In this day and age, many options regarding how we capture our memories circulate the market. Of these, 2 have been around and popular among the masses for quite a while now. The iPhone quality cameras have been circulating ever since the phones became popular, but don’t always receive the best feedback. Polaroids, on the other hand, fluctuate in their popularity.
As a more commonly used option, iPhone cameras definitely do enough to get the job done. With their flash and .5 features, these cameras certainly have aspects that are only novel to them. Found in every phone you purchase, these cameras do have a tendency to differ in quality depending on the model of the phone. Camera quality may be one of the most important aspects we look for when deciding which phone to purchase, but no matter which one we choose, there are some things that an iPhone camera is bound to limit, such as the limiting features it contains like the small variety of editing functions, as well as the boring aesthetics of pictures, can make these cameras less appealing to younger generations. The fact that your phone is in your hands at all times makes the idea of having a built-in camera to go along with it even more accessible to use. But, with the new generation, many feel the need to elevate their pictures from the same boring forms.
With new variations of aesthetics circulating within the younger generations, polaroid pictures came back into play. With customizable borders, and a fixed type of aesthetic, these cameras became a big staple for all teen households. Although they are extremely useful for those people who like having physical photo memories, many argue that polaroids shouldn’t be our go-to staple for photos. Costing more than about 80 dollars, plus the cost of the individual film strips, taking pictures on these becomes fairly expensive. Individual film papers can cost anywhere from 1-3 dollars, all just for one take. On top of their extremely high costs, they only allow for one take of the actual picture before it is printed out. With the physical pictures being fairly small, and often low quality, it becomes hard to get the perfect photo to capture your memories. So, with phones being portable and often very accessible, polaroids find themselves falling short on convenience. Their size, price, and features make them an expensive investment.
No matter what you use, the main purpose of taking photos is to capture your memories. Whether they lie forever in your phone, or physically on a tiny space on your wall, they will forever be used by many generations to come.
