Red Pop - Sums up everything I hate about living in age of the Intenet

I want you to watch the video below before you read my post. After, I will explain why everything I hate about the culture we live in today is embodied in this product. Please view the video now:


Red Pop from Beep Industries on Vimeo.

I hate the saying the, "The best camera is the one you have with you." The saying should be. "The best camera is the one you have with you - so you better bring a good camera. Cause if all you have is your iPhone then you're screwed."

I'm not exactly sure how to approach this. Everyone these days wants to be a hipster photographer. They want to capture those magical moments. And yet, I bet that almost no one is capturing those pictures, because they're trying to use their cell phone.

My main camera is a Canon EOS T2i. It's a mid-range DLSR . DSLR means it's digital and I can change the lenses. All this device was designed to do is take pictures (and video). Every menu, button and switch is about how to take a picture. The whole history of the Canon is about photography and optics.

When Brendan Dawes, owner of Red Pop tries to tell you that you can capture the same photos his dad did by adding Red Pop to your iPhone, he's lying. It's as big a lie as that red button.

I have to admit that I'm kind of a camera freak. Below is my baby. It's an Olympus OM-1. Made in the late 60's and probably very similar to the one Brendan's dad used. His Dad probably used a Canon or Nikon or possibly a Leica. But the mechanics are almost identical.

The OM-1 even had a built-in light meter.

See all those buttons and dials on the camera? Believe it or not they actually have functions. They allow the photographer to manipulate how much light comes in, how long the shutter stays open and other really cool stuff. And even back in the groovy days of the late 60's, photographers didn't rely on magically capturing the "moment". Their old mechanical cameras took one or two pictures a second and then the photographer chose which of those photos were the magic ones.

Look at the diameter of the lens in the picture below. See how big it is - size matters. That puny, little pin-hole on your iPhone ain't gonna cut it. It's just not .. okay, maybe it does alright taking a picture of a static object in full daylight. But then if you're taking a picture of a statue (minus the birds) what's the point of Red Pop?

Okay, so you don't want to spend the money on professional DSLR, nor do you want to take the time to learn all the functions of a mechanical camera. And both are too big to lug around. What's the answer? I'm glad you asked .. hold it .. put the iPhone down.

When I don't want to lug around my Canon, I have a little Panasonic Lumix DMC-FH5 . Great little camera. It's 16mp and has 4x optical zoom and pretty good image stabilization. It small, thin and solidly built. Takes fine pictures .. Much better than your iPhone, even with the Red Pop button.

Oh, but you want to be a hipster photographer .. then I recommend a Lomography Diana F+  

It's what every hipster photographer dreams about. It has unpredictable light leaks, forced perspective from the plastic lens and that great feel of spinning your own film.You can even change out the lens in the newer Dianas.

It's not the worst thing in the world to have a Red Pop hooked onto your iPhone. I really don't see the purpose, other than strangers asking you what the red button does, because everyone wants to know what a big red button does.

Here's what I'm saying. Brendan Dawes is trying to sell you this bullshit dream that by adding Red Pop (which I think the concept is pretty cool)  you're going to be able to take these incredible pictures, because now you have easy access to the camera on your Iphone.

I'm telling you - it just ain't so Joe. Sure, in full daylight with a non-moving object that is five to ten feet away that little iPhone can probably take just as good a picture as my Canon. But I would just hate for one of my loyal EiMB citizen to purchase a Red Pop and then try to take a picture of  say a mountain. Because through your eye that mountain may look huge, majestic, glorious - but to the iPhone it's a little green bump. Or you go to the ice skating rink and what you see is your daughter doing wonderful twirls but to the iPhone its just one blurry smudge.

Cameras got all those button and dials for a reason. It was an evolutionary process from a simple pin-hole camera. Photographers quickly learned that controlling how the light enters the camera and how light hits the sensor or film was critical to a good picture. And I can't discount the importance of lenses. Quality glass and mechanics are also key. As a matter of fact, my Canon camera body is actually one of the least expensive parts of the camera. The lenses can cost two to three times more. And it's worth it.

