SteveHmeyer Loc: Cincinnati OH USA

I use the camera on my iPhone a number of times daily for my job in TV. In fact the quality of stills and video from the iPhone far exceeds the early days of video tape cameras. Cell phone video quality has become so good that there are a number of small market TV stations that use cell phones as cameras.

Technology will march on, cameras will continue improve but both are limited by the physical world. Technological solutions cannot violate the laws of physics.

As an example think about this photograph (I attached it in my earlier post but did something wrong so it did not get posted). This was taken from 3.5 miles away, 500mm (effective 800mm on APS-C) f/4, iso 800, 1/6 sec., unedited from raw file but re-sized, sturdy tripod, strong head. Imagine the technology it would take to get identical results by walking up to the same spot and snapping a picture with the small sensor and small lens of a cell phone and getting identical results. Physics may make it impossible.

Cincinnati, OH, Great American Tower on the left

chapjohn Loc: Tigard, Oregon

Sony has announced its latest flagship phone.

https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2019/02/sonys-latest-flagship-phone-is-the-219-xperia-1-and-its-very-tall/

gvarner Loc: Central Oregon Coast

I agree on most every point, except smartphone cameras being used in a spontaneous, casual act. That’s likely the case for most of their users. Check out Emil Pakarklis on YouTube. The images he produces are pretty impressive. That’s why I say that phone cameras have their niche - even for advanced photographers who are looking for a new challenge.

juanderfulpics Loc: central jersey

Phone pic Samsumg S9+, convenience is probably the main reason I like it. Didn't carry my FF Dslr and assortment of lenses and made easier traveling on my 1 week vacation

shelty Loc: Medford, OR

My experience is; People who never took pictures before are now filling their phones with pictures, and very few of them will ever be printed. that's the reason the camera manufacturers are loosing business. Also many have found that their phone takes almost as good a picture as their three pound camera (weight of my camera) does. Although my camera can do more things, I don't carry it around all the time, whereas a phone is in your pocket all the time.

Kmgw9v Loc: Miami, Florida

My wife is indicative of what is occurring. She would never carry a camera, has never owned a camera—until she acquired a cell phone. Now she takes pictures of her grandkids and other oddities everyday.
Hundreds of thousands of images are being created with cell phones that would have never seen the light before. Many of the images are good, many are very good; and some are even being printed.
That is good.

burkphoto Loc: High Point, NC

Emil and his ilk could just as easily use dedicated cameras as smartphones. They are real photographers, and real photographers can make great images with any camera, so long as they respect the limits of the technology.

It is truly amazing what some folks are doing with phone cameras. However, most of the billions of phone cameras in use today are used spontaneously, just like the point-and-shoot cameras they replaced.

I remember when, in the 1980s, 35mm amateur color negative film sales really took off, as automatic point-and-shoot cameras nicely matured. Mini-labs were all over the place. Polaroid was still doing well. In the late 1990s, early 2000s, most of those film and instant film cameras were replaced by digital point-and-shoot cameras. After 2007, the smartphone camera market started to kill off the digital point-and-shoot market. Smartphones even bit into some dSLR sales. Smartphone camera usage took off like a rocket after 2010. That's when 8 MP cameras became popular features. Apparently, 8 MP is a threshold of sorts...

Anyway, my point is that the vast majority of "picture takers" have always had a pretty low quality hurdle to jump over. The cameras in the latest smartphones provide instant results that are FAR SUPERIOR to the vast majority of fixed lens cameras made before the advent of digital cameras. That the images can be shared with anyone and everyone in seconds is a HUGE paradigm shift. That every frame you expose after the first one is FREE, is another huge shift. I just priced compatible film for my Dad's old Polaroid 104 camera... $235 for five, ten-exposure packs! And then you need M3 clear flashbulbs...

User ID

He's not kidding and he's not alone
in his "disability".

.

TriX Loc: Raleigh, NC

What exactly is boorish (note the correct spelling) and pompous about telling the truth and reciting easily demonstrated facts? Don’t agree with the assertions? Then let’s have a civil discourse and post some proof to the contrary; but if you can’t and are going to resort to name calling, then at least get the spelling correct. How’s that for pompous?

TriX Loc: Raleigh, NC

Absolutely zero argument that a good photographer can produce excellent photos with a range of equipment from a cellphone to large format, as long as the equipment is suitable for the application (which is key). There’s a reason that pro sports photographers aren’t shooting basketball games with cellphones. Would you agree with that and that you need the appropriate tool for the job at hand?

lamiaceae Loc: San Luis Obispo County, CA

I think you are misreading that. It is not 1.67" but a ratio 1:2/3 = 0.67". Those 1/x size sensors are named for the old video tube sizes. Your 1/ 2/3 is tiny! See Chart Below of comparative Sensor Sizes for Still Cameras.

(Download)

Bike guy Loc: Atlanta

I have an Iphone that I carry with me always in case I see something of interest. My kids take photos of our grand children with cell phones.
No comparison of the quality of cellphone photos compared to my DSLR or Mirror less.
The cellphone photos are fine for FB, and a 5x7 print. (I have printed 8x 10 in B&W and not bad). But I like to print my photos after PP and I can't get the necessary details from the cellphones.

sirlensalot Loc: Arizona

I have a used smart iphone that was given to me as a gift. Bigger, heavier, in some cases better, others worse. I think when it bites the dust, I am going back to the smaller. lighter, arguably less convenient flip phone.

74images Loc: Los Angeles, California

...& nobody talks about the tablets, & how good are their cameras on the tablets


74images

74images Loc: Los Angeles, California

damn straight!

74images