SalvageDiver Loc: Huntington Beach CA

John, nobody is saying that there are no high-end (ILC) camera sales, nor that those that own them are abandoning them en masse. The affluent will always be able to buy what they want. The facts are that there are a lot less sales of ILC cameras. And that those sales are 'rapidly' declining year over year. The CIPA numbers I referenced in my earlier post clearly show that. The problem for us is at what point does industry give up in the face of consistently declining sales?

The original subject of the post was about two 'professional' photographers taking their tools out to a model shoot. The only difference in each toolbox was the camera. Now you could argue that the backgrounds were slightly different or the ambient lighting was a little different or even PP. But, just the fact that the comparison was even being made and published should speak volumes about the progress of the smartphone. The second point is that almost any camera can make excellent images in the hands of a skilled photographer, reinforcing the fact that it's the artist, not the tool, that makes good images.

SalvageDiver Loc: Huntington Beach CA

A print resolution of about 32ppi at 10' is all that's required to make 2 images unresolvable for a person with standard 20/20 vision. Another way of saying this is that standing at 10', a person with good 20/20 vision could not the difference between a Nikon D850 or an iphone for prints made up to 126x95" regarding resolution.

Since I'm an obsessive pixel-peeper, my viewing distance would be about 6". But that's just me.

selmslie Loc: Fernandina Beach, FL, USA

The main advantage of a smartphone is that it is readily accessible and almost anyone can use it with little or no training.

But to compare a smartphone to a real camera that is comparably priced (and some very nice ones are available used) you need to use the same scene and, to be honest, point out some of the things that the camera can do that you can't do with a smartphone.

Looking only at a YouTube presentation we are reduced to second and third generation images displayed on another smartphone, tablet or computer display.

Anyone who makes the comparison for themselves will see several significant differences:

1. The tiny smartphone sensor with its extremely short focal length(s) will record what appears to be an extremely large depth of field. That can be misleading. We don't always want a lot of DOF. Small images will always look sharper than larger ones.
2. The thickness of a typical smartphone simply does not provide enough room for longer focal lengths and sensors as large as you can find in many point and shoot cameras including zoom capability, not to mention cameras with interchangeable lenses.
3. The smartphone controls are all located on the same surface as the image. There s no app that has a completely satisfactory layout.
4. Even if you manage to get the exposure just right a 14-bit camera can give you a better wide DR image. A smartphone has to resort to several software tricks to overcome the limitations of 12-bit raw capture.
5. Smartphones are limited to 12 or 16 MP and can only achieve higher resolutions with pixel binning or other tricks.

The laws of physics have not been repealed.

kenArchi Loc: Seal Beach, CA

As a consumer and little knowledge of photography, because I never took a class in photography.
What's with all the confusing menus?
Film camera's were not that way.
And there are so many models to choose, which one is good or bad?

Mac Loc: Pittsburgh, Philadelphia now Hernando Co. Fl.

The menus are for all the bells, whistles, horns and flashing lights that have been added on to make you think you need to buy a new camera every so often.

Sinewsworn Loc: Port Orchard, WA

Agree! My iPhone 12 Pro Max takes excellent photos! Handles reds and highlights very well. Telephoto zoom is not wonderful, though.

joer Loc: Colorado/Illinois

Not yet but not too far away.

To illustrate: https://www.uglyhedgehog.com/t-675891-1.html

Sinewsworn Loc: Port Orchard, WA

Saby Loc: Tamarac FL

iPhones photography is the future like it or not. Nikon Canon Fuji Sony are pricing themselves out of the consumer market. There is very little change in technology of the pass years but prices skyrocketed. The iPhone 12 camera takes excellent images and becoming more popular at photography club competition

Dalek Loc: Detroit, Miami, Goffstown

Having trouble with subjects 100 yards away with my iphone. My D5 with a 600mm gives me much better results.
phones are great for quick shots. Printing is another subject.

Uuglypher Loc: South Dakota (East River)

Folks have been Digiscoping with smartphones for years!
Check out this site;

https://www.shutterbug.com/content/closer-look-discoping-smartphone-cameras-wildlife-photography

Dave

kenArchi Loc: Seal Beach, CA

Can I use my phone for professional architectural photography?
Can I use to set off my various slave flashes?
Does it have manual exposure settings ?
Raw?
Will be good as FF sensor at 36mpxl?
Will I get 36mpxl?

DirtFarmer Loc: Escaped from the NYC area, back to MA

Phone cameras are designed for convenience. They are probably like the Brownie camera of the photography world. Most people probably don't need more than that. And the rest of us will find a use for the phone camera occasionally. In particular, they will be useful when that's all we have accessible to us at a given time.

Certainly the questions that I bolded above are not likely to be answered in the affirmative, but those applications are not something most people are interested in. In other words, phone cameras have their place and dedicated cameras ("real" cameras?) have a separate place. The phone camera is important to pretty much everyone. The "real" camera is important to people who have a need for it, probably most of the people on this forum.

The answer to the last two questions (not bolded) is probably no at this time (I don't keep up with phones since I have one that works for me), but technology marches on. (I think comparing it to an FF 36MPx sensor is going to be pushing the envelope for quite some time).

selmslie Loc: Fernandina Beach, FL, USA

1. No, but you can use it to post real estate ads on Facebook.
2. Yes, if you know how to set it up.
3. Yes, with the right app.
4. Yes, with the right app.
5. No, not ever.
6. You can get 12 or 16 real MP today, 48 or 64 or more artificially created MP.

BebuLamar

Can you show us how to do #2. That's the one thing I need to do.