Camera Phone or DSLR?: How much time do you have?

Veteran Professional photographers Greg Schneider and Tom Mills come every year to the conference to soak up more material.  Of course as you can see from my photo we are friends and enjoy catching up each year. Greg has been a past speaker at the conference.

I was just reviewing my photos from the Southwestern Photojournalism Conference.  I take these photos every year more for just me.  I am not trying to tell a story from my photos, I am just enjoying having some memory joggers. I might share these on social media where my friends tag each other to help us all remember.  They are taken for a more private consumption.

I contrast this to many people who come up to me and want to learn how to use their DSLR.  They are realizing their spouse is getting better photos with their camera phones than they are getting with what should be a better camera—their DSLR.

Kevin Vandivier and Ted Wilcox were both past speakers at the conference and seasoned pros.  They too come for learning and rekindling of relationships with friends.

Surely the professional photographers just know the secret settings to put my camera on that will help me consistently get great photos.  Is this what all these people are thinking when they come to me and want to know how to get better photos with their DSLR?

I then contrast this to all those professional photographers who spend money to go to a conference where for the most part not one single speaker got up to the microphone and told us how to set our cameras to get better photos.

Anacleto Rapping and Michael Kitada enjoy catching up with each other at the conference.  Anacleto has been past speaker a few times.  Today he teaches at Brookes Institute.

No one told us how to use flash to balance the background with the subject or to manipulate it.

Last year we did have Scott Kelby walk us through his workflow process for using Lightroom 3.  One year we had Joe McNally show us how to use multiple hotshoe flashes to light a subject and control them all from your Nikon camera.

Both of those technical presentations were for new things introduced and people wanted to know how to use the new technology.  But, for the most part the camera hasn’t changed all that much from over 200 years ago.  You still have an aperture, shutter speed and ISO to set to be sure the photo is well exposed. 

Bill Fortney, the Nikon Representative, takes time to help John Walton understand the differences between different model DSLR cameras that Nikon just introduced.  Typically you are hearing a dialogue where Bill is asking what type of photography are they doing and what do they want to do they cannot do right now.  Walton has traveled all over the world shooting for the AWANA Clubs International for the past 30 years.  Even with all his knowledge he is still on his knees before Bill learning something new.

Lifelong Learning is Key for DSLR

If you just want to know what settings to use on your camera to make photos and that is it, don’t waste your money on a DSLR.  Use your camera on your phone.  You will more than likely have this with you and that is why you will get better photos for the most part—having a camera with you when the moment arises.

If you are finding that you need a flash and your camera phone isn’t cutting it, then buy a camera with built in flash for those moments you just need to be sure the subject that is right in front of you has light on them. 

When this camera isn’t working for all the situations be very careful about your next purchase.  Buying the DSLR will not solve all the situations that the point and shoot wasn’t capturing.  Most likely it would capture the moments.  The problem is the lack of knowledge of how lighting works or the camera works to capture moments rather than the camera lacking.

During the panel discussion Lisa Krantz pulls out her iPhone and is taking a photo of the crowd and most likely posting to her social media outlets.  Notice how both Alex Garcia and Brad Moore are so use to this behavior by other photographers they are just taking this in stride.

What the Pros are buying

If you go to a conference with a bunch of pros today, you will see them walking around with point and shoot size cameras. They wear them like jewelry and proud to own them.  Sure you may see a few of us with our big DSLR cameras, but almost all will own a point and shoot.

Francis Bacon is using his point and shoot to photograph Jim Veneman with a student.

All the pros realize the simplicity of the point and shoot camera helps them rediscover why they fell in love with photography.  They enjoy having a camera with them that captures what they are experiencing at the moment.  Carrying all their pro gear all the time would help them make better photos, but they don’t enjoy carrying everything all the time.

Brad Moore has his photo taken by one of the conference attendees with their camera phone.

Why do all the pro photographers continue to go to conferences where they are not all learning about the camera settings?  They know they need to train themselves on why they make pictures rather than on just how to make pictures.

When you know why you are making photographs you will have the proper motivation that will help you tackle all the technical stuff and learn to master it.  You need to be reaching for lenses and flashes and changing settings on your DSLR the same way a person drives their stick shift car—it is all muscle memory.  You are not stopping and thinking about it you are just doing.

Tom Yu has Gary Fong review his work.  Gary Fong is the founder of Genesis Photo Agency and Christians in Photojournalism.  Every year Gary comes and invites all his friends to meet him at the conference.  Tom has come from mainland China to attend the conference for the first time.  Tom is now looking for an internship while he is in the state.  Anyone need an intern, let me know and I will pass this along to Tom.

If you bought the DSLR and not willing to commit the time to learn how to use it—which will be a lot of time—sell it and get a point and shoot or just use your camera phone.  DSLR is not for the casual shooter, it is for the serious amateur and pro.

Jim Veneman is never without his Nikon P7000.  He too is using a point and shoot over carrying his DSLR all the time.