JohnSwanda Loc: San Francisco

I assume you aren't trying technically difficult photography like sports or performance action in low light or birds in flight? I'd like to see a cell phone camera that could do those as well as a DSLR. If you are just doing snapshots, either will do.

rcirr Loc: Gilbert, Arizona

"The OP has been a member of UHH for seven years, but is still randomly selecting shooting mode? I don't think he intended this particular topic to be about learning ?" I can't believe how much people have read into this post. While I am not an award winning photographer, I do know my way around a camera. I do not randomly select shooting modes. Primarily, I use manual but use the other modes under certain circumstances. What I know and don't know isn't the question. Nor is the quality of my photographs. My point was the vast improvement of the phone cameras. I have seen some stunning images created by phone cameras. I was at a wedding where some extremely beautiful images were captured by a cell phone taken by a rather drunk individual. Obviously there are things I can do with my SLR that would be impossible with a phone camera. Controlling light and focus make for more interesting portraits. I have also taken quite a few very nice pictures with other people's phones. At social gatherings people who know me like the pictures I take and so they ask me to take pictures for them. The point is using a camera phone is much easier than using an SLR and the results are often excellent. My grandson's birthday party is a perfect example. The party was outside and since we live in "The Valley of the Sun" near Phoenix, the scene was well lit. My daughter took a shot of my grandson. Not only was the lighting, color and composition perfect but the picture had a beautiful bokea! In my original post I asked if the phone cameras had surpassed SLRs. While that question was tongue in cheek, the truth is phone cameras are gaining capabilities every day and dedicated cameras will always have superior capabilities to phone cameras. The point is, the situations requiring those superior capabilities will be fewer and fewer!

mwsilvers Loc: Central New Jersey

When you say does "none of them well", if you are referring to smartphones in general and not just the camera, you may need to learn more on the subject. Smartphones do hundreds and hundreds of things extremely well.

As far as the best cell phone cameras are concerned they are quite capable given the extent of the hardware and lenses. They certainly do not currently replace the best cameras and lenses, but in the right hands the results can be spectacular.

rcirr Loc: Gilbert, Arizona

You are one hundred percent correct! Well put!

mwsilvers Loc: Central New Jersey

Once upon a time that was important, but today a tiny fraction of a tiny fraction of captured images get printed. Everything else is viewed on a monitor of some type.

mwsilvers Loc: Central New Jersey