Proverb Update

Here's a new spin on an old proverb, "Any photograph worth taking, is worth taking well."

The corollary is don't take pictures with a cell phone. I don't care how many mega pixels it has, there are fingerprints, dust and goo all over the "lens" making any shot look like the fog has rolled or nighttime has fallen.

And what is that thing they call the lens? Real lenses have focal lengths, speeds, sharpnesses, distortions, etc. A cell phone lens is not much more than a pinhole. Look at this:


It looks like a typical cell-phone photo, but it's not. It was taken with a pinhole camera! Search on Flickr.com for "pinhole," and you will see what I mean.

So why are cell phone manufacturers putting cameras on phones, and why are people buying them? Why are cameras more popular features than voice control and WiFi? How did cameras get to be in cell phones before music players? Manufacturers will say they are responding to consumer demand, and the marketplace is in control.

My advice would be to skip the camera phone, but that is easier said than done. So, instead, my advice is don't take pictures with it.