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I used to do a lot of shooting with my Canon 5D. I had thousands of dollars in various lenses, plus some specialized flashes, etc. It took great pictures, but
by brk 2y ago
I used to do a lot of shooting with my Canon 5D. I had thousands of dollars in various lenses, plus some specialized flashes, etc. It took great pictures, but all that gear was bulky and heavy.
99% of the time I wasn't taking pictures with the intent of blowing them up to poster-size prints, or selling them to major publications. I was just taking pictures to document and share elements of day to day life.
(You probably see where this is going).
Smartphone cameras have kept up well enough with most consumer needs that it would be really hard to justify carrying a dedicated camera. Further, that camera would need to have all of the features of a smart phone camera (eg: filters, touchscreen, lightweight editing, etc. As you also pointed out) that it makes it unlikely to exist in a practical manner.
I will say I'm slightly surprised we haven't see an external "lens and sensor only" gadget that pairs with a phone. Use this gadget to capture a better raw image, and then use the phone to do everything else. Could be a USB/cable tether, or even some form of wireless (bluetooth is probably too slow though?).
tl;dr - I'm not carrying a dedicated camera around, no matter how much better the images might be.
- cmrdporcupine 2y ago"I will say I'm slightly surprised we haven't see an external "lens and sensor only" gadget that pairs with a phone." We have. They've all failed. Olympus tried (2016): https://www.pcmag.com/reviews/olympus-air-a01 https://www.pcmag.com/reviews/olympus-air-a01 Alice Camera is a kickstarter thing that might be about to ship now finally? https://www.alice.camera/ https://www.alice.camera/ And there's another recent one, SwitchLens: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/halohub/switchlens-power-up-your-smartphone-into-a-pro-camera https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/halohub/switchlens-powe... There's others that have been tried too I think?
- vel0city 2y agoSony also had a product line of these kinds of devices a decade ago. You know its an old review when one of the cons listed is "No support for Windows Phone." https://www.pcmag.com/reviews/sony-cyber-shot-dsc-qx10 https://www.pcmag.com/reviews/sony-cyber-shot-dsc-qx10
- dingaling 2y agoYongnuo offered the YN450, an Android camera with enormous Canon EF mount: https://www.digitalcameraworld.com/news/yongnuo-yn450-android-camera-micro-four-thirds-sensor-canon-ef-mount https://www.digitalcameraworld.com/news/yongnuo-yn450-androi...
- cmrdporcupine 2y agoMind boggling they put an EF mount over a 4/3rds sensor! M43 lenses are smaller and cheaper and the mount spec is an open standard and license free I believe. Personally I like analog dials and like to have them configured to control ISO and shutter speed, so would have a hard time using a touch-screen only system like this. Same problem I have with the Sigma camera.
- ChainOfFools 2y agoI looked at the Alice camera, and immediately had to suppress the urge to sign up for the kickstarter while I took a step back to consider that this will end up in the tech junk drawer after a few novelty outings. It fails the same 'one extra thing to carry around and keep protected while not in use, which is most of the time' test as small mirrorless point and shoots and micro four thirds interchangeable lens cameras ( speaking as a long time OM-D user and enthusiast) And if it's possible to affix it to my phone it will also get left home sooner rather than later, because now all of my phone accessories, mag safe chargers, car mounts, cases, etc no longer fit, which makes it cumbersome to carry around and use as a phone.
- cmrdporcupine 2y agoFunny I forget about my phone and barely use it, while my Olympus PEN E-PL8 goes with me everywhere :-) My phone gets used for Android Auto and 2FA and that's about it. But to me the Alice thing is the worst of both worlds. Still need to use the stupid touchscreen LCD (which sucks for my aging eyes), doesn't have analog controls. But is still a bulkyish object. Hang anything other than a pancake lens on that, and the ergonomics are going to blow, too.
- seltzered_ 2y agoSony QX series, as mentioned in my other comment: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=40970490 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=40970490
- Suppafly 2y ago>I will say I'm slightly surprised we haven't see an external "lens and sensor only" gadget that pairs with a phone. This, camera tech on phones is great, but it's never better than a dedicated device. Plus, the models with best cameras aren't always the best phone experience. An external camera device that you could attach lenses and such to, but could dump the data on to your phone, and get GPS and such from your phone, would be a great middle ground.
- hef19898 2y agoCamera tech on a phone is automated post-processing. Nothing else.