Just returned from the Carolinas shooting the leaves changing and ran across lots of folks shooting only with cell phones. To be honest the newest phones give Stellar results with still images. They now shoot in HDR mode and basically in one press of the button produce an image like you see with your eyes. I was using a polarizer and or ND filters to balance the highlights and shadows. I didn't use a tripod much, but could have set up and taken bracketed shots or five photo HDR's blending in camera for the same affect, but they got the results with a simple click... You can go on YOUTUBE and search IPHONE videos and see for yourself what these guys can do with their cell phones. Like most photography it's about the subject and the Ability of the Photographer. Some impressive videos. Cameras have a much larger learning curve than a cell phone. How much time and money do you really want to spend??????? If I was new at photography, I would first, go mirrorless and or just get the best cell phone I could buy....