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> A lot of people I speak to when traveling are quite disappointed in what comes out of their phones but naively assume it’s the status quo. Is that the case?

> A lot of people I speak to when traveling are quite disappointed in what comes out of their phones but naively assume it’s the status quo. Is that the case? I think it takes one to be a photography enthusiast/nerd to care enough to carry a camera with them. Most people I meet just want a phone "with a good camera". Phone cameras in this sense do not compete with real cameras, it is pretty obvious one can get a better camera if you remove the constraints that a smartphone's physical body brings. I think it is pretty illogical for one to think that smartphones have as good cameras as a good real camera, having all these space constrains and whatnot, so I doubt people really believe that the phone cameras are the status quo. Some people may be "disappointed" by their smartphone's photos (because they are able to objectively determine it) when they travel but most won't get a real camera because essentially they do not care that much as to buy/carry an additional object (or they do not have the money). For me, I am just happy that my phone now takes photos "that look good" even if I have no idea or skill on how to take good photos really, though I can appreciate if there is somebody with me with a real camera who does. And even if I had a real camera, I doubt I have the skill to take something better than the software-modified one I get from my phone.

gazchop 2y ago
I don't disagree with most of this. The thoughts around it only come from that one day you will inevitably have where you take a really good photo on your phone. Then you get home and realise that it's actually trash. This was my one https://imgur.com/a/rPCJwcR https://imgur.com/a/rPCJwcR (thanks Google!) Lots of people have this day and decide they'll keep that phone a couple more years and buy a camera with the upgrade cycle money. I think when I am travelling around 25% of people have mirrorless or DLSRs now compared to 5% a couple of years ago. A 10+ year old Nikon D3100 with kit lens is still a better camera then a 2024 iPhone Pro and doesn't cost a lot of money. Across Europe at least people have a lot of distrust of their phones as well. I suspect some of that is driving adoption. I even see film cameras regularly now as well (!).
- freehorse 2y ago
  > This was my one https://imgur.com/a/rPCJwcR https://imgur.com/a/rPCJwcR (thanks Google!) Wow this is really bad. Was it zoomed? If this is the case, it is interesting that it is still 4k resolution and companies prioritize "4k" even with horrible processing or whatever artifacts are these, rather than reducing resolution eg when zooming. Similar with low light, where binning the pixels could increase light sensitivity. If it is not zoomed in, it is much worse.
  - gazchop 2y ago
    It's 2:1 zoom on a 64MP main camera on a Google Pixel 7A. It absolutely destroyed it. Wasn't low light either.
    - foldr 2y ago
      If that's really only 2x zoom then I don't know how you can possibly have gotten a result that bad. I don't have a Pixel 7A, but it's certainly not representative of what 2x zoom looks like in daylight on a recent iPhone Pro. (My Pixel 3a used to do a better job of 2x zoom than that, FWIW.)
      - gazchop 2y ago
        Yeah I have no idea what the hell it was doing either. Had similar problems on a few other shots inconsistently. I did wonder if it was some artifact of image stabilisation. I have an iPhone 15 Pro now which is ok if you are careful but has lots of other wierdness instead.
- kccqzy 2y ago
  > Then you get home and realise that it's actually trash. Most people take pictures on their phone and look at pictures on their phone only. They won't return home to realize the picture is trash because their viewing medium is only capable of displaying a little more than a million pixels.

gazchop 2y ago

I don't disagree with most of this. The thoughts around it only come from that one day you will inevitably have where you take a really good photo on your phone. Then you get home and realise that it's actually trash. This was my one https://imgur.com/a/rPCJwcR https://imgur.com/a/rPCJwcR (thanks Google!) Lots of people have this day and decide they'll keep that phone a couple more years and buy a camera with the upgrade cycle money. I think when I am travelling around 25% of people have mirrorless or DLSRs now compared to 5% a couple of years ago. A 10+ year old Nikon D3100 with kit lens is still a better camera then a 2024 iPhone Pro and doesn't cost a lot of money. Across Europe at least people have a lot of distrust of their phones as well. I suspect some of that is driving adoption. I even see film cameras regularly now as well (!).

freehorse 2y ago
> This was my one https://imgur.com/a/rPCJwcR https://imgur.com/a/rPCJwcR (thanks Google!) Wow this is really bad. Was it zoomed? If this is the case, it is interesting that it is still 4k resolution and companies prioritize "4k" even with horrible processing or whatever artifacts are these, rather than reducing resolution eg when zooming. Similar with low light, where binning the pixels could increase light sensitivity. If it is not zoomed in, it is much worse.
- gazchop 2y ago
  It's 2:1 zoom on a 64MP main camera on a Google Pixel 7A. It absolutely destroyed it. Wasn't low light either.
  - foldr 2y ago
    If that's really only 2x zoom then I don't know how you can possibly have gotten a result that bad. I don't have a Pixel 7A, but it's certainly not representative of what 2x zoom looks like in daylight on a recent iPhone Pro. (My Pixel 3a used to do a better job of 2x zoom than that, FWIW.)
    - gazchop 2y ago
      Yeah I have no idea what the hell it was doing either. Had similar problems on a few other shots inconsistently. I did wonder if it was some artifact of image stabilisation. I have an iPhone 15 Pro now which is ok if you are careful but has lots of other wierdness instead.
kccqzy 2y ago
> Then you get home and realise that it's actually trash. Most people take pictures on their phone and look at pictures on their phone only. They won't return home to realize the picture is trash because their viewing medium is only capable of displaying a little more than a million pixels.