7 ms·

They say the best camera is the one you have on you at the time. This holds true with my experience; even with a dedicated camera I have many more photos taken

by d4mi3n 5y ago

They say the best camera is the one you have on you at the time. This holds true with my experience; even with a dedicated camera I have many more photos taken with my smartphone.

pjmlp 5y ago
I agree, and the compact camera diminishing market shows that.
ehnto 5y ago
Yep, my travel photos are split between DSLR photos and phone photos, the phone photos are usually way more interesting because they were of things I was otherwise never going to capture.
- photojosh 5y ago
  mine are split between phone photos and tough camera photos, which are of worse quality than the phone ones but... > I was otherwise never going to capture ;)
- jiggawatts 5y ago
  Conversely I have a good DSLR with very good glass attached, as well as M4/3 pocket camera, and two phones. After the trip I dump everything into one Lightroom album and go through picking out the keepers without looking at the specific camera model used. My typical result is 80% DSLR, 10% pocket camera, 10% phones.
  - nomel 5y ago
    What do you think is the biggest "keeper" differentiator for you, between the three, that favors the DSLR? For me, it used to be dynamic range, but now I basically can't making my (older) DSLR pictures look as good as my iPhone pictures.
    - bigyikes 5y ago
      The resolution and detail on a “real” camera is killer for me. I can save photos with the crop much more easily. Also, portrait mode is good, but nothing beats real bokeh.
    - fennecfoxy 5y ago
      The reason I bought my A7II is so that I can: * Get more light in with massive full frame lenses (and hence less noise) * Ability to use lens hoods, xenon flashes, easier to use tripods * Have more lens options available (even though the prices make me cry) that use the same (main) sensor (as opposed to phones with multiple lenses, telephoto etc tend to use low res/smaller sensors) * (the biggest point) so I can take a photo, have the RAW and know that the only thing applied to it is the colour profile; no AI photo magic, no Apple saturation boosting, etc When I take a photo with my A7II I know what I have on the card is the photo _I_ took. With a phone who tf knows what the image processing chip has done to it to make it "look good".
      - ants_a 5y ago
        I found a nice compromise in Fuji's crop system. The cameras are about as small as can be while still retaining reasonable handling (having tons of mechanical knobs helps). My experience was that outside of some extreme special cases I don't want to make use of the large apertures enabled by full frame, the depth of field is just too small. And if you don't need that light gathering capability you can get smaller lenses. It's pretty nice being able to fit camera with a normal zoom, tele-zoom, wide pancake and normal prime into a 3L sling bag. Regarding processing vs. RAW, all images are processed, there really is no such thing as a "true" photo. If the on device processed photo looks good then life is so much easier. If you can't trust the device processing or want to tweak the last millimetre out of the photo, even Apple devices can give you the RAW sensor data these days.
    - SAI_Peregrinus 5y ago
      I'm not them, but I have a similar process. I've got a mirrorless instead of DSLR, and a supertelephoto zoom lens (Sony a7R4 with 200-600mm f/5.6-6.3 lens). I've also got a superzoom (Tamron 28-200mm f/2.8-5.6) lens for closeup and occasional landscape images. I'm mostly interested in taking pictures of birds, including in flight. So long focal length is the biggest benefit. High resolution (allowing for deep crops while still getting a decent sized output) is another benefit. Good tracking auto-focus is another. I use my phone mostly if there's a pretty landscape or flower and I don't want to switch lenses. I'm also willing to use my phone in some situations I wouldn't risk the camera & lens, eg while kayaking (in a waterproof case with lanyard). And of course the phone is lighter, so in everyday situations I'll have it, if I want to take a picture.
anticodon 5y ago
There're compact cameras with decent quality and not overly big or heavy. I use Canon G9X Mark II. It produces photos of much better quality than the best smartphone camera I had (without software tricks that could be applied to Canon photos afterwards anyway), and it is small enough to carry it with me all the time in the pocket.
- photojosh 5y ago
  the tricks with high dynamic range (software combine two shots), night photos (take loads of photos and pick the sharpest bits vs tripod) are way more work to do after the fact
- dsego 5y ago
  And then you want to apply a snazzy filter and instantly share your photo to all your friends via whatsapp or instagram.
  - anticodon 5y ago
    When I have a feeling that I would like to share the picture with my friends instantly, I also take it on my phone. Also, Canon G9X has bluetooth and wifi interfaces and phone app that allows quick downloading and sharing of photos (although it is indeed slower and more cumbersome than sharing directly from the phone camera app).
- zimpenfish 5y ago
  I've got a Powershot and the problem I find, compared with my phone, is the time it takes from "oh there's something" to actually being able to take a photo - for my phone, it's maybe 2-3s (if the Camera app isn't already open; more like 1-2s if it is.) For the Powershot, it's always 10s+.
  - exporectomy 5y ago
    Back in the olden days, cheap cameras had no latency at all. Just press the button and it takes the picture instantly. I've often tried to find something like that but things keep getting worse. Iphone tries to help with a camera on the lock screen but there's still a lot of tapping and swiping and waiting.

