Smartphone Camera

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R.Y.K. LEE

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Hello everyone,

I have come to a point now where I have been taking my camera out less and less, opting to just use my phone instead.

I can't even remember the last time I took my camera, a Panasonic GX80 with a 25mm 1.7, anywhere with me. Not even at home.

I am currently using a Huawei P Smart Z phone. In good/fair light, I'm happy with the pictures it produces. I am using Snapseed to tweak the images.

But I can't help but think, if I sold my camera, will I be happy to use a camera phone exclusively?

Has anyone on here done the same? Either exclusively a smartphone photographer or someone who uses their phone daily/mostly.

If I do decide to go smartphone only, I was thinking of the Google Pixel 4a. Does anyone have experience with this phone's camera, what are the pros and cons of it.

Any thoughts on this will be greatly appreciated.
 
There's no doubting what you can get out of a phone. I just had an iphone 11 from work and it's pretty good but I'm still after an A7III to replace my D200. Don't ask me for a logical justification that a non photographer would accept as I'm not sure I could :LOL::LOL::LOL:
 
Can’t comment on the Google phone but I’ve been using an iPhone 11 this year and the photographs out of it are excellent.

Given that you’ve only got the one lens for your camera and you can’t remember the last item you used it, I’d say sell it and just use a phone. As I often tell people, a phone camera is good enough for most people, most of the time.

My only caveat would be to ask what do you do with your photographs? i.e. do you print them, or just view online or on the computer? Phone pictures look great when viewed on a screen, and ones taken in good light print well enough (I had a 15x10” print from the IPhone 11 in my last exhibition) but the image quality ultimately won’t be as good as your camera once you start bumping up the ISO. This may or may not be a concern for you.
 
I've tried to get into smartphone camera use but I don't like the handling and half arms length shooting. Plus, Mrs WW gets pictures every day that look lovely on her phone and tablet but they often disappoint on my pc. Maybe the answer is to stop pixel peeping.

I have a GX80 and also a GX9 and I think they're good cameras but I usually use my 1st generation Sony A7 and often with manual lenses and I think there's a clue for me there as to me it's about handling and the photo taking experience and sadly also about pixel peeping. I can imagine a point at which smartphone pictures will look lovely on my pc when I pixel peep them but the handling issue and half arms length shooting will still be there and I do much prefer a more traditional camera use experience.

I suppose two things smartphones have going for them are that they're probably always with you and the connectivity, cameras can't match that at the moment and lots of us probably don't always have one with us.

One last thing.
I went to a party a few weeks ago and I took my Panasonic TZ100 which is a 1" compact camera. Every picture I got was useable and every smartphone picture I was sent later had issues such as the subject being out of focus to some degree or another and those were the picture which were good enough to share, gosh knows how many were deleted as completely unusable. I'm not a fast action shooter by any means but until smartphones can meter, focus and take an in focus picture quickly enough to use on social occasions like that I can't see myself using one instead of a camera.
 
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I’ve just bought a Sony xperia 1 ii, due to the fact it shoots raw, has a physical shutter button and full manual controls. It’s basically the same as using a small compact camera, but it’s always with me.
Does very nice gradable 4k video too.
 
Thank you for the replies, definitely gives me something to think about.

As for fast focusing, I have read on some of the specs for these phones and it mentions they have phase detection auto focus. Is this a case of, "sounds good on paper, not so great in reality"?

I used to pixel peep a lot too. Before we had kids, I was a proper camera gear addict. Full frame DSLRs, expensive lenses, jumping from brand to brand searching for the holy grail. Hours in photoshop etc. I thought it would only get worse after kids, as I would be wanting the best images I could get to capture memories of them growing up.

But in fact, for me at least, it has been the complete opposite. I wanted to go smaller, lighter, less lens changes. As long as the images looked alright, I was happy. But now I'm reluctant to even carry the small camera, as it's another item in a bag along with other things I have to carry.

I only print 4x6 with a Canon Selphy, for scrapbooking with my 2 young kids. After when we come back from holidays etc. I occasionally print A4 on the Epson for the frames in the living room wall. I go from camera, WiFi over to my phone, through Snapseed, then WiFi to the printer if I want to print it.

