Chicago news paper fires all photography staff, thinking iPhone better than DSLR - Polidicks

[quote]The Chicago Sun-Times has so much faith and belief in the photographic capabilities of the iPhone that it has fired all of its 28-strong team of staff photographers.[/quote] [url]http://www.pocket-lint.com/news/121445-chicago-newspaper-believes-iphone-now-better-than-dslr-fires-entire-photography-staff[/url]

That's one way to put it but they most likely fired them because newspapers are going the way of the dinosaur and they need to keep costs down

[QUOTE=POLOPOZOZO;40893750]That's one way to put it but they most likely fired them because newspapers are going the way of the dinosaur and they need to keep costs down[/QUOTE] Because people want to read newspapers with fuck-all for pictures.

[QUOTE=Atlascore;40893811]What a bad day for all three people left that read newspapers.[/QUOTE] I don't know about that, a lot of people read news papers for the basic fact that it looks better than reading a news website on a tablet.

iPhone cameras are such bullshit, though. [editline]4th June 2013[/editline] [QUOTE=Atlascore;40893811]What a bad day for all three people left that read newspapers.[/QUOTE] I read the paper. Granted, only the Sunday paper, but it's the paper none the less.

[QUOTE=The_J_Hat;40893948]iPhone cameras are such bullshit, though. [editline]4th June 2013[/editline] I read the paper. Granted, only the Sunday paper, but it's the paper none the less.[/QUOTE] Considering the quality of newspaper photos I doubt you'll be able to tell it's taken with an iPhone.

To be fair, these days, phones have pretty good cameras for most uses. A newspaper doesnt really need DSLR photographers, when a phone can capture a good detail picture. I recently bought a Samsung Galaxy S2 959g. The camera on this phone ended up being miles better than the camera i used to use. As a result, i no longer need to carry my camera, or a tripod, or spare batteries

[QUOTE=Atlascore;40893811]What a bad day for all three people left that read newspapers.[/QUOTE] What a bad day for the three people who aren't intellectual sloths then. There's just something about paper. You won't get the same level of reflection when reading an article on your laptop or tablet, there was a study about it not so long ago if anyone remembers it. Sad to know an entire generation won't know the pleasure of reading your newspaper at a coffee-shop before you're heading to college / work.

[QUOTE=The golden;40893957]I don't know about you but I much prefer looking at my phone or a tablet than trying to find news in a three pound newspaper which is 95% ads.[/QUOTE] Why would you search for morsels of news on a three inch screen that is 97% ads, then? Granted, three lbs is far less than one.

I'm thinking it's more or less inevitable. Everyone has access to gadgets that can snap photos nowadays. Expensive equipment and professional knowledge is no longer a requirement for producing photos good enough to publish. In addition, publishing photos snapped from consumer gadgets has become a bit of a standard because the people on-site of a news-worthy event will likely have an opportunity to collect interesting pictures of the news-relevant event, more so than a magazine camera crew. And naturally, it's a lot cheaper to ditch dedicated crews with expensive equipment. Cutting costs is probably more relevant than ever now what with magazine consumers dwindling thanks to e-news feeds and more.

[QUOTE=Atlascore;40893811]What a bad day for all three people left that read newspapers.[/QUOTE] I loved getting the paper. Easy way to keep up with what is happening in my town. Pretty sure the OC Register is delivered to 93% of households. It is worth it.

[QUOTE=bubbagamer;40893980]What a bad day for the three people who aren't intellectual sloths then. There's just something about paper. You won't get the same level of reflection when reading an article on your laptop or tablet, there was a study about it not so long ago if anyone remembers it. Sad to know an entire generation won't know the pleasure of reading your newspaper at a coffee-shop before you're heading to college / work.[/QUOTE] It's the now-old ability of electronic devices to always have means of distracting us ready. When you're able to switch from a news report to funny cat videos in less than a second you're not being given the slightest room for reflection and thus the experience will be quite fleeting.

The only upside to physical newspapers is the lack of a comments section.

This makes no sense. Cutting photographers because newspapers aren't relevant makes sense, but Iphones? Even if you're using Iphones, you still need agents out in the field to take the shot.

[QUOTE=cqbcat;40894040]This makes no sense. Cutting photographers because newspapers aren't relevant makes sense, but Iphones? Even if you're using Iphones, you still need agents out in the field to take the shot.[/QUOTE] They'll send the writers to take the pictures.

How much time before we get a disposable self updating news tablet ? [t]https://d1ij7zv8zivhs3.cloudfront.net/assets/4236626/lightbox/PICUSdailystandardsaler.jpg?1315643676[/t]

[QUOTE=Atlascore;40894042]We're talking about newspapers, not books, reading the daily news on a piece of paper drowning in ads is about as intellectual as wearing a fedora.[/QUOTE] Maybe if you took the time to lurk around the buttload of newspapers around you'd figure some of them have in-depth articles you usually don't find anywhere else up until it makes it on the shelves. Unless there's a massive gap between how journalism and newspapers work between the US and Europe, that is. Doubt so.

