The iPhone 5S in Hand

Apple delivered my new iPhone on Wednesday, a day earlier than they had originally estimated. That was great news for me.

I upgrade my iPhone every other model. I was still enjoying the 2 year old iPhone 4S when the latest was announced. But this particular upgrade was a no-brainer for me. The improved camera, faster processor, and larger screen size were too much for me to resist. Plus, the iPhone 5 is so light. It's really quite amazing.

Last night I published my first iPhone 5S picture on Instagram. Not only did the image of the classic main building of Santa Rosa High look terrific, the entire process of capture and publish was quite enjoyable.

It's hard to explain, but to me, the iPhone 5S just glides. It does everything with such ease. Scrolling through Instagram pictures, browsing web pages, reading the news... it just seems so effortless.

As I've said before, if I had to choose only one electronic gizmo for my desert island, it would be an iPhone (as long as I had decent cellular reception). The iPhone is one of those rare devices that's as useful as it is fun to use.

- Derrick 

Cloud Services

I just ordered my iPhone 5S, and I didn't have to spend the extra money for the 64 GB model, in part, because I take advantage of Cloud services to manage my music and much of my photography. 

Music files, 8 MP photographs, and videos consume lots of internal memory.  Now that we have better bandwidth with our cellular, and are often in the presence of WiFi, letting Apple store my music via iTunes Match ($25 a year) and iCloud for photos (free). And there are many great services by others, such as Dropbox, that provide this same capability.

Personally, I like the 32 GB iPhones. They cost $299 with my 2-year AT&T contract (vs $399 for the 64 GB) and provide lots of head room when combined with Cloud services. 

The added benefit of using online storage is that all of your content is automatically backed up. When I take a picture with my iPhone, it's immediately copied to Photo Stream. So if I leave my iPhone in a NY taxi, I only lose the device, not those great photos I had just captured in Times Square.

High nimbleosity rating

Nimbleosity is a state of lightness.

A camera bag that weighs less than others has a high nimbleosity rating. My Olympus OM-D with F/1.8 lens is more nimble than my Canon 5D Mark II with the 35mm F/1.4 lens. The Olympus is both lighter and smaller than the Canon.

Nimbleosity Is also about using less. Why should I pack four pairs of shoes while traveling when two will serve me well? Do I really need to carry seven camera lenses? And can I get by with an iPad, instead of a computer, a mouse, hard drives, and power brick?

But most importantly, nimbleosity is a state of mind. "Angels fly because they take themselves lightly." Children often learn faster than adults because they don't have the image of intelligence to maintain.

There are things we need to take seriously: our responsibilities, our family, our friends. But not ourselves. We can create more with a light heart because we are free to experiment. So packing a small camera bag is only the first step toward nimbleosity. Moving lightly through the world is when the real magic begins.

If I were stranded on a desert island...

... and could only have one device, what would that be? Well, if there were cellular coverage, it would be the iPhone 5S (that's soon to be released). I mean, talk about a high nimbleosity rating. 

Here's the thing: I'm happiest when I have my not-very-big Lowepro shoulder bag with an iPad and OM-D inside. Add a lens or two and a flash, and I feel like I can photograph and write about any situation I encounter.  

But that's my reporter kit. That's the briefcase I pack when I'm out to find a story and publish it.  

The iPhone, on the other hand, is my "I don't give a darn what anyone thinks of this picture but I'm going to take it" camera.   It encourages me to take photos that I would have passed on before. 

And even though the iPhone's aim to handle the physics of photography for us so we get good shots without worrying about shutter speeds and aperture, knowing the physics of photography makes it that much more powerful in my hands. 

When I walk the door, I have my wallet in one front pocket and the iPhone in the other. With those two things, the world is my stage. 

- Derrick

WiFi Enabled

Camera manufacturers are finally figuring out how to integrate WiFi into their cameras. I should say, integrating *usable* WiFi into their cameras. This is a fairly big deal for nimble photographers.

Here's an example why. We had a birthday celebration last night, and I put these fun multi-colored flamed candles on the cake. Everyone was oohing and aahing over them, when someone finally remarked, "Isn't someone going to take a picture of this?"

Now, I could have shot the image with my iPhone. But I don't think I could have balanced the colorful flames, dark chocolate cake, and ambient room light as well as I did with the Canon PowerShot N camera that was in my pocket. Here's a link to the image so you can see for yourself.

Since the PowerShot N has built-in WiFi (that's easy to use), I could send the image directly to my iPhone and publish on Instagram. This is certainly a case of "ease of use leads to action." I like this workflow so much, that every camera I currently shoot with either has WiFi built in, or uses a WiFi memory card (such as an Eye-Fi Mobi) to connect to my iPad and iPhone. 

Yes, later when I have time, I upload images to my Mac and organize them in Aperture. But for my daily (and sometimes nightly) publishing, going directly from camera to mobile device keeps the pictures flowing online.

- Derrick