Demotix iPhone app ready to go

Hi Tom,

Any news on a android app?

We're definitely going to port the app to Android and possibly WinMo / Blackberry, but it's going to be a little while before we get around to it.

would it not be better to get the stuff on web site working better before you do the toys?

That's exactly what we're doing...

an iphone app is not a toy then? Most of us don't have iphones.

Maybe you don't, but take a look at some of the pictures from the Middle East or Occupy - you can't move for people holding up cameraphones in some places.

Like it or not, phones aren't a toy any more - they're the device most people have on them most of the time.

most people have phones with Cameras. But only a few have iPhones. Ask Nokia, Samsung, erricson, Sony etc etc. there are many other things that need doing long before you do an app for a fashion item the minority use. Where is the app for the Nokia Phones, they far outnumber the iPhones

I couldn't agree more, we need to be encouraging all the people who can't afford or otherwise can't access iPhones and other high-end phones we enjoy in rich countries, but it's a good place to start from a publicity (journalists love their iStuff!) and an image quality perspective.

Once we get to Android is when things will get really exciting, IMO - it's really starting to break out in the developing world.

Finally, don't forget that Syria recently banned the iPhone for fear of people using it to document what's going on - not something a dictatorship would normally do in response to a toy or fashion item.

Appart from the fact you are replying to a message that got spam bined NONE of the working journalists I know use iPhones.

We need quality images and phones just can't to that. It's not the MP but the size of the sensors an d the quality and size of lenses.

Re Syria, That was a knee jerk reaction like your iPhone app. Most people out there were using phones other than iPhones. This is as usual politicians and the like jumping on a buzzword. I suspect that they meant iPhone the same we we say hoover, biro and the like (both of which are trade names for a specific make).

Tom you should know better.

I don't think any working photojournalists in the UK use iPhones as their main camera. However, this is not aimed at full-time working photojournalists in the UK (although they could benefit from it if they happen to be out without a camera).

It's aimed more at the right-place, right-time crowd that we see occasionally on Demotix - like the Henry Louis Gates story, for example. It's aimed at people who can't afford to be targeted because they're wandering around a warzone or a demonstration or a riot with a big, black, look-at-me-I'm-a-journalist camera.

I accept that a lot of people in Syria aren't using iPhones. However, the kind of phones you're talking about (the tech press would call them "featurephones") aren't the kind you can build an app for. They're the kind you send photos from as an MMS or you copy the photos from onto your laptop and then send them to us by another method.

Phones are getting to the point where they're replacing compact cameras for a lot of people - and they have more than enough resolution at this point to give you a half-decent image. Any image of a news event is better than no image at all. We love fantastic photos from high-end cameras just as much as any of you, but that's not always what's available.

Whether you like it or not, phone cameras as they are now are the worst they will ever be. In the next few years they're only going to get better. We need to be ready for this, and we need to start getting used to it now while the volume of such photos we'll be ingesting is still relatively low.

Clinging to the idea that only certain people with certain equipment and certain training can or should be journalists is something that Demotix was, in part, set up to challenge. Even with that said, this isn't a threat to any of the stuff we already do - it's an addition to our already-extensive repertoire.

That is a good argument. I agree that the Camera phone will/has already replaced the entry and mid level P&S cameras for "ordinary people". A lot of Pro Togs cary a high end P&S around as back up or when they are "not carrying a camera"

Interestingly the high end P&S or mirror less non DSLR cameras are starting to have changeable lenses. This could become the mainstay of the street journalist in a few years. Some have even said the end of the DSLR is in sight.

However TODAY an iPhone app is not the most important thing Demotix could be doing. The list of things that do need doing is long.

Chris, Ron Haviv has been using the iPhone professionally, I think several PJs in VII did. Karim Ben Khelifa did too in the Middle East uprising, and as things are getting harder for PJs to work in those environments, more PJs will use them, because it allows to blend in more than a DSLR while still providing adequate quality for publishing.
I think it's a wise move, even when I don't have an iPhone either.

