Vertov: Why The Camera Is Better Than Humans

For Vertov, the camera is superior than the human eye because it possesses greater visual ability. The human eye is limited in range - it can see a certain distance from a singular perspective and is limited to the mobility of the human body. The camera, however, has unlimited visual potential: it can zoom in and zoom out, focus on the tiniest details or survey a far reaching landscape. The camera is more mobile than the human eye. It can goes places humans can't, such as under trains (Man with a Movie Camera), and can be rotated and flipped over to give unconventional perspectives. When this visual potential is combined with montage editing, a more elaborate and complex vision of the world is achieved.