Is Still Photography Slowly Becoming Obsolete?

Eastern Tiger Swallowtail butterfly. (click to enlarge)
iPhone 8+; Lightroom Mobile camera; 6.6mm lens; 1/120th sec. @ f/2.8; ISO 20; DNG file

I think the handwriting is on the wall.  The trend seems to be clear.  I believe that video is slowly overtaking still photography in digital capture and technical development.  Since I’m solidly a stills photographer, I don’t like this at all.  But for you who shoot video, this is a very good thing.

I have nothing against video, I am just one of those guys who fell in love with the creation and power of the still image more than a half century ago.  I am one of those people who believe that the power of a photograph that you can hold in your hands, look at for as long as you like and examine every small detail from corner to corner is a better experience than having to sit in front of a device and watch a recording.  To me, there is not much comparison.

If you read as many photographic articles and blogs as I do and view as many YouTube photography videos as I do, you would notice that video has crept farther and farther into the overall body of content.  Where once video was a nice bonus for those who might be interested in occasionally making a few short ‘movies,’ now on many sites video is now either the exclusive content or dominates the author’s presentation.  The use of a camera body or lens for still photography use is seldom mentioned.

With the demise of printed media and the rise of digital media, which is the perfect venue for video, I don't think it won't be long before video will be the dominant of the two genres.

What other evidence I have found?  As I browse the Internet and search through YouTube for specific photographic content, often times I discover new blogs and new channels.  It seems the majority of those I discover are video oriented.  Most used to be almost exclusively still photography oriented.

Sony and other manufacturers have introduced traditional looking and handling cameras but specifically targeted to the YouTube crowd.  They wouldn't do that if the market wasn't judged to be growing and expanding.  Video is getting big.

When I follow links in blog posts for camera and lens tests they are frequently by videographers for video and not stills use.  Fewer and fewer links point me to stills photography tests or content.

I don’t think you can now buy a digital camera that does not have video capabilities.

Most of the development in camera features and improvements over the past few years have been video oriented.  Very few new, innovative features have been introduced for still photography.  Some, but not as much as, say, five years ago.  Olympus seemed to be the most prolific creator of still photography features.  We don't know if OMD will continue or scale back drastically.  Even they have talked about new, video-based initiatives and markets.  Panasonic, whether talking about their micro4/3 line of cameras or their full frame cameras, talk mainly about their video prowess.

Cameras have been re-engineered for video at the expense of still photography.  Seriously, how ridiculous is the marketing of 8k capabilities?  Think about that.  What use cases can be logically made today for 8k video?  How many photographers ‘really’ need that versus ‘think’ they need it?  It requires about a thirty-three megapixel sensor.  Whether or not you shoot video, you are going to pay for that feature and all of its costs for research and development, marketing and inclusion into the camera body.  

Another example is the inclusion of fully articulated LCD screens so one can see oneself when making videos from in front of the camera.  Those 'flippy screens' don’t serve stills photographers well as they interfere with tripod mounted photography, using an L-bracket and shooting vertically.  Also, the large LCD screen protruding from the side of the camera increases its size and profile and can negatively affect street photographers.  Personally, I find it difficult to look off-axis at an LCD screen way to the left of where my lens is pointing and try to carefully line up a composition.  Fujifilm seems to have come up with the ideal movable LCD in that can articulate in three different planes without interfering with any type of photography, including high or low vertical imaging—and still stay directly behind the center of the lens.   

Others video modifications to cameras are the inclusion of audio input jacks, stereo microphones, speakers and video out ports.  Additionally, digital image stabilization for video to use in conjunction with optical and IBIS image stabilization.  All of these for video recording at your expense.  Yep, you are paying for all of them even if you have no interest in video.

When we see lens tests, one of the 'new' criteria for a 'good' lens is a totally silent focusing motor.  For video reasons, of course.  You don't want your microphones picking up the noise of a focus motor moving the lens elements.  This really doesn't matter in still photography.

Now, don't get me wrong.  I am not anti-video.  I just have almost no interest in it.  My interest is limited to a couple of short clips a year made with my mobile phone of my grandchildren or such.  Nothing more.  Yes, video has its place and, evidently, the world is gravitating to video.  However, video can never take the place of the still image.  They are different animals.

Then there are those who will say, “But I can pull a still image out of a video and print it.” Of course, but now you have a still image.  You just used video to facilitate your still photograph.

I love watching videos.  I do it every day.  We can't do without them as they possess a unique linear timeline of life's daily events.  However, I don't think video should thrive at the expense of the still image.  

I don't think the still image will ever totally go away, whether in the form of a print or an electronic representation on a monitor, digital picture frame, billboard, sign, etc.  But I do think that stills photography research and development will take a back seat in new features, innovation and usage over the next decade and beyond.  I suspect most of the improvements in still photography will originate with mobile phones in the form of computational photography and then be adopted into camera bodies.  

There will always be a place for the "photograph."  There will always be videos as well.  The question remains how will everything shake out over time and how do they share space in the artistic, commercial and our personal worlds.

Just my humble opinion.

Join me over at my website, https://www.dennismook.com.  Thanks for looking. Enjoy!  Dennis A. Mook  All content on this blog is © 2013-2021 Dennis A. Mook. All Rights Reserved. Feel free to point to this blog from your website with full attribution. Permission may be granted for commercial use. Please contact Mr. Mook to discuss permission to reproduce the blog posts and/or images.