TV station replaces filming gear with iPhones

Are the days of manhandling camera gear, pesky light stands, and tripods are at an end? TV station replaces all filming gear with iPhones and selfie sticks article claims that the next big break in journalism — recording your live shots and standups on the iPhone. If it’s good enough for CNN, then it’s good enough for Swiss news program Léman Bleu. It’s a move that is certain to anger long time field photographers and other station employees.

CNN has pushed their iReport reporting, which relied on crowd sourcing their viewers to send in videos of news as it happened. Like any tool in the journalist’s arsenal, the iPhone – or modern Android phone – is not one that should be overlooked.

You can pretty easily shoot yourself reporting by using selfie stick: A selfie stick is a monopod used to take selfie photographs by positioning a smartphone or camera beyond the normal range of the arm. http://solocam.me/ page even presents a product specifically targeted for smart phone reporters:

Is this the end of traditional professional video gear? I don’t see this as an immediate end for the professional video filming gear – there are many applications where smart phone camera is inadequate (for example at low light). There is today place for both traditional video filming gear use (which is expensive) and reporting using smart phone camera (which is cheap). I can see that the number of smart phone reporters will increase in the future and number of traditional professional cameras will decline – but smart phones will not overnight replace all the professional gear. They will live long time side-to-side.