Smartphone VS Digital Camera

[Princess Mipha]

So, I started to question some time ago, if I should invest in a digital camera or not. I actually bought the Xiaomi Redmi Note 10 Pro mainly for it's camera, but I have to admit.. I'm a bit bummed about the quality. I mean, it's good but I expected better. That made me wonder if I should get a digital camera again. I mainly want to take pictures of my animals and later my child, so that's not the easiest two things to capture clear with a phone camera.. this or I'm just too noob D:

Anyways.. if you use a digital camera, may I ask for any recommendations? My budget is not the biggest, as I don't need 4K HD+++ quality.
If you think that a digital camera is worth it and you know a good one under 150€ (roughly USD $180), please let me know, as I have absolutely zero clue about them!

 

[Croconaw]

I use my phone camera because that’s what is easiest for me. I like simplicity, and digital cameras are too complex. I wouldn’t even know how to work one, haha.

 

[LadyDestani]

I haven't used a digital camera in years, so I don't have any recommendations, but I do think they are superior to smartphone cameras if you want crisp, clean pictures. I started using my smartphone for pictures just because it was more convenient and I always had it with me, but I noticed a definite decline in quality. Since I mostly take pictures of my pets and my niece/nephews for the memories, I'm okay with it. But if I wanted nice photos to frame, I'd definitely use a digital camera.

 

[daringred_]

i haven't used a digital camera (or my Polaroid) in years. granted, i'm not the photo-taking type though. that being said, my phone gets the job done when i do need to take pictures, and it gets it done very well given that it's 5-6 years old, and i have shaky hands. the quality tends to dip slightly in yellow light, but that's easily solved by turning the flash on and taking it that way instead. i'm sure the cameras on much newer phone models can do even better and most are much cheaper than even mid-range digital cameras depending on how you pay for them.

 

[amemome]

I voted for phone cam because it's the most practical for me at this point in my life. I'm not taking closeup shots of anything and I don't need to take pictures at night, so a phone does the job.

I don't have any digi cam recs but I do think different lenses are extremely important to consider.

 

[nintendofan85]

I use my phone but, in all honesty, I prefer the quality of digital cameras, which is why I plan to buy one at some point.

I can't afford one right now, though.

 

[Millysaurusrexjr]

Phone cameras are getting better and better. I feel like it's only a matter of time before phones kinda make digital cameras obsolete for those who are not professional photographers

That said, I enjoy my digital camera. It is a Canon EOS Rebel T5. I just don't use it very often!

 

[CrankyCupcake]

Smartphones today have amazing cameras, so if you're looking to make pictures to remember occasions and candid moments by, they're more than good for the job. If you want to pursue photography as a hobby and learn how to control the aperture, speed, etc to make more interesting photos, then a digital camera is a good investment. I'll post some of my photos. Can you tell which ones were taken by the phone camera and which by the digital camera?

You probably can't see a difference. And I can only because I snapped these.

Top row photos were taken with a Sony mirrorless interchangeable lens camera and bottom row taken with a Samsung phone camera.

(Edited to add: You can probably tell from the photos that you can't quite photograph a weaver ant as clearly as my photo on the top left if you used a phone camera. I used a macro lens on my digital camera. Also used the macro lens for the two photos (rings and leaf) on the top right. There are so-called macro lenses that you can simply clip on to your smartphone to take macro pictures. I've tried one before. It can be done. But the photos do not have as much detail and clarity as those I'd taken with my macro lens on the digital camera.)

I think the important thing is to get to know your camera, whichever type you have. Even phone cameras are not all the same. For instance, some are better at snapping low-light pictures than others. This may be relevant to you if you anticipate making lots of indoor shots or night-time photos. A camera is just a tool. In different hands, it does different things. Getting to know your tool and what it can do goes a long way.

Also, consider if you're going to blow up your photos to print on canvases or to frame for display. A digital camera can let you take photos with greater detail, so that the picture still looks good when it's printed. A phone photo may only print well in small sizes.

Hope some of that helps. Whatever you decide, have fun!

 

[nintendofan85]

Smartphones today have amazing cameras, so if you're looking to make pictures to remember occasions and candid moments by, they're more than good for the job. If you want to pursue photography as a hobby and learn how to control the aperture, speed, etc to make more interesting photos, then a digital camera is a good investment. I'll post some of my photos. Can you tell which ones were taken by the phone camera and which by the digital camera?
View attachment 396730
You probably can't see a difference. And I can only because I snapped these.

Top row photos were taken with a Sony mirrorless interchangeable lens camera and bottom row taken with a Samsung phone camera.

(Edited to add: You can probably tell from the photos that you can't quite photograph a weaver ant as clearly as my photo on the top left if you used a phone camera. I used a macro lens on my digital camera. Also used the macro lens for the two photos (rings and leaf) on the top right. There are so-called macro lenses that you can simply clip on to your smartphone to take macro pictures. I've tried one before. It can be done. But the photos do not have as much detail and clarity as those I'd taken with my macro lens on the digital camera.)

