An interesting slant on things!

[ABERS]

How do you feel about this?

http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2015/mar/04/why-we-should-design-things-to-be-difficult-mastery?CMP=share_btn_fb

I think it hits the nail squarely on the head.

[jinky]

I think the only reason point and shoot numbers are declining against the more fiddly cameras is because so many people seem happy with the images coming out of a camera phone or Ipad! 
I agree that the more serious photographers are going for the more retro / fiddly cameras now with the holy trinity of light controls easily accessible but do wonder if it`s a snobbery thing at times. If I am going to be bombarded with pictures on facebook and the like I just wish they were better composed / lit and if an easy to use compact does this better than their phone then so much the better and use one!

[Reinardina]

I agree with Jinky. Everybody now seems to take snaps for social media, and hardly anyone seems to make  photographs for social media. The world seems to be drowning in selfies and such like. And I only get them 'second hand' through the newspapers, which seem to have  fallen for the celebrity snap.

And to snap and immediately show them on the Internet, a smartphone must be ideal.

But, indeed, photographers are interested in the old stuff again. A photographer friend is borrowing my Dad's old Zeiss Ikon, to get some real old fashioned black and white stuff.

[ABERS]

Strange coincidence. Yesterday evening saw the results of the club's annual PDI competition, which for the first time included a section for images taken on camera phones.

It would appear that camera phones are primarily used for candid portraiture, mainly on the tube, since Richmond is at the end of the District line. Overall the quality of the images was quite good but no land, city, urban landscapes. There was a couple of architectural detail record shots and one image that had been treated with an app(?) to give it a kaleidoscope effect.

So if you are one of those that are a little hesitant about taking candids it would seem that a camera phone is just for you, especially if you can't be too bothered about composition or lighting. Get a long seat in carriage and with your phone in your lap surreptitiously snap away at people asleep, reading papers, eating and drinking or just going to work. And if you are really carefull it can turn into a selfie with your own reflection in the window opposite. 

[Reinardina]

You see indeed, quite a lot of "camera (phone) candids" these days.
But, thanks to the camera phone, some museums have lifted the ban on photography, so even 'proper' photographers benefit.

[donoreo]

Strange coincidence. Yesterday evening saw the results of the club's annual PDI competition, which for the first time included a section for images taken on camera phones.

PDI?  I do not think camera phones should be in a separate category.  Is there separate categories for DSLRs, Bridge and Point and Shoots too?  The camera is the tool, what is done with it is up to the photographer regardless of what tool they use. 

[ABERS]

Strange coincidence. Yesterday evening saw the results of the club's annual PDI competition, which for the first time included a section for images taken on camera phones.

PDI?  I do not think camera phones should be in a separate category.  Is there separate categories for DSLRs, Bridge and Point and Shoots too?  The camera is the tool, what is done with it is up to the photographer regardless of what tool they use.

PDI = Projected Digital Image, you know like the old slide competition which passed away several decades ago!.

Yes there is a separate category for DSLRs, Bridge and Point and Shoots,which are all lumped together for the purpose, it's called photography. The club decided to lump them all together since the equipment comprised tools specifically designed for taking photographs, whereas phones were designed primarily for communication, playing games and allowing users to annoy anyone within earshot. The fact that they can also take pictures was a facility that should be recognised thus the section was introduced and taken up mainly by those familiar with Facebook photography. We're not if anything a forward looking club, and I think a few committee members have the latest all singing all dancing phones with all the bells and whistles.

It was introduced to replace a trophy that  received little or no support over the past 3-4 years, that being taking pictures to a set theme or brief.

P.S. It is permissible to enter a camera phone image in any of the other groups if you so wish, print or PDI, but not vice versa.