Compact Camera, SLR or Iphone - The future?

[Chris Day]

I guess I'm a hobbyist who takes general photos, I wouldn't class myself as a professional.

... I'm hopefully doing a few big trips this year and have been using my SLR, Fuji X100s and iPhone. More and more I seem to be enjoying using my iphone more for a walk around camera. It take snaps quickly and easily and if it wasn't for the resolution of the final images, I have to say this would be my preferred choice in nearly every situation. It's light, inconspicuous, user friendly and the sensor is pretty good for low light situations!

I'm interested to hear about people's preferred choice for their camera and why?

 

[Phal]

This is one main reason why I want to get my hands on a Lumia 1020 the ability to take higher quality shots in RAW from your phone definitely appeals to me even though I usually have my DSLR with me anyway.

 

[Brazo]

Phone shots have imo improved over the last 8-10 years more than say dslr's have in the same time period. It probably won't be too long (say another 10 years) until they become so good dslr's will be for a very niche market.

 

[woof woof]

My GF takes a lot of pictures with her smart phone and they usually look good when viewed as whole images and only really seem to suffer in low light or when viewed at high magnification.

I don't have a smart phone and prefer a camera and as I was never really happy with the size and weight of a modern DSLR+Lens I'm happier now with CSC's, 99% of the time fitted with a prime lens.

 

[tijuana taxi]

These things tend to go in cycles, current trend seems to be for CSC with interchangeable lenses with some ditching their DSLR's in favour of the smaller and lighter systems.

I am pretty sure in a few years time somebody will enthuse over the quality of photos that a standard DSLR produces and a sort of retro scene will emerge

Personally don't own an i or smart phone and having handled the currently most popular CSC in a shop last Friday will be sticking with my DSLR's for the forseeable future.

Without sounding like a luddite I am already slightly overwhelmed with the numerous features that the most modern cameras contain and find it something of a pleasure to use my old 5D. Just enjoy looking through the viewfinder, choosing the settings, taking the photos and seeing what they look like when I get home, bit like waiting for the older style negatives to be developed without the cost.

 

[woof woof]

These things tend to go in cycles, current trend seems to be for CSC with interchangeable lenses with some ditching their DSLR's in favour of the smaller and lighter systems.

I am pretty sure in a few years time somebody will enthuse over the quality of photos that a standard DSLR produces and a sort of retro scene will emerge

I can't see that happening for reasons of image quality alone as CSC come with MFT, APS-C and FF chips so from a pure image quality point of view a standard FT, APS-C or even FF DSLR has no advantage. If there is a craze for retro DSLR's I think it will be for some other reason such as wanting a big fat lump in your hand or the experience of using an optical view finder or wanting arty shots full of noise or some other reason not apparent at the moment.

As for oodles of features, I just turn them off or ignore them and shoot raw with my own settings. It's a very film like experience even with a modern camera.

 

[tijuana taxi]

I didn't say it was necessarily true, but only takes a few people saying it for others to agree and blindly follow on.

A certain brand of CSC seems to be the flavour of the month, no doubt to be superseded when the next latest greatest wonder machine turns up.

Only recently FF was the best thing since sliced bread, now its APSC again in the cameras mentioned above

 

[rob-nikon]

For many a camera phone is all they need, especially as the phone is always with them and there is no need for a separate camera to be carried. For general snaps I use my phone as it's good enough for the job. What I find is I never take a smaller compact camera out with me any more and opt for the phone instead. When I'm out taking wildlife images then a camera phone is no good and I use the dslr and telephoto lens as quality wise it's the best tool for the job (I tried the phone camera recently with wildlife,quite funny to do). I think it depends what you are shooting, there will always be specialist areas where a dslr is best (sports,wildlife) but for the general public camera phones will be the most used camera.

 

[damianmkv]

I think it depends what you shoot.

The vast majority of IG and FB users will use their phone and post - they aren't bothered about the quality of the picture ( judging by some of the rubbish I see )

Of course, smartphone cameras have evolved "quickly" because they were fairly dire initially. I never use mine unless it's for a snap to message to someone.

Having bought a dslr, I never thought I'd buy a csc but having just got one, I'm a convert. But I'm still in search of dslr-like photo quality on one without breaking the bank...

 

[Nod]

I like seeing my photos (and even my snaps!) as prints rather than on screens and for me that rules out most phone cameras. I'm very happy with the quality my compacts give even when printed up to A3+ but they do have some limitations, not least being the limited zoom range when compared to an interchangeable lens system. Having bought into the Fuji X system, I've found myself picking that up for most outings, mainly because it's so much easier to carry round than the FF Nikon kit, although the Nikon can do things the Fujis can't, hence me keeping the Nikon. I've also got a 1 Series Nikon body with the FT-1 adaptor so I can use the F mount lenses on it, giving a crop factor of 2.7x so my 70-300 has the same reach as an 810mm lens on the FF body.

Pretty much everything has its place though and if I don't have a "proper" camera on me and want to take a snap, I'm happy to use my phone but if I'm heading out with the intention of taking a photo or 2, I'll grab a camera (and keep a decent compact in my car in case I forget!)