I think the important thing is to get to know your camera, whichever type you have. Even phone cameras are not all the same. For instance, some are better at snapping low-light pictures than others. This may be relevant to you if you anticipate making lots of indoor shots or night-time photos. A camera is just a tool. In different hands, it does different things. Getting to know your tool and what it can do goes a long way.

Also, consider if you're going to blow up your photos to print on canvases or to frame for display. A digital camera can let you take photos with greater detail, so that the picture still looks good when it's printed. A phone photo may only print well in small sizes.

Hope some of that helps. Whatever you decide, have fun!

Honestly, these are all very good quality pictures, and your photography skills are talented! Of course, it's worth noting that not all digital cameras are created equal, nor are all cameras on smartphones, either.

 

[Chris]

I've worked professionally as a photographer and cinematographer (before I began working in STEM) and personally don't feel the difference is worthwhile unless you're going to invest in a DSLR camera. I've various cameras and still opt for my phone in most cases out of practicality.

 

[Antonio]

I would prefer a digital camera but all i have is a phone camera.

 

[Princess Mipha]

Smartphones today have amazing cameras, so if you're looking to make pictures to remember occasions and candid moments by, they're more than good for the job. If you want to pursue photography as a hobby and learn how to control the aperture, speed, etc to make more interesting photos, then a digital camera is a good investment. I'll post some of my photos. Can you tell which ones were taken by the phone camera and which by the digital camera?
View attachment 396730
You probably can't see a difference. And I can only because I snapped these.

Top row photos were taken with a Sony mirrorless interchangeable lens camera and bottom row taken with a Samsung phone camera.

(Edited to add: You can probably tell from the photos that you can't quite photograph a weaver ant as clearly as my photo on the top left if you used a phone camera. I used a macro lens on my digital camera. Also used the macro lens for the two photos (rings and leaf) on the top right. There are so-called macro lenses that you can simply clip on to your smartphone to take macro pictures. I've tried one before. It can be done. But the photos do not have as much detail and clarity as those I'd taken with my macro lens on the digital camera.)

I think the important thing is to get to know your camera, whichever type you have. Even phone cameras are not all the same. For instance, some are better at snapping low-light pictures than others. This may be relevant to you if you anticipate making lots of indoor shots or night-time photos. A camera is just a tool. In different hands, it does different things. Getting to know your tool and what it can do goes a long way.

Also, consider if you're going to blow up your photos to print on canvases or to frame for display. A digital camera can let you take photos with greater detail, so that the picture still looks good when it's printed. A phone photo may only print well in small sizes.

Hope some of that helps. Whatever you decide, have fun!

Wow, such beautiful photos!! And indeed, it's pretty much impossible (at least for me) to see the difference. I honestly don't think I have the patience to really learn about how to get the best out of a camera by using manual settings. I'm more the type of "Click and done!", haha. However, I do want to print pictures, but not in a big frame. I mainly want to have them for photo albums, so 10x15cm would be the average print size. I'm guessing that for me it's actually best to stick to my phone camera in the end.. while I would still like to have a camera, I don't think I will be able to get a better quality than my phone has already Thank you a lot for your input!!

I've worked professionally as a photographer and cinematographer (before I began working in STEM) and personally don't feel the difference is worthwhile unless you're going to invest in a DSLR camera. I've various cameras and still opt for my phone in most cases out of practicality.

Ohh.. I was lowkey hoping that someone who was working as a professional would give some input. Hm.. yeah, I guess I will stick with my phone then, as I wasn't planning on investing too much money into a camera and everyone seems to agree that the phone is a lot more practical in any case.

 

[Snek]

My phone camera is the only camera that I use. I'm not a professional photographer but I really like having a camera with me, especially when it comes taking pictures of special moments with friends and family, in-the-moment wildlife photos or interesting foods that I've eaten.

 

[DJStarstryker]

I have an expensive DSLR camera. I also have a Pixel 5a. Honestly, I like the Pixel 5a better for most cases.

The DSLR camera has more flexibility with photos because you can buy different lenses for it for different purposes. You can even get one of those really long lenses that paparazzi like to use to snap photos of celebrities from long distances away.

But the cons are:

1) The DSLR can't handle night very well. It takes beautiful photos when the sun is out or if you have nice lighting indoors. But you want to take a picture of stuff outside at night? Forget about it.
2) It's harder to get photos off of it. Either have to plug a USB cable from it to a PC, or take out the SD card and plug it into a PC.
3) Waterproof? LOL! If I needed to take photos outside when it's raining I'd literally have to put a bag around the body of the camera or something. I'm not taking underwater photos with this thing at all. I'd have to get a new camera for that.
4) It's big and it's heavy. I've carried the DSLR places with me sometimes and the clunkiness can just be annoying when you have to carry it all day.