[QUOTE=bubbagamer;40893980]What a bad day for the three people who aren't intellectual sloths then. There's just something about paper. You won't get the same level of reflection when reading an article on your laptop or tablet, there was a study about it not so long ago if anyone remembers it. Sad to know an entire generation won't know the pleasure of reading your newspaper at a coffee-shop before you're heading to college / work.[/QUOTE] That sounds exactly like what someone from the 1930's would say about young people listening to music on their cassette player and not with a phonograph.

IIRC aren't iphone cameras your standard 5mp camera and not actually that great, especially compared to other smartphones (like the newest lumia's or androids)? Seems funny they'd go and pull something like this and not even use a phone with the best camera capabilities for a wide variety of shots and situations.

[QUOTE=A B.A. Survivor;40894082]That sounds exactly like what someone from the 1930's would say about young people listening to music on their cassette player and not with a phonograph.[/QUOTE] Oh don't get me wrong, I'm fond of reading articles on the net and on my nexus 4. It just won't replace the concentration you're gonna get by reading it on paper. [url]http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=reading-paper-screens[/url]

[QUOTE=Ganerumo;40894069]How much time before we get a disposable self updating news tablet ? [t]https://d1ij7zv8zivhs3.cloudfront.net/assets/4236626/lightbox/PICUSdailystandardsaler.jpg?1315643676[/t][/QUOTE] Probably not going to happen because we already have tablets and this is just a waste of resources

[QUOTE=lech;40893939]I don't know about that, a lot of people read news papers for the basic fact that it looks better than reading a news website on a tablet.[/QUOTE] Yeah well then whoever's reading the paper for that purpose is an idiot. Why fumble through pages and CONTINUED ON 4-B and shit with one paper when you can just flick your finger and read any news paper

[QUOTE=Atlascore;40894109]In-depth articles aren't exclusive to newspapers, with how fast the usage of newspapers are dropping the quality of newspaper articles are only going to go down.[/QUOTE] I'm living in France (don't know what's up with FP's flag) and I can tell you for sure that's not happening anytime soon here. Usually newspapers include a premium access to their website in the subscription. Works pretty well and I'm still seeing a lot of people reading their paper at 7a.m while they wait for the tram.

[QUOTE=Im Crimson;40893988]I'm thinking it's more or less inevitable. Everyone has access to gadgets that can snap photos nowadays. Expensive equipment and professional knowledge is no longer a requirement for producing photos good enough to publish. [snip] And naturally, it's a lot cheaper to ditch dedicated crews with expensive equipment.[/QUOTE] Anyone can take a photo, but it takes skill and knowledge to take good photos. These were professional photographers. Equipment cost means very little to the newspaper in the long run - if anything, the equipment would have already belonged to the photographer [I]before[/I] they got the job. In the case of cost-cutting, they could have slimmed down on their staff. 28 photographers for a newspaper seems a touch excessive, I don't see why they couldn't scale down to five or ten. But instead of scaling down, they've thrown the lot out in favor of mobile phone cameras, and (aside from the occasional freelancer photographer) they're relying on non-photographer journalists to pick up the slack. It's a rather daft decision.

on a more personal note : I like paper, I can highlight stuff or cut part of an article to put it aside and use it for my law class.

[QUOTE=KorJax;40894121]IIRC aren't iphone cameras your standard 5mp camera and not actually that great, especially compared to other smartphones (like the newest lumia's or androids)? Seems funny they'd go and pull something like this and not even use a phone with the best camera capabilities for a wide variety of shots and situations.[/QUOTE] iPhone cameras are 8mp which is about standard for phones, though my phone has a 13mp camera and even I know that the actual sensor isn't going to be anywhere near as good as a nice camera.

I'm actually surprised to see so many people not reading the paper. At the bus stop I go to we have this local newspaper, a free one. I always pick it up and read it on the way to class.

[QUOTE=bubbagamer;40894178]on a more personal note : I like paper, I can highlight stuff or cut part of an article to put it aside and use it for my law class.[/QUOTE] Yeah When there's a manhunt going on for someone they'll want to cut out all the articles about them and paste them on walls too.

[QUOTE=Derp Y. Mail;40894222]I'm actually surprised to see so many people not reading the paper. At the bus stop I go to we have this local newspaper, a free one. I always pick it up and read it on the way to class.[/QUOTE] Unfortunately, not everyone has time to do that, or takes public transportation/is driven where they need to go each day. I for one love to read the news, however because of my schedule, that's done for about 10 to 15 minutes in the morning before I drive for an hour to get to work or for twenty minutes to get to class.

I used to work the The Peninsula Clarion in Kenai, AK. It is amazing how many people still read the paper. We actually sent them out of state as well, we had a subscriber as far as Florida. And as far as I know they still have photographers...