Camera or phone ?

[gothatway]

I have a Canon 70D with a range of lenses; it usually has the Tamron 18-270 attached. It's great for shows, holidays, special events, but it's a bit bulky to carry around every day just in case a good picture presents itself.

My phone, on the other hand, is always in my pocket. It's a Samsung Galaxy 2, which is coming up for replacement. It's OK for photography, but a bit slow and awkward.

So do I get myself a separate compact/pocket-sized camera or should I aim to get a new phone which really majors on photography and image quality ?

[marctwo]

I'd just get an upgraded phone.

[DibblyDobbler]

marctwo said:

I'd just get an upgraded phone.

+1

[Mr Will]

My phone (Sony Z1 Compact) is good. My Canon S110 is much better.

I'd get an upgraded phone first, but don't sacrifice other features to chase the best camera (most are pretty good these days). If you find it's good enough then you're golden, if not then its time for camera shopping.

[AndWhyNot]

I'm a huge proponent of mobile phone photography but it's not without its compromises due to shortcomings of eqpt.

Ultimately it depends what kind of photography you expect to capture when you leave your proper gear at home. If it's fairly close range stuff- street photography, family snaps, wide angle landscapes you might be ok with a current spec smartphone. The latest Galaxy, iPhone & Lumia have little to choose between photographically, with the exception of the Lumia 1020's huge res sensor which makes cropping a possibility to get closer. The iPhone has by far the widest selection of apps for camera relacement and editing- this is a huge part of the appeal for me personally. The Lumias arguably have better manual controls for a more 'photographer' experience.

Moving to a compact means taking a second device with you but pick wisely and it might even have you questioning the future of your Canon gear. The initial benefit I'd look for would be an extended range of focal length. Most smartphones will give you somewhere in the region of a 30mm field of view (FX equiv), so a standalone camera should broaden that to be immediately advantageous.

I could add more but I'm on my iPhone at the mo and the battery's about to die- remember to factor that in to any decision making process, too!

[Elderly]

AndWhyNot said:

.... the Lumia 1020's huge res sensor .....

The 808's sensor is larger still.

[gothatway]

Hmmmm,thanks all - lots of food for thought there !

[tenohfive]

Phone.

I've got a 400D, S110 and Xperia Z1. All three are good at what they do but I don't find myself using the S110 as much as I thought I would. The Z1 isn't as good (though still a very respectable snapper) as the S110 but I've always got it with me, even when I've forgotten the S110 or ditched the DSLR. But I still take 90% of my photo's on my DSLR.

Incidentally, I can't take photo editing app's on phones seriously - my photo's are all automatically backed up to my PC so if I've something that's worth editing then I'll do it in Lightroom. It's only occasionally - and for very basic adjustment, such as a simple contrast edit - that I'll use editing software on the phone.

[AndWhyNot]

tenohfive said:

Phone.

Incidentally, I can't take photo editing app's on phones seriously - my photo's are all automatically backed up to my PC so if I've something that's worth editing then I'll do it in Lightroom. It's only occasionally - and for very basic adjustment, such as a simple contrast edit - that I'll use editing software on the phone.

Interesting. A big part of the appeal of mobile imaging for me is its accessibility. I like that I can shoot, edit & share all on the one device with no further connections or synchronisations. My recent experience is all iPhone based and the screens do tend to flatter the original image. Thus it takes a little getting used to, knowing what you can get away with in terms of capture quality and how much latitude you have for processing subsequently, but I wouldn't want it any other way now.

At this point indulge me by looking at a couple of iPhone pics, all of which have been shot & edited solely with the device(s).


iPhone 4S, JPG original edited in Snapseed


iPhone 4S, TIF original edited in Snapseed


iPhone 4S, TIF original edited in Snapseed


iPhone 4S, long exposure JPG original edited in Snapseed


iPhone 5S, 2x long exposure JPG originals overlaid in Faded


iPhone 5S, 2x JPG originals overlaid in Faded


iPhone 5S, JPG original edited in Snapseed

In most cases the photos are those which I wouldn't have taken had I not had my phone with me, and might have missed had I attempted to capture with a big camera. Only the long exposures took any kind of setting up.

Beyond that, none of them needed to be processed on the phone but at the same time, I don't think there's anything that particularly gives the game away that they've been handled in this way- I'm prepared to be corrected, though, if anyone's eyes are able to use the lack of familiarity with the images to highlight something I've missed through being too involved. Time taken on each one? No more than a few minutes. Certainly in most cases the finished image was (or could have been) online in less time than it takes to fire up my Macbook and import to Lightroom.

To the OP- you can also see from this selection the kind of close-quarters subject the iPhone works well for. In my experience there is a gradual loss of detail as subjects become further from the camera. Both the camera and the processing app(s) handle colour pretty well, it just happens that the selection here includes a disproportionate ratio of mono images.

[DibblyDobbler]

These are excellent Andrew

[TheInternet]

Elderly said:

The 808's sensor is larger still.

With the inevitable hump they're not exactly going to be flying off the shelves.

[tenohfive]

AndWhyNot said:

Interesting. A big part of the appeal of mobile imaging for me is its accessibility. I like that I can shoot, edit & share all on the one device with no further connections or synchronisations.

It all depends how you like to work.

If I take a photo on my Z1 right now 30 seconds later - and with a double click - I can have it in Lightroom. Which to me is infinitely preferable to fiddling around with less powerful software on a device that's not as well suited to the purpose. And whilst I can't comment on Apple editing app's, the Android ones that do allow selective editing of certain areas don't do it well, and can't be controlled as accurately. If you don't make as many mistakes in camera that's less of an issue, but I still make them and need to correct them. That being said whilst typing this I've done some googling, and there do appear to be some more potent photo editing app's than I currently have which I intend to road test.

I understand your view on the 'all on one device,' approach, and I've no doubt many others feel the same way. But not me. I very rarely upload anything directly from my mobile - even those images I've taken with my S110 and transferred to the phone. I prefer to look at it on a big screen rather than my 5" phone screen so I can be critical, and bin those images I don't like. Unfortunately I bin a fair chunk - what looks good on a smartphone screen doesn't always stand up to bigger scrutiny.