My Pixel 5a has no problems with anything listed as a con for the DSLR. The night thing really impressed me with my Pixel 5a. I went outside and took a picture of a toad that was hanging out in my driveway around midnight last night. It was very dark. The photo processing made it look like it was daytime with the shot and the toad looked perfect. These guys hang around my yard all the time so I know what they look like in the day too. I was really impressed!

 

[TheWildShadow55]

I'd say if you're comparing a flagship phone camera to a point-and-shoot digital camera, a phone camera is probably going to be your best bet and that is because these days, not only are phone cameras getting bigger and better sensors (48mp main camera lenses on phones is almost the norm now, heck I've seen a whopping 108mp on phones such as the Xiaomi Mi 11), but they are getting more sensors such as wide-angle (think of a gopro), telephoto, periscope, you name it. Sure, a point-and-shoot can at least do 2 of those things without needing multiple sensors because they have optical zoom, however, most point-and-shoot cameras (especially the cheaper ones) tend to have lower quality sensors and less megapixels compared to, say, a phone of today. For instance, when I was around 10 or so I had a Canon PowerShot ELPH 135 as my only camera for a bit since I didn't have a phone at the time and the pictures it took were decent, but I remember the low light pictures and videos were pretty grainy no matter what and almost every picture I took had noticeable JPEG compression artifacts, often giving a rainbow-like hue to edges and bright skies. Recording video you could just forget about because 720p 25fps while being able to hear the lens or something in the camera making sounds every time it was recording (I swear it almost sounded like morse code) isn't ideal at all. Compare that to a phone made the same year that camera was released, the Samsung Galaxy S5, and the S5 blows that camera out of the water in nearly every way except for the fact that the Canon I mentioned has optical zoom and is more comfortable to use. I do understand that manual mode is possible on most point-and-shoot cameras as well as phones, but it is so hard to manage going through bunches of menus in the software to do it on a point-and-shoot and on a phone screen it's super difficult, so it's just not worth it in my opinion, especially in comparison how DSLRs and mirrorless cameras have buttons and wheels for nearly everything you need, whether it's ISO, aperture, shutter speed, etc, it's all there.
But back to an earlier point, something that most modern phones these days have that give them a major edge over point-and-shoot cameras is computational photography, basically making it so that even a person who isn't a "professional photographer" can take great shots almost every time, with how a phone has enough processing power to combine multiple photos in one, shoot in HDR really quickly, combing photos on the fly to give a shot that is nearly entirely in focus with no blur spots (unless of course that's what you want), many presets that make things such as macro photography (also assisted by phones with macro lenses!), specialized night modes, slow motion at high fps, easy portrait modes, at least in my experience, you won't find this on the average point-and-shoot camera, especially considering how most are far too weak to do computational photography on the scale of a flagship phone (for perspective, the Canon camera I had was about slightly more powerful than a PS1 in terms of processing power).
Sorry that this is such a mouthful, this is just something I'm highly interested in and have been thinking about for quite a while.

 

[nintendofan85]

Since I just realized this thread had a "change vote" option on its poll (which I didn't realize earlier, I think it's still a fairly new feature to TBT), I decided to change my vote from phone camera to digital camera because, while I haven't owned a digital camera myself for about five years now, as I said, I think the quality is typically better (although, typically the more expensive the phone, the better quality its camera is), and I just prefer the feel of holding a camera and taking pictures.

I originally voted for phone camera, though, because it's what I typically use, haha, since again, I don't own a digital camera currently.

 

[JemAC]

I generally stick with just using my phone, mainly due to practicality as if I’m out somewhere and see something that I want to take a photo off then it’s generally only my phone that I have on me to use. As others have mentioned too, phone cameras have greatly improved and produce a lot better quality photos then they used to. They’re still not really up to the standard of pictures that could be taken on a top range digital camera but then that’s often reflected in the price too.

 

[g u a v a]

"the best camera is the one that's with you." that being said however, i think having a digital camera helps me be more mindful about what i'm capturing. i tend to focus on capturing fewer good shots rather than a bunch of options i end up hating.

 

[JellyBeans]

I almost always use my phone camera, both because it has pretty good quality anyway and because it's far more convenient than carrying a big camera with me everywhere. my friend is a lot more into photography than me though and they have a nice DSLR camera that they take out with them a lot, and I always *love* seeing the photos she takes on it, especially when we go out for a day or something and so we have really good quality photos documenting it. i think overall it just depends if you think you'll use a digital camera enough to get your money's worth of it! and whether you're willing to carry it around as an extra thing to have to think about

 

[Holla]

Digital takes way better pictures, but my phone more than suffices for what I use it for. Plus I always have it handy. I also don't own a digital camera.