The only thing I thought I would miss is the bokeh/blurred background I get with the GX80 and 1.7 but I have seen people post pictures from their smartphones and they are getting some very similar results to what I am getting with my camera set up. Makes me think, why bother anymore?
 
Don’t want to sound like a fanboy, but the Sony has 20fps shooting with eye detect autofocus, and yes it works.. tried it on my very fast springer spaniel puppy and every shot was in focus near enough. I don’t get results better with my nikon d700 tbh.
The only downside is 20fps is only available in jpg mode not raw.
 
R.Y.K. LEE said:
The only thing I thought I would miss is the bokeh/blurred background I get with the GX80 and 1.7 but I have seen people post pictures from their smartphones and they are getting some very similar results to what I am getting with my camera set up. Makes me think, why bother anymore?
Click to expand...

Again, can’t speak for other brands (but i suspect they have the same facility) but iPhones have a portrait setting that blurs the background. Yes, it’s some kind of software witchcraft rather than a lens based solution, but it’s convincing enough on a small screen, and would probably look ok on a 6x4. It does fall apart when you look at it on a larger monitor though.

I own two full frame DSLR’s and a mirrorless, but when I go on holiday, I tend to take the mirrorless as it’s lighter. But I take the vast majority of family snap / holiday photographs with the phone these days as it’s less faffing around and the results are good enough for putting in our annual Blurb yearbook. Looking back at the last few I’d be pushed to say which are from a camera and which are from a phone.
 
Probably the best thing about a smartphone camera would be street photography as no-one would know you're snapping them.
 
I must admit I never thought I'd be saying that the latest cell phones are without doubt a force to be reckoned with where photography is concerned. The convenience and results that can be obtained from these little devices is outstanding in my opinion. I'm currently still using an old "iPhone 7 Plus" that even four years down the line still produces more than acceptable results with both stills & video, and the later cell phones are a lot better.

With various photography apps that can be added to them giving RAW shooting plus many other features and pretty much Full Manual Control added to the advanced technology that is already built in to them it does make me wonder if before too long they will be our go to cameras for general work.

I'm currently waiting for the "iPhone 12 Pro Max" to be available of which I will upgrade to. Reading the spec of that thing is very encouraging with regards to photography ie Ultra Wide Lens, Wide Lens, Telephoto Lens, that is the equivalent of 65mm with a 2.5 times "Optical Zoom" plus numerous third party accessories that are already being made available is in my opinion really something to look forward to.

Only a short time to wait now, "Bring It On". :) :)

George.
 
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TCR4x4 said:
I’ve just bought a Sony xperia 1 ii, due to the fact it shoots raw, has a physical shutter button and full manual controls. It’s basically the same as using a small compact camera, but it’s always with me.
Does very nice gradable 4k video too.
Click to expand...

I went cheap and bought the smaller Xperia 5 II, the eye auto focus is fairly impressive. I would add I've never had eye AF on a camera so may be fairly easily impressed.
 
After lugging around a Canon 40D, then a Nikon D5100 for many hours a day, I got a nice, lightweight Sony A6000. Doing street photography, I ended up with my 50mm f/1.8 lens practically glued to the front. And then I read about the iPhone XS, saved up some money, and got one.

It has two lenses: a 26mm equivalent and a 52mm equivalent. This is very similar to the unzoomed Sony telephoto kit lens and the 50mm f/1.8, so it was a good trade-off. The phone is a fraction of the weight of the camera and often gets good photos that the Sony misses. And I do mean that the Sony misses them. It often takes more than a couple of seconds to wake up, by which time the candid street shot has moved on. And the images are acceptably sharp, saturated to the right degree, and with the right contrast to not need much work in Snapseed.

Hopefully, my next step will be to get the iPhone 12 Pro which also has the ultra-wide lens, an exceptional Night Mode, and will feature the upcoming Apple ProRaw which blends Apple's computational AI photography into a raw photo in such a way that it can be edited at any time. It also features Dolby Vision video, which is also a hobby of mine.

