I wanted t make a simple link post, but there were so many little things I wanted to pull out it just didn’t work. Jason Snell wrote a long post for Toms Guide about the incoming Deep Fusion camera technology and left me all confused. 

Apple and its competitors know that smartphone buyers really do care about the camera more than anything else.

I can’t agree with this, I don’t think the camera is the be all and end all for most people. It’s simply near enough the only thing that smartphones can differentiate themselves from each other. Every phone is ok, they all take photos that are good – but want to fight over who has the best niche features. I really don’t think most people that buy an iPhone 11 Pro give a dam about a little more detail in some areas. They might buy the phone for a better camera than previous models, but they won’t jump on the bandwagon because of Deep Fusion. 

The iPhone’s Camera app is rife with little icons and stickers to indicate when a photo is being automatically cropped, when you’re grabbing Live Photo video to go with the still, and the like. And yet, at least in the iOS 13.2 beta, there’s no hint that you’re using Deep Fusion.

I am a little confused still, I don’t see the point in Live Photos, I don’t feel a need for HDR the majority of the time, but here we are with a really confusing camera interface. Apple used to excel in the ability to pull your phone out and Snapp a really good photo almost instantly. Now I am bombarded with portrait modes, dark modes and even the option to make the camera 16:9. 

Just do it all for me, and give me options afterwards. 

It gets even more interesting when you consider that some of these features are so subtle that you have to really pay attention, and make A/B comparisons, to see the difference.

I wouldn’t call it interesting – does anyone care of a jumper appears a bit more detailed. All in exchange for an image twice the storage size?

but in the end, we’re all part of a culture that has fallen in love with the ability to never let a memorable life event go undocumented. Along with the ability to look up where you’ve seen that random character actor in that TV show before, it’s one of the greatest things about having a smartphone.

All cameras are fine, we are obsessed with taking photos but I don’t believe it’s purely for memories.