Its getting the image that counts and i know a good few photojournalists who have used a camera phone to get images that would not have been possible due to safety concerns etc. The quality as Patricio says is more than good enough for publication when the alternative is no image at all. Some of the london riot images were taken by phone due to safety problems etc. Lewis Whyld of the Press Association shot some great images with a camera phone.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-15519194

iPhone app great idea and forward thinking too. Reading the BBC news article you linked to was saying that "Facebook and Twitter are dominated by pictures taken and shared via the iPhone."

So very popular & highly likely to be at breaking news events.

Ok, not everyone has one, but so many people do, I am thinking that it is probably the single most popular phone out there.

Keep up the good work

Barnie.

Seriously, why do we have to have negative comments about advancements at Demotix, sure the website needs more work, and I'm sure they are taking care of that, but any new way to access/distribute users images is fantastic, citizenside has had smart phones apps for a while so this is great news that Demotix also now have one in the can.

I have been at events and snapped a couple of images to tweet on the spot, try doing that from your Nikon D4 but wait cameras with apps are already here...

http://www.petapixel.com/2012/01/11/polaroid-unveils-new-android-powered-camera-that-looks-like-a-phone/

...so these type of apps & new technology are exactly what Demotix should be adding to their tech line up, take a look at CNN, Sky News, Al Jazeera, BBC News (two of which I have worked for) and you will see cameraphone images & video everyday, oh wait, they all have smartphone apps for uploading images, images that could have been uploaded to Demotix!!!

I'm sure a simple 'Congratulations' and possibly a 'keep up the good work' would be appreciated by the hard workers at Demotix.

So, Congratulations - Keep up the good work!!!

Thanks to Peter and everyone else - it's much appreciated! I think I can say that on behalf of everyone!

right on que this arrived in my inbox
http://www.naturalexposures.com/corkboard/dslrs-are-a-dying-breed-trey-ratcliff-lays-out-the-coming-changes/

I think my allowances would be busted if I only used my iPhone for photojournalism

The main advantage I see of the iPhone app is the speed at which you can get a news breaking image out to the buying market. A image sent out to the world within minutes of something happening can be the lead image for many news outlets until other images come in. Being the first with the image can be incredibly important. Look at how fast the image of Prince William kissing Catherine on the balcony of Buckingham Palace got onto the Internet - within seconds. Agencies like AFP used satellite phones linked to their cameras because they knew the mobile phone network would be too slow.

The original page posted by Tom suggested that the iPhone image would be the first image sent out, with more detailed images taken by normal cameras following later.

We are all competing for our images to be used and we are up against loads of other photo agencies like Getty, Rex, Alpha, Alamy, LNP etc etc. As Tom stated in the original post that Speed is everything. I once missed out on some images that would have earn me in excess of £100,000 as I was one of the first on the scene at the Buncefield Oil disaster in Hemel Hempstead. If I had an Internet connected mobile phone then my image would have been the first to hit every news desk in the world. An hour later the images were worthless as everyone else had arrived and taken loads of photos. At the time I only had a compact camera with me and no way of sending the images out to the market.

I take on board the other comments noted above and I am sure the systems at Demotix will grow from strength to strength as the whole team grows and more and more sales come in.

So, Congratulations to the team at Demotix and Keep up the good work!!!

If it comes down to a choice between using the camera you have to hand ie a smartphone, or not 'getting the shot'.

Who as a photographer, nevermind a photojournalist would seriously settle for the latter?

A great step forward towards fast news publishing all over the globe ...i enjoyed the Demotix iPhone application....and i hope Demotix team make an update for the App to fix some errors while uploading ....

thanks for being so patient and reporting when you had trouble Adham, it will be a big help for the next version!

Hi there...I just download the iPhone aplication but on an iPod not on an iPhone.I try to sign in but it says that my username or password are wrong( but they are correct).is there a problem that it's not on an iPhone?also it's says something like: you have to start location services to continue with this application.any suggestions?thanks.

To sign in Demotix iPhone app. You just have to write your user name and create an upload code found in Demotix settings .and about the location service is also found in the settings area on the iPhone or the iPad either .

Thanks for explaining Adham.

Socrates: we need the location information so that you don't have to write what city and country you're uploading from.

Don't use the password to login, but your upload code (as Adham explained). Find out how to set it up here:

http://www.demotix.com/uploading-faq#How_do_I_changeadd_an_Upload_Code

Happy shooting!