Just came from a huge reunion concert of a popular band here called the Eraserheads. I couldn’t help but notice that amidst the sea of over 20,000 people were the glittering screens of mobile phones and point and shoot cameras taking video. Concert organizers do not allow the public to bring in DSLRs.

It is quite rare for a concert venue to allow these prosumers cameras in, thus making the public opt for less sophisticated forms of video capture like your phone, for instance. I think the market demands some forms of accessories like mini cellphone tripods (actually these do exist but aren’t very stable) or cellphones to come with standardized tripod holes.

Ah the phenomenon that is social media - it is the consumers themselves who are the ones who get to upload these videos and photos faster than traditional media. So why make them settle for the “uglier” cameras? Please, let them in with their DSLRs!

Four dollars seems to be the price of a camera upgrade. You see, I tried selling one of these brand new but low end LG phones to some guy at a flea market. I had won the phone in a raffle about 3 months ago and didn’t quite know what to do with it. It boasted a 1.3MP camera and perhaps that was all it had. So the guy in the stall had to inspect the device - no dents or smudges even. It was brand new. And then he turned it on, plugged the charger and began … to take a photo.

The camera sucked apparently. It really was an el cheapo despite the 1.3MP label. So he sold it to me for $4.00 less. I didn’t really care less as I had won this one at a raffle and any money is good money.

The point of all this? I know these stores. Everything is computed. From a small dent to the quality of the camera, to whether it is locked or unlocked by default, to the type of battery it uses. And each “trait” has its corresponding value in money. So wow, $4.00. I know that these phones are bought for much less by these “sole proprietors” and they sell it twice as much. So maybe, just maybe, upgrading a camera phone would really have to cost $8.00?