As a matter of interest, I decided to take the Sony on holiday with me, for the first time in about a year, and rediscovered that, although not as easy to use as the iPhone, it does result in photos with a certain visual quality that makes them look more analogue than digital, at least to my eye. So I haven't given up using it completely, just mostly.
 
garryknight said:
Hopefully, my next step will be to get the iPhone 12 Pro which also has the ultra-wide lens, an exceptional Night Mode, and will feature the upcoming Apple ProRaw which blends Apple's computational AI photography into a raw photo in such a way that it can be edited at any time. It also features Dolby Vision video, which is also a hobby of mine.
Click to expand...

My son has an iPhone 12 and as it happens I just bought an A7III. It was a bright moon last night but anyway I said i was having a play regardless. He took a snap of the moon on his phone and went inside. I did the same....

When I went in he asked to see my version but I'd deleted them as his snap was far better and my wife knows how much I paid for my little lot :)

I have no doubt that on a dark night and just stars the Sony will win but in the quick snap stakes his phone's going to take some beating....
 
I agree with the comments about if you're not using the camera then to sell it, at worst if you find you do really miss it you can rethink what you really want from a camera and there may be a better option on the market at that point. I have found that as smartphone cameras have improved I've gone from using a mix of 1in, 4/3 and APS-C cameras to FF cameras to maximise the advantage. I still use the smartphone camera for many general shots as the IQ is great plus it's quick and convenient but I wouldn't be without a dedicated camera, not just for the better performance but also for the handling.
 
How does the iPhone, any iPhone, handle screen reflection? I have a Motorola Moto E5 - basically the cheapest phone I could find. It has an 8 megabit camera. I assume it can do RAW, although so far all I've taken are JPGs. The results are surprisingly good, but the huge downsides are (a) I do like to use a viewfinder, and (b) the screen glare is such that no matter where the sun is, or even on a dull day, it's almost impossible to see what I'm taking and it's not until I get home that I can download and then view the photos. Are more expensive phones better in this regard? Point (b) drove me to get a little Panasonic GM1 for a walkaround, at which point point (a) drove me to get a GX80.
 
garryknight said:
Rumours are that the iPhone 13's camera will get even more attention:

www.macrumors.com

Kuo: iPhone 13 to Come in Same Four Model Sizes As iPhone 12, Pro Models to Feature Major Upgrade to Ultra Wide Camera

TF International Securities analyst Ming-Chi Kuo has released a new research note, seen by MacRumors, that details his expectations for next...
www.macrumors.com www.macrumors.com
Click to expand...
Yes I heard the same.

I think for me it's more the video capabilities that are of interest. Seems the iPhone 11 & 12 are better than a go pro in terms of quality. I keep looking at Gimbals for my A73 but tried one before with Fuji, such a faff and quite heavy. Unless you're viewing on a large screen does anyone need more than an iPhone video for personal use ?
 
imattersuk said:
Yes I heard the same.

I think for me it's more the video capabilities that are of interest. Seems the iPhone 11 & 12 are better than a go pro in terms of quality. I keep looking at Gimbals for my A73 but tried one before with Fuji, such a faff and quite heavy. Unless you're viewing on a large screen does anyone need more than an iPhone video for personal use ?
Click to expand...

This is a question I've been asking myself and I'm really not sure. I have an action camera gimbal and one for the phone both of which I've found superb so I went for an A7SII and a DJI Ronin SC to try and improve my video though unlike the smaller gimbals the Ronin SC is heavy, bulky and a pain to set up. I've got better at balancing it but I've found I just don't use it, it can produce some impressive video but not being a video person I don't really get the advantages from it and I should really admit defeat and get rid of the setup.
 
JohnMcL7 said:
This is a question I've been asking myself and I'm really not sure. I have an action camera gimbal and one for the phone both of which I've found superb so I went for an A7SII and a DJI Ronin SC to try and improve my video though unlike the smaller gimbals the Ronin SC is heavy, bulky and a pain to set up. I've got better at balancing it but I've found I just don't use it, it can produce some impressive video but not being a video person I don't really get the advantages from it and I should really admit defeat and get rid of the setup.
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It also the editing, the large files are a pain to handle and I can't be bothered to learn anything other than iMovie even though I have the full adobe suite, gives me a headache trying to get to grips with Premiere .
 
imattersuk said:
Unless you're viewing on a large screen does anyone need more than an iPhone video for personal use ?
Click to expand...

