Bingo! Sorry to be so harsh, but this entire thread defines snob element. 2 pages discussing semantics? Picture v. Photograph? Cell phone camera v. “Real” camera? At the end of the day, what matters is whether the image or capture or picture or photograph pleases the photographer, whether he/she is an amateur, pro, hobbyist, enthusiast or whatever adjective you use to describe yourself is happy with the resulting image or capture or picture or photograph.

“Real” photographers don’t care about labels; they care about results. I have sold cell phone photos (or were they images or captures or pictures or photographs?) printed as large as 24x30 and that’s what mattered most to me.

What I had in my hands at the time doesn’t make a bit of difference to me as long as the buyer’s check clears. If you get shot in the heart with a zip gun or an assault rifle, you are still dead.

"real camera" = a dedicated camera with more features than the cameras built into most cellphones.

However the cellphone cameras are generally very good basic cameras. So good, and handy, that they have destroyed the low end of the camera market.

And a huge % of people are very happy with what they get from those cameras. They are not "into photography" like many of us on this site.

Also some people do a great job with a cellphone camera. The fact you don't have interchangeable lenses and all of those controls forces you to concentrate on picking a subject, picking a good point of view, recognizing good light and composition etc. etc. Which results in better images.

Many photo classes now require the students to start with a cell phone before moving on to dedicated "real" cameras just so they have to learn composition etc.

A few years ago the AAA's (actually So Cal Automobile Club) annual photo contest in California the #2 winner was a cell phone image of Yosemite while #1 was done by a pro using a pro level studio 4x5 film camera. #3 and beyond were "real" digital and film cameras.