In a Lumix campaign earlier this year, Panasonic touted in commercials like the one below that “Lumix cameras make amazing photos easy.”
Does the presentation of the commercial go too far to snub photographers (like Nikon recently did), or is it just clever marketing on Panasonic’s part?
Check out the commercial below and share your thoughts in the comments section.
(Note that I’m a big fan of Panasonic’s Micro Four Thirds Lumix models.)
[via Reddit]
Leica lenses are the key…
Well…If they said ‘Technically amazing’ photos, I could agree with that, things like sharpness, well balanced exposure, contrast, focus, yeah cameras can make that easier, but in my opinion, technical amazingness has a very limited say in whether a picture is genuinely amazing or not.
I spent 3 hours editing a ‘technically amazing’ image, it was tack sharp, well exposed, retaining detail in the shadows and highlights, it had the right amount of depth of field, there was no noise, it was all there, in the end, I decided I LOVED the overall look, but I DIDNT LIKE it, all because of the composition, in the same way a parent loves their child, but at times doesnt like them…Moral of the story, cameras dont take amazing pictures, people do.
Argument over. ;)
I would agree with the statement. But just because it makes it easy due to good controls, etc. doesn’t mean it makes it possible. An 8×10 view camera makes amazing photos very difficult but it also makes some possible as no other camera. A phone camera makes any photo easy but they are only amazing if they suit its characteristics and only if the camera is pointed in the right direction, from the right place at the right time.
“It’s not what you look at that matters, it’s what you see.” Henry David Thoreau
It’s a bit of a slight against photographers, but more so it attempts to make it seem that photography is very easy. Honestly, cameras for well over a decade have been so highly automated and accurate in automation that technical barriers vanished, but as many of us know, there is much more than technical accuracy between the photographer and compelling images.
I think the real issue is inspiring confidence. I’ve never chimped, but I know many people like that reinforcement. The view is there through the viewfinder, or on the screen in live view, before one presses the shutter button, but people still like to chimp their images.
Cameras are amazingly well made and capable today. There should be few technical barriers. However, the idea that all it takes to be a photographer is an index finger to push the shutter release, is simply wrong. Cameras are tools of expression, but we need the ideas and imagination first.
I don’t think it snubs photographers. Amateur photographers who have trouble with exposure and white balance will be drawn in, while good photographers will realize that the ad isn’t really targeted toward them.
I lost a dramatic scene few days ago because of my fault in composition.. my camera did its job very well, but I lost what I wanted to hunt. Not yet “easy” for me