If you're shooting 4K at 60fps and a high bit rate, then it should look OK even on an 8K screen, I would have thought. You just need a lot of storage. And the other important rumour is that the iPhone 13 (at least in the Pro Max version) will be available with a full terabyte of storage. So you just need a lot of money.

If you're going for a film look at 24fps at a medium bit rate then you can (as I do) get away with 256GB, if you're not shooting all day long. However, the iPhone 12 already does 10-bit Dolby video, I believe, so there's likely to be a trade-off between storage and quality. As a dabbler in video, I'm having to decide whether to go for the 12 Pro Max or the 12 Pro, or wait yet another year.
 
imattersuk said:
It also the editing, the large files are a pain to handle and I can't be bothered to learn anything other than iMovie even though I have the full adobe suite, gives me a headache trying to get to grips with Premiere .
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By large, do you mean file size or resolution, If it's the latter, you could get iMovie to create proxies at, say, 1080p. Set it running and come back later. Apologies if I'm telling you something you already know.

I use LumaFusion on a 256GB iPad Air and it's fast and buttery smooth, even with 4K 60fps files. It does have limitations, though: no stabilisation, no masking, and the colour grading isn't great.
 
@R.Y.K. LEE what did you end up deciding on?

I am in a similar mindset sometimes. I have had a Nikon D750, Lumix G3, Fuji X-T20, RX100 and a host of other cameras in between. Trying to capture family bits would be a chore sometimes with young kids as you juggle kit and their actual needs on when out and about or even at home for spontaneous moments.

I was not a fan of mobile cameras until I got the Pixel 2 at the back-end of 2017 and with its unlimited photo storage to Google Photos. I have captured plenty of family moments over the last 3 years. At times it can produce better looking pictures than the kit mentioned above in good light due to computational photography but....I still want to have a companion camera that is small light and nimble!

To anyone else looking at the photos they look great. I print them time to time and make albums but I always think should I capture them with something better but the convenience factor is just too hard to pass on even if the shot isn't great in low light, has noise and not super sharp.

Having said all that I am tempted to now just switch to the latest iPhone for video purposes and dump the RX100 M5 I have and grab something like a Fuji X100V so have both formats covered or a small lens/camera combo for the times I want that better shot in lowlight or capture something on a walk.

Look at the Pixel 4 or Pixel 5 or the 4A 5G as it gives you that much more than the 4a
 
garryknight said:
By large, do you mean file size or resolution, If it's the latter, you could get iMovie to create proxies at, say, 1080p. Set it running and come back later. Apologies if I'm telling you something you already know.

I use LumaFusion on a 256GB iPad Air and it's fast and buttery smooth, even with 4K 60fps files. It does have limitations, though: no stabilisation, no masking, and the colour grading isn't great.
Click to expand...
Large file sizes really, processing a 3-5 minute 4k file from the A73 is painful on a 13" Macbook Pro, less so on my iMac.
 
I can only speak from personal experience, everyone will be different.

For me, I had the same conundrum a few years ago and decided to bite the bullet and get rid of all my gear. It was being used, but not anywhere near as much as my phone. Since I did that, my interest in photography has waned. This is where the personal bit comes into it - I think I needed the proper camera to make the effort to go out a take photos rather than take some opportunist snaps on the phone.

My opinion, if you're not using the camera ever, get rid of it. If you use it from time to time and don't need the cash - keep it just incase.
 
I tried to do the same but always longed for a camera. The man who is legendary for this is Mark Littlejohn. Follow him on Twitter and IG. The majority of his photos are taken on his dog walks with his iPhone 11. He frequently carries an RX100 as well and has a large selection of "big" cameras but his mobile work is hard to differentiate from his camera work IMO - well.....If you're on a phone looking at the images that is.
 
I have a Samsung Galaxy S20 plus 5G- the camera on this phone is truly remarkable :)

Les
 
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