Photography is more than just investing in a button.

My many cameras - it is an addiction.

Dream Frogs

I took these pictures using an old Olympus OM-1 with special film that only captures the "dream" photons.

I think I'm addicted

I think I've become a camera porn addicted. I never thought I would be one of those guys who carries around a camera bag or God forbid a camera around my neck. I don't know what it is? There's something addicting about getting the perfect shot. I just hit the hundred dollar mark of total money spent on a film SLR camera. The Olympus OM-1 cost me 15 dollars. The flash cost me 10 dollars and the new lens cost me 75 dollars. This is not including film. Film is expensive.

I've decided to purchase a DSLR by this Christmas. Everyone I talk to says go with Canon or Nikon. Certainly there is a lot of quality and technology in both cameras. But as you can see with my sad and pitiful film camera purchases, I don't like to do what everyone else does. That is why I've almost decided to go with the Pentax K-x (white); affectionately called, "The Stormtrooper".

Pentax cameras are completely backward compatible with its lenses. The price of the camera can't be beat and it has most of the features that expensive Canon and Nikon cameras do. It even has Hi-Def video. It has a 12.4 megapixel CMOS image sensor with image stabilization - Anyway there are a whole bunch of reasons really.

What has happened to me? I think it might be old age.

 

Meet The Stormtrooper

More Picture with Old Cameras

My daughter and I went to the Cactus Garden at Ethel M's in Las Vegas. It's not very big but it is a beautiful and simple garden, showing some of the local plants and cacti. The factory itself is two medium room with all sorts of mixing, baking and sheeting equipment. They do not produce the any of the famous Mars candy, but rather specialty and designer chocolate. Really just another excuse to charge more money.

The factory tour takes about ten minutes. Walking through the garden you could spend an hour. One little piece of advice - if you see several tour buses in the parking lot .. then go back at a later time.

I took this picture with an old AGFA Optima 200 and an Olympus OM-1

Two New Cameras

I love funky cameras. It all started with my purchase of a Chinese camera called the Holga 120 FN. I purchased the 35mm kit - who wants to use 120 film and it took wonderfully strange pictures.

Then I purchased a Olympus OM-1 camera. This camera was made in the early 70's and it works great. I'm sure in the days before digital this camera cost a couple hundred bucks, but I got it off Ebay for less than fifteen.

My next purchase was an Agfa Optima 200. It was built in the early 70's. As of yet have not taken any pictures with this camera.

Then I came across two really cool toy cameras: A Lomography Fisheye lens and Lomography 4 Lens Action Sampler.

The Fisheye is a very cool camera. It takes regular 35mm film and loads like any other traditional film camera. The lens will capture light 170 degrees from end to end. The lens compacts this wide-view onto a standard 35mm shot on the film.

The camera was less than forty bucks in-the-box new and came with a flash. For that price it was a no brainer. I was surprised at the quality of the camera. It seems pretty rugged with the door and all the latches fitting tightly together. The view finder was useless, but it's best to shoot-from-the-hip anyway. There is a switch on the front for the flash - requires one AA battery.

It was easy to shoot - I used 400 speed film. The camera works best in full sunlight with an expansive setting. Indoors the pictures tend to have a carnival mirror look.

The next camera, the LOMO 4 Lens Action Sampler is a standard 35mm camera with four lenses in a square shape. Each lens fires off in a series at 1/4 a second apart. The end result is a picture with four pictures on it. Each picture captures a moment in a series.

I purchased this camera for about twelve dollars and it is not as nicely constructed as the fisheye. The camera is lightweight and the latches and doors do not feel like they latch together tight and secure. The film was also pretty difficult to load and the view finder - a plastic square is all but unusable.

I recommend using high speed film for this camera. I used 800 speed. The lenses are small and require a lot of light. There is no flash on this camera and it's just as well.

Still for a toy camera that costs 12 bucks how can you wrong and as you can see the pictures are fun and exciting.