by d4mi3n 5y ago

They say the best camera is the one you have on you at the time. This holds true with my experience; even with a dedicated camera I have many more photos taken with my smartphone.

pjmlp 5y ago

I agree, and the compact camera diminishing market shows that.

ehnto 5y ago

Yep, my travel photos are split between DSLR photos and phone photos, the phone photos are usually way more interesting because they were of things I was otherwise never going to capture.

photojosh 5y ago
mine are split between phone photos and tough camera photos, which are of worse quality than the phone ones but... > I was otherwise never going to capture ;)
jiggawatts 5y ago
Conversely I have a good DSLR with very good glass attached, as well as M4/3 pocket camera, and two phones. After the trip I dump everything into one Lightroom album and go through picking out the keepers without looking at the specific camera model used. My typical result is 80% DSLR, 10% pocket camera, 10% phones.
- nomel 5y ago
  What do you think is the biggest "keeper" differentiator for you, between the three, that favors the DSLR? For me, it used to be dynamic range, but now I basically can't making my (older) DSLR pictures look as good as my iPhone pictures.
  - bigyikes 5y ago
    The resolution and detail on a “real” camera is killer for me. I can save photos with the crop much more easily. Also, portrait mode is good, but nothing beats real bokeh.
  - fennecfoxy 5y ago
    The reason I bought my A7II is so that I can: * Get more light in with massive full frame lenses (and hence less noise) * Ability to use lens hoods, xenon flashes, easier to use tripods * Have more lens options available (even though the prices make me cry) that use the same (main) sensor (as opposed to phones with multiple lenses, telephoto etc tend to use low res/smaller sensors) * (the biggest point) so I can take a photo, have the RAW and know that the only thing applied to it is the colour profile; no AI photo magic, no Apple saturation boosting, etc When I take a photo with my A7II I know what I have on the card is the photo _I_ took. With a phone who tf knows what the image processing chip has done to it to make it "look good".
    - ants_a 5y ago
      I found a nice compromise in Fuji's crop system. The cameras are about as small as can be while still retaining reasonable handling (having tons of mechanical knobs helps). My experience was that outside of some extreme special cases I don't want to make use of the large apertures enabled by full frame, the depth of field is just too small. And if you don't need that light gathering capability you can get smaller lenses. It's pretty nice being able to fit camera with a normal zoom, tele-zoom, wide pancake and normal prime into a 3L sling bag. Regarding processing vs. RAW, all images are processed, there really is no such thing as a "true" photo. If the on device processed photo looks good then life is so much easier. If you can't trust the device processing or want to tweak the last millimetre out of the photo, even Apple devices can give you the RAW sensor data these days.
  - SAI_Peregrinus 5y ago
    I'm not them, but I have a similar process. I've got a mirrorless instead of DSLR, and a supertelephoto zoom lens (Sony a7R4 with 200-600mm f/5.6-6.3 lens). I've also got a superzoom (Tamron 28-200mm f/2.8-5.6) lens for closeup and occasional landscape images. I'm mostly interested in taking pictures of birds, including in flight. So long focal length is the biggest benefit. High resolution (allowing for deep crops while still getting a decent sized output) is another benefit. Good tracking auto-focus is another. I use my phone mostly if there's a pretty landscape or flower and I don't want to switch lenses. I'm also willing to use my phone in some situations I wouldn't risk the camera & lens, eg while kayaking (in a waterproof case with lanyard). And of course the phone is lighter, so in everyday situations I'll have it, if I want to take a picture.

anticodon 5y ago

There're compact cameras with decent quality and not overly big or heavy. I use Canon G9X Mark II. It produces photos of much better quality than the best smartphone camera I had (without software tricks that could be applied to Canon photos afterwards anyway), and it is small enough to carry it with me all the time in the pocket.

photojosh 5y ago
the tricks with high dynamic range (software combine two shots), night photos (take loads of photos and pick the sharpest bits vs tripod) are way more work to do after the fact
dsego 5y ago
And then you want to apply a snazzy filter and instantly share your photo to all your friends via whatsapp or instagram.
- anticodon 5y ago
  When I have a feeling that I would like to share the picture with my friends instantly, I also take it on my phone. Also, Canon G9X has bluetooth and wifi interfaces and phone app that allows quick downloading and sharing of photos (although it is indeed slower and more cumbersome than sharing directly from the phone camera app).
zimpenfish 5y ago
I've got a Powershot and the problem I find, compared with my phone, is the time it takes from "oh there's something" to actually being able to take a photo - for my phone, it's maybe 2-3s (if the Camera app isn't already open; more like 1-2s if it is.) For the Powershot, it's always 10s+.
- exporectomy 5y ago
  Back in the olden days, cheap cameras had no latency at all. Just press the button and it takes the picture instantly. I've often tried to find something like that but things keep getting worse. Iphone tries to help with a camera on the lock screen but there's still a lot of tapping and swiping and waiting.