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I still shot (for still life images, mostly, with external flash) with a D60 until I upgraded that to an used, beat-up D700. You can definitely get much better

I still shot (for still life images, mostly, with external flash) with a D60 until I upgraded that to an used, beat-up D700. You can definitely get much better images if you have a good lens, and on older cameras good lighting or very good form. But more modern smartphone lenses and software are plenty good for certain types of photography (and especially video). I shoot less and less with my D750 and D700 (in non-studio / non-low-light-event situations), and more and more with my iPhone, because of the convenience and portability. But there are definitely types of pictures that can't be taken without good glass and a larger sensor size. No software can simulate the physics that makes a longer focal length make a great portrait. (You just can't stuff that quality of glass into such a small lens, and the sensor can't physically gather enough photons to compete.)

fock 7y ago
basically I can agree on the basic premise of shooting holiday pictures with an iphone. it works well, as long as there is lots of light. If there's less (and even just rain), quality get's wonky. Today not "can't put into a family-album"-wonky but more like "won't make a magazine cover or desktop background or simple posterprint"-wonky. Which is perfectly fine for everyone of course, but given that you have to buy high-end (my very own 150$ Android One device has no such camera) and a central theme of this high-end innovation is that you buy a new device every 2 years (nowadays mainly advertised through the camera) and then throw the old one away, I just decided to buy a small ILC (EOS M10 on sale) and use that for taking pictures until the shutter dies (at times where my main camera is too big (and thus most would use a mobile)). Works fine for me and with 12mm/2 and 22mm/2 lenses I can (the 2010ish sensor notwithstanding) still only grin at the nightmode of the newest iPhone or the star mode of Google...
JorgeGT 7y ago
D70, D60... I think it's inevitable to add that I still use my D50 with a 20 years old 28-105mm f/3.5-4.5D that I bought second-hand on eBay. While I agree that "the best camera in the world is the one that you have with you right now" and nowadays we always have our phones, I encourage people who enjoy taking pictures in their phones to try a second hand camera with a good lens. Seriously, even a beat-up one from eBay, just try! Costs way less than a new flagship phone and the difference is still amazing. And nowadays it's not difficult at all to learn how to use them decently, don't be afraid!
rconti 7y ago
Agreed. I bring all my travel photos into Lightroom which I subsequently edit on a 5k display. Today I travel with an iPhone 11 Pro and a Fuji X-T2. In the past it's been whatever current-gen iPhone and pocket cameras like the Sony RX-100Mk3, Canon S110, Canon S95, and DSLRs like a Nikon D3000 and D50. It used to be, the photos looked better on the phone after shooting them, just because the screen was so much better, but once imported to the computer, the iPhone photos looked like an oil painting even compared to a upper midrange P+S pocket camera, let alone a DSLR. It wasn't even close. These days, between the XT-2 and the iPhone 11 Pro, it's hard to tell which is which. Sometimes the iPhone looks better as-shot because of the image processing presets. Other times it's the Fuji. At 1:1 on a 5k display it's just not as obvious as it was when the pixels were blown up more. Even in good light, yes, the sharpness on the Fuji is better, but not by leaps and bounds. Not in a way that would be immediately obvious to anyone walking by the computer as it used to be. I've never bought high-end glass, and frankly, some of my earlier DSLR photos are pretty bad compared to what my iPhone returns these days.
- ISL 7y ago
  Rent some high-end glass sometime when you're bored. It is enlightening both in its capability and when realizing that a lot of consumer glass is wonderful, especially at ~f/8 (here's looking at you, nifty-fifty).

fock 7y ago

basically I can agree on the basic premise of shooting holiday pictures with an iphone. it works well, as long as there is lots of light. If there's less (and even just rain), quality get's wonky. Today not "can't put into a family-album"-wonky but more like "won't make a magazine cover or desktop background or simple posterprint"-wonky. Which is perfectly fine for everyone of course, but given that you have to buy high-end (my very own 150$ Android One device has no such camera) and a central theme of this high-end innovation is that you buy a new device every 2 years (nowadays mainly advertised through the camera) and then throw the old one away, I just decided to buy a small ILC (EOS M10 on sale) and use that for taking pictures until the shutter dies (at times where my main camera is too big (and thus most would use a mobile)). Works fine for me and with 12mm/2 and 22mm/2 lenses I can (the 2010ish sensor notwithstanding) still only grin at the nightmode of the newest iPhone or the star mode of Google...

JorgeGT 7y ago

D70, D60... I think it's inevitable to add that I still use my D50 with a 20 years old 28-105mm f/3.5-4.5D that I bought second-hand on eBay. While I agree that "the best camera in the world is the one that you have with you right now" and nowadays we always have our phones, I encourage people who enjoy taking pictures in their phones to try a second hand camera with a good lens. Seriously, even a beat-up one from eBay, just try! Costs way less than a new flagship phone and the difference is still amazing. And nowadays it's not difficult at all to learn how to use them decently, don't be afraid!

rconti 7y ago

Agreed. I bring all my travel photos into Lightroom which I subsequently edit on a 5k display. Today I travel with an iPhone 11 Pro and a Fuji X-T2. In the past it's been whatever current-gen iPhone and pocket cameras like the Sony RX-100Mk3, Canon S110, Canon S95, and DSLRs like a Nikon D3000 and D50. It used to be, the photos looked better on the phone after shooting them, just because the screen was so much better, but once imported to the computer, the iPhone photos looked like an oil painting even compared to a upper midrange P+S pocket camera, let alone a DSLR. It wasn't even close. These days, between the XT-2 and the iPhone 11 Pro, it's hard to tell which is which. Sometimes the iPhone looks better as-shot because of the image processing presets. Other times it's the Fuji. At 1:1 on a 5k display it's just not as obvious as it was when the pixels were blown up more. Even in good light, yes, the sharpness on the Fuji is better, but not by leaps and bounds. Not in a way that would be immediately obvious to anyone walking by the computer as it used to be. I've never bought high-end glass, and frankly, some of my earlier DSLR photos are pretty bad compared to what my iPhone returns these days.

ISL 7y ago
Rent some high-end glass sometime when you're bored. It is enlightening both in its capability and when realizing that a lot of consumer glass is wonderful, especially at ~f/8 (here's looking at you, nifty-fifty).