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Comment by probably_wrong | Hacker News Reader

I have a mirrorless camera that I still use regularly. Three events in the last year have called my attention:

* While I was taking pictures at night, two teenagers came to me and asked me to take a picture of them. Apparently one of them wanted to know what it would look like, since the fact that I had a camera clearly indicated that I knew what I was doing (it didn't). I didn't have the heart to tell him that it would look pretty much the same as the phone he definitely had in his pocket, but luckily he gave me a wrong Instagram address so that problem solved itself.

* On that same night, one guy started yelling at me (pushing his head against mine) because he thought I had taken a picture of his car.

* I was interviewed in a popular tourist destination, and the interviewer explicitly asked me about why I had a camera instead of a phone.

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I have had similar issues. People get really uncomfortable around cameras but don’t care about a phone.

Weird.

This, combined with the lack of geo tags, often wrong timestamps, slow startup time, and useless tiny batteries, I use my camera rarely.

Slow startup times really shouldn’t be an issue in this decade. This is something that was an issue maybe in the early 2000s.

You will generally be able to turn on the camera more quickly than you can navigate to the camera app. (Physical switch plus sub one second time to turn on).

On Android phones (maybe iphones too? no clue on that) you can set a double-press of the power button to launch any app you want, so if you turn it to open the camera then you can launch directly into the camera without even needing to unlock the phone.

The great thing about this is that it works even when you're wearing gloves.

Doesn’t matter. That‘s just equivalent to the physical switch in time needed (maybe even slower, a double press does require more dexterity) and startup times on phone cameras certainly aren’t faster than dedicated cameras. My iPhone 12 Pro takes about a half second to a second until it‘s ready to take a shot.

iphones have it as a button on the lockscreen. Double tap opens apple pay and long hold opens siri. Wish I could swap out siri for camera tbh.

Camera apps are accessible from the home screen though, right?

My mirrorless camera isn't new, but not early 2000s either (GX1, released 2012). It takes about 10 seconds to first photo from off. My Android phone can take pictures without unlocking it, and I've repurposed the PTT button to open the camera app. I can take my phone out of my pocket, take a picture, and put it back in my pocket faster than my camera can turn on.

Navigate to the camera app? The camera button is on the home screen. I can be taking a picture or a video just about as fast as I can raise the phone.

Yeah, navigating to the camera app doesn’t take long. But flipping a physical switch also doesn’t and startup times of both after the switch is flipped / app is started are about equal.

So: with my EVIL camera I also can be taking a photo about as fast as I can raise the camera.

> slow startup time, and useless tiny batteries

A camera is far faster in "startup time" (there's nothing to start up, just press the shutter to take a photo). And a DSLR will outlast battery life of a phone at least 100x.

Don't you need to turn it on?

> Don't you need to turn it on?

No, the DSLRs can be left permanently on. It consumes nearly no battery in that state (a single charge will last many months) and yet it's always ready to take a photo as fast as you can grab it.

> lack of geotags

Depends on the camera and other such features. But you're right that it's not a given.

> often wrong timestamps

I'm confused by this. I suppose if you leave your camera off for years at a time, have dead batteries and don't bother checking it - then sure. But in general the RTC on cameras is very good and not an issue. Even if it clock drifts by a minute or two, does it really make a difference?

> slow startup time

Incorrect with modern cameras. If I have both my Nikon in my hand and my phone - I can take a picture with the Nikon WAY faster and more reliable than my iPhone. The Nikon can go from off to taking a picture in half a second. The phone you need to press the camera button on the lock screen for a full second before the camera app even launches. Then it takes it a little time to launch the app and warm up the camera.

Are either slow or problematic? No. But the Nikon is way more reliable, sometimes the iphone just derps out.

> useless tiny batteries

Again, I suppose it depends on the camera. My Nikon is rated for a thousand shots a battery, I think? Even my smallest and oldest handheld is rated for 300 shots a battery. Unless you're going way crazy, that is a lot of photos in a single day. It'd run down your iPhone quite significantly as well.

One area that is a big difference overall... Video.

I must have bought the wrong cameras! My Sony A6300 really takes a while to start, and I can’t leave it on because it will drain the battery fast

If you're using something with a protruding lens, people have always been suspicious and/or thought you were some sort of professional. Back in 2008 I was using a Nikon D70 and generally just roamed my area of the world taking pictures to be uploaded to Wikipedia.

I had building security guards question me when I took a picture of their building (From the sidewalk).

I had mall security (outdoor mall) demand I cease and desist and get a permit.

I had transit workers threaten to call the police on me, even though photography is legal on public transit AND explicitly allowed in that particular transit agencies policies.

In 2008 the iPhone (original) was just out and had potato for camera, so everyone was still using SLR's and "normal cameras". But yet... people still got upset.

> In 2008 the iPhone (original) was just out and had potato for camera, so everyone was still using SLR's and "normal cameras". But yet... people still got upset.

Yes. It seems the social memory of this is being lost, but I heard LOTS of stories back then of people getting upset at someone with a camera. And also earlier, before smartphones even existed. The idea that it's the existence of smartphones that's made people defensive about cameras seems to be merely plausible but not actually true.

My biggest issue (besides lugging away one extra thing on trips) was that often pictures will just sit in camera until I take time to get them out and thenput them in NAS/Cloud & then share that location with wife and then have a round about forgotten passwords on her phone/tablet. Then she would be able to post those photos. With smartphones they are there in clould already, I just need to make a shared album and add everybody. and yes cameras have started doing this now but its all done so poorly that its almost same amount of effort. Nope!

> With smartphones they are there in clould already

What? I would never trust my photos to automatically go to some cloud storage. Who knows who would have access to them?

Instead I download the photos from all the family phones on a regular basis. I copy them to an external drive in my house. Then they backed up to a cloud service, but they are encrypted before they are backed up and the cloud service is only a backup. We can't actually see the photos on that cloud service. It is just fire protection (and yes, I have pulled the photos and videos back down from the cloud service to make sure it is backing them up correctly).

Just use Nextcloud then, your own drives on your home, but no risk of losing pictures if your phone is lost/stolen/broken between backups. Can also automate the encrypted offsite thing.

I have more time than money. My way is more manual, but doesn’t cost anything (beyond the backup cost, which is fairly cheap). There were some free providers for home users, but the amounts were way too low. I currently have 2.5 Terabytes of photos and videos. The free providers were all less than 10gb. Laughably low.

While I love my mirrorless, the ease of "exit" is definitely something that pulled me away from them for quite a while. But times have changes. There are accessory units like the Arsenal Camera Assistant that give you wifi access to the camera. Also a lot new cameras (like my new Nikon) have wifi built in.

Can take photos with the Nikon and beam them to my phone fairly quickly. Is it as quick and seamless as using the iPhone directly? Nope. But good enough that I'm ok with it now. It also gives me access to typically a much higher quality photo that I can crop way farther than I can with the iPhone.

i had a dude get aggressive with me recently when i was using an actual camera. he wasn't even in the frame but he thought i was taking a picture of him. made me realize how abnormal it is these days. now i can just take a picture with my phone and people won't care?

Just curious what country you're in. That's some crazy stuff.

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