[Leica] IMG: A Surprise for Christmas

[reid at mejac.carlsbad.ca.us (Brian Reid)]

> Both sets of parents are ecstatic and neither of us have any
> grandchildren. Maybe I need a new camera :-)

Pretty much all I photograph these days is grandchildren, of which I now 
have 3. And other family.

My Q2 is perfect in every way photographically, and has insanely great 
image quality, but in reviewing my 2020 grandchild photographs I 
discovered that 90% of the good ones were taken with my iPhone.

Phone camera advantages:
   --I always have it with me and it always has a charged battery.
   --Image quality is surprisingly good.
   --It does not intimidate young children. It is a small and familiar 
device.
   --It is waterproof with an IP67 rating. I can take it where the 
children are, without worrying.
   --It has good enough image editing and comms capability built in that 
you can publish a picture directly from the phone 60 seconds after you 
have taken it.

By contrast, on the Q2 and most other "actual cameras"
   --The WiFi/comms interface on the Q2 is pathetic, and it has primitive 
photo editing capability.
   --Camera, battery, and charger together are bigger and heavier than a 
toddler's head.
   --The ergonomics of the camera body make it clumsy to use the touch 
screen. I find that because of how I need to hold the camera, it is easy 
to make accidental contact with the touch screen. This means that I have 
to check, before every picture, that the autofocus set point has not 
been accidentally moved. My phone has a vastly more powerful computer in 
it than my camera does. The camera is not nearly as good at identifying 
things for autofocus as the phone is.

My Q2 gives me tremendous control over what the picture is like, how it 
is framed, how it is focused, managing the depth of field, and so forth. 
My grandchildren have attention spans of about 5 seconds (even the 
19-year-old), so there is often not enough time to use all of the 
control that the camera gives me. I can't tell a 2 1/2-year-old who has 
just been given a new Buzz Lightyear doll that I'd like her to look at 
me again because I was adjusting the camera during the half second of 
her previous pose.