If phone cameras are so good, should you buy a digital camera in 2021?

Hi and welcome to Episode 77 of the Photography Explained podcast.

I’m your host Rick, and in each episode, I will try to explain one photographic thing to you in plain English in less than 10 minutes (ish) without the irrelevant details. What I tell you is based on my lifetime of photographic experience. And not Google.

Before I go on if you have a question you would like me to answer just go to photographyexplainedpodcast.com/start.

Here is the answery bit

Phone cameras are amazing these days but cameras in my opinion give you better chances to take better photos. Cameras have larger sensors and access to a much wider range of higher-quality lenses and other camera accessories. And you cannot beat the ergonomics and handling of a great camera. So yes, in 2021 digital cameras are still well worth buying.

OK – that is the answer – let’s back this statement up.

You can listen to the episode here

Or keep on reading. Or do both. Entirely up to you!

1 – Larger Sensor

Cameras have larger sensors than phones. Well, you would sort of expect that, wouldn’t you? And in general terms, with all things equal, comparing like with like, it’s ok I will get there, in general terms the larger the sensor the higher the quality of the images captured.

I know there are lots of funky tech things that camera phones have built into them, but this is generally the case.

2 – Higher quality lenses

Well if you think about it, or if I think about it, which would probably be a good thing, how can the lens in a phone possibly be as good as the lens on a camera? One is shoe-horned into a pocket-sized device and the other is made for one purpose only and sticks out of the front of a camera.

It is not a fair comparison is it, but one that still needs to be made.

3 – A wider range of camera accessories

There is an endless array of camera accessories, which is a good thing and in some ways a bad thing. There is a relatively limited range of photography accessories for phones, as there is a limit to what you can add to a phone.

So there are more things that you can do with a camera, as there are more things that you can use. I have never tried to take a long exposure photo with my phone, indeed I do not know if I can do it, but I have loads of times on my Canon 6D by adding a neutral density filter, or ND filter. This is basically a filter that reduces the amount of light that gets through to the camera sensor giving me a longer shutter speed. I guess there must be ND filters for phone cameras – one for the next episode I think.

And there are so many other possibilities that camera accessories give.

4 – The ergonomics of a great camera

I use a Canon 6D and have done for many years. It fits perfectly in my hand, as though it was designed to be there. Which it was. Well, not my hand but you know what I mean.

I would love to say I feel the same way about my iPhone, but I do not. In my opinion, it has been designed with look in mind completely missing the practical point that you have to be able to hold the thing, meaning that I am forced to put my phone in a case or constantly drop it. I have tried many times to use it without a case at home but always, without fail, I drop it at some point.

This is just ridiculous – appearance taking priority over being able to actually hold it.

And when I talk about taking photos this still applies – there is an awkwardness to taking photos with my phone that I do not get with my camera.

But it is a phone, let’s not forget that!

5 – The wide-angle world

Photos taken with phones tend to be taken with the default lens, which on my iPhone is a wide-angle lens. The telephoto lens is actually, in photography terms, a standard lens.

Mobile phone photography tends to be more wide angley than camera photography. Wide angley – is that a term? It is now…

6 – What do I do?

Well, I use my Canon 6D to take my architectural, construction and real estate photos, and use my phone for everything else -behind-the-scenes shots, videos, and all sorts of other stuff. And this works just fine for me.

I have not used my phone to take a photo that I have issued to a client. And I am not planning to at the moment. I am not saying never, just not now.

I need a camera in 2021. Fact. And now it is time for me to waffle.

7 The talky bit

This is the last time that I will compare phones and cameras on my podcast, I hope that I have made my point.

A phone is these days not just a phone, but an alternative, perfectly valid tool for taking photos. But in my opinion, you can get better photos with a camera than you can with a phone, so in 2021 digital cameras are still well worth buying.

Sure the technology gap closes every year, but you cannot get away from the sheer difference in sensor sizes, with a camera being a bigger thing with a bigger sensor.

And the optics of camera lenses are better than those in phones, and you would hope so wouldn’t you? If they were not there would be something wrong.

It is still a ridiculous thing to do, to compare a camera with a phone, a camera is a camera and a phone is a phone after all. I love taking photos with my Canon 6D, but much less so with my phone.

And I have absolutely nothing against taking photos with a phone, it is a fantastic thing to be able to do, and