Nokia’s New ‘Goodbye DSLR’ 1020 Ad Will Either Make You Laugh or Piss You Off
What’s the best way to entice the professional photography market to buy into your device? Insult them of course! At least that seems to be Nokia’s strategy in its latest Lumia 1020 Ad, “Goodbye DSLR, Hello Lumia 1020.”
Now, before the cries of “you can’t take a joke” and “quit taking yourself so seriously” start, understand that I don’t mind people poking fun at photographers or the photography industry as a whole. I get a kick out of it. I spend somewhere in the vicinity of 100% of my waking hours running a major photography blog. Taking myself too seriously is a quick way to develop ulcers and/or go bald.
I also love the Lumia 1020. A camera phone with RAW capability, manual controls and 41-megapixels of resolution that takes photography seriously and can hang with some great compacts gets a gold star in my book.
And yet, this ad pissed me off. Mainly because it represents everything I fought against when I was a meager digital camera salesman at a major electronics retailer. To this day, the “but my smartphone has just as many megapixels as THAT thing” comment sets my grey matter aflame.
You can imagine how I felt, then, when Nokia decides to ridicule the DSLR in (I’ll admit it) clever but ultimately aggravating fashion. Why would you need a DSLR when the 1020 has more megapixels than most SLRs AND *gasp* full manual controls! For goodness sake, they’ve even ‘reinvented’ zoom so you never have to understand a thing about composition ever again!
Why indeed? I can just imagine the professional photog with tens of thousands invested in amazing glass heaving a sigh and, with one last wistful look at their gear bag, putting everything up on eBay. Why would they need it anymore… they can have a Lumia 1020?
Perhaps I’m overreacting. In fact, I’m pretty certain I am. But dang it, I respected this company and phone until this ad ran. Obviously no serious photographers will be swayed by what they see here to toss away their gear — and there’s no doubt the 1020 is a great camera phone worthy of gracing a professional’s pocket.
But there are people who will be swayed. And something inside of me cringes at the many camera salesman who, because of this ad, will be forced to take a deep breath… count to ten… and then explain why exactly portability and ease of use (and maybe sharing ability) are pretty much the only advantages of the Lumia.
Oh, and if the video seems a little low-quality compared to most commercials, it’s probably because it was shot entirely on the Lumia 1020… Right tool for the right situation folks.
(via Photography Bay)
