For a long time, compact cameras have had a feature that we wish ILC cameras had. So, with the dive back into compact cameras these days, we figured that we’d show you folks something really incredible that they do but that larger, interchangeable-lens cameras don’t do. It’s not at all groundbreaking, but it surely is a convenient feature that we wish came to bigger cameras.
For more videos like this, please check out our YouTube channel.
The trick: hold down the playback button — it’s the one that looks like the playback on a VCR or a YouTube video or on Netflix. After some time, the camera should boot up and just turn into a digital picture frame — a really powerful one, that is. From there, you can scroll through your images, rate them, check the focusing points, and do all the normal stuff that you’d do otherwise. For years, photographers have said, “Oh, well I’ll look at the images on my computer.” But the truth is that you can make that process a whole lot faster by reviewing the images on the back of the LCD screen first. After that, I’ve been star-rating my images for years to speed things up.
When importing my images to Capture One, I filter then by the star rating. This gives me my primary selects. From there, I narrow them down and give the ones I like green markers. The ones I don’t like get red markers. Then my first edits happen, which get synced to all the images. When I’m done with all my editing (if there is any at all) then I sync my metadata edits and then export my photos. And in less than 10 minutes, I’ll be all done with my work.
Originally, this feature was designed to for people to show others their photos. It was way before smartphones and really big screens. These days, people just show each other photos from their big smartphones instead.
If you happen to be like me — sick of bigger cameras and one that are only catering to content creators instead of forgetting about the market to whom these manufacturers owe — then you’ll probably bring some sort of compact camera with you everywhere. And when you do that, you’ll often want to show people images of the places you’ve been and what you’ve been up to. Hopefully, you remember to take photos. The problem here is that often, we as photographers, don’t end up in the photos. And so it’s up to us to do things like take selfies with people or ask them to take photos with us/of us.
Afterall — pics or it didn’t happen, right? I’m kidding of course, but I’m also talking about documenting and capturing photos that are far less serious. These are lifestyle moments that have to do with life as it happens in a personal space. I remember that I used to bring my 5D Mk II with me everywhere, and now I don’t have to lug that big giant thing around anymore.
