receives a Bluetooth signal can't be hard, and mounting it on a jack plug ditto.

Been done yet?

The app/let also how hard can that be, but getting it hooked in to the camera and then into the official shops to download might be deliberately difficult?

I think Godox had an app.

The problem as I have understood it in the past is the timing between the app telling the camera to take a photo and the camera actually opening the shutter is not a hard-real-time concern.

Historically this was slightly worse on Android than iOS, because Android had a more permissive multitasking scheduler, but it's always been an issue; once your app's shutter lag is into the tens of milliseconds, you can miss the exposure. This is (part of) why Godox only ever supported a few Android devices with the aforementioned A1.

The LED flashes on camera phones get round this by switching on before the shutter opens and staying bright for longer.

(I had an amazing little Sony phone, the second-generation XPeria Mini Pro, which had a full camera subsystem, dedicated shutter button and a proper flash -- not just the "backlight" flashed. But these have always been unusual)

Edited by Unfocussed Mike

ANDY00 said

 

Whose images are they?

Edited by MAndrew

Photowallah said

Unfocussed Mike said

FWIW I will say again that enlargement factor never quite goes away. Yesterday I was in the Photography Centre at the V&A, which everyone should visit at least once**. I stood staring at Mrs Cameron's portrait of Herschel. Even though it is a very soft image, there is something about the 1:1 factor (it's a contact print) that makes it incredibly vital. Next to it was an extraordinary carbon print of some flowers from the same era.

 

Anyone who wants to call him- or herself a "photographer" should at least once stand before a large-format exhibition print and bask in its splendour.

Even at 5" x 4" colour transparencies could be simply breathtaking. I haven't experienced that awe at image quality once since digital imagery displaced film.

I'd say a well-exposed full-frame DSLR image is about the minimum requirement for an exhibition print, depending on the genre of work of course.

OK so 99% of people couldn't give a stuff and are quite content to post web images at 900 pixels wide - good luck to them; but for me that's the shallow end of the pool.

Indeed.

This, incidentally, is the carbon print of the flowers I mentioned.

It was photographed in 1855 and printed in 1875, apparently (Carbon prints were probably the first commercially viable collectible prints).

https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O88645/wreath-apple-blossom-rhododendron-lilies-photograph-braun-adolphe/

It's just gobsmacking in real life.

Edited by Unfocussed Mike

MAndrew said

ANDY00 said

 

Whose images are they?

Edited by MAndrew

All found on Google and all used purely as random examples - way beyond what i could do with a phone. Right-clicking on each image and selecting 'Copy image address,' then pasting it into a new tab, will take you to the source of each image and all by different people,

Edited by ANDY00

Social media is only important to those who use social media, methinks? There's a lot of assumptions in the OP's post. 

Gothic Image said

Social media is only important to those who use social media, methinks? There's a lot of assumptions in the OP's post. 

No assumptions at all. My post discusses the trend in digital media and the marriage of mobile phones with existing and emerging platforms. It comes down to how people use and display their images.

On platforms like PurplePort—no large file sizes required. Instagram—no large file formats needed. Facebook, etc., all follow the same trend. Everything is moving toward mobile phone-sized image files for quick uploads and fast editing. This is clearly the direction technology is heading. With approximately 84 million active mobile phones in the UK, all with cameras, and 6.92 billion active mobile phones worldwide, it’s safe to say the bulk of investment and development will focus on that field but i guess one could say that last part is an assumption :-) 

Edited by ANDY00

ANDY00 said

Gothic Image said

Social media is only important to those who use social media, methinks? There's a lot of assumptions in the OP's post. 

No assumptions at all. My post discusses the trend in digital media and the marriage of mobile phones with existing and emerging platforms. It comes down to how people use and display their images.

On platforms like PurplePort—no large file sizes required. Instagram—no large file formats needed. Facebook, etc., all follow the same trend. Everything is moving toward mobile phone-sized image files for quick uploads and fast editing. This is clearly the direction technology is heading. With approximately 84 million active mobile phones in the UK, all with cameras, and 6.92 billion active mobile phones worldwide, it’s safe to say the bulk of investment and development will focus on that field but i guess one could say that last part is an assumption :-) 

Edited by ANDY00

Look  - more assumptions! 

Gothic Image said

ANDY00 said

Gothic Image said

Social media is only important to those who use social media, methinks? There's a lot of assumptions in the OP's post. 

No assumptions at all. My post discusses the trend in digital media and the marriage of mobile phones with existing and emerging platforms. It comes down to how people use and display their images.

On platforms like PurplePort—no large file sizes required. Instagram—no large file formats needed. Facebook, etc., all follow the same trend. Everything is moving toward mobile phone-sized image files for quick uploads and fast editing. This is clearly the direction technology is heading. With approximately 84 million active mobile phones in the UK, all with cameras, and 6.92 billion active mobile phones worldwide, it’s safe to say the bulk of investment and development will focus on that field but i guess one could say that last part is an assumption :-) 

Edited by ANDY00

Look  - more assumptions! 

Look, more trolling :-) It’s not really an assumption if the facts back up the trend. Did Canon, Sony, and Nikon together sell 6 billion cameras a year? No. How about 84 million? Still no. Together, Canon, Sony, and Nikon sold approximately 5.3 million SLR cameras worldwide per year ish. Meanwhile, there are 6.92 billion active mobile phones worldwide in people's pockets right now. So, which cameras are being used more? How is that an assumption?

I'm not saying this because I think it's better. If you'd read the post, you'd see that I still use a Canon 5D Mark III and probably will until I can't anymore. I'm not great with mobile phone cameras either. I'm just pointing out how the technology is clearly being developed with a focus on the integration of mobile phone tech with platforms and apps. That's all

Also, technically, PurplePort is a social media platform... just saying. It’s a social networking site focused on small format images, discussions, and connections—so, yep, it's a social media platform.

Ironically, the image sizes here are small format, just like Facebook, Instagram, etc. Imagine that, must be a trend ;-)

Edited by ANDY00

Unfocussed Mike yeah I take your point, which is valid.

I have shot on my phone when a camera went completely terminal. Luckily I'd worked with the model before. One of those shots is on my Port.

I'm out off doing it because of the perception. I know there are models reading this who would just refuse to do the shoot if I rocked up with a Smartphone.

JME Studios said

Unfocussed Mike yeah I take your point, which is valid.

I'm out off doing it because of the perception. I know there are models reading this who would just refuse to do the shoot if I rocked up with a Smartphone.

You've got me wondering if there are phone apps to do the sorts of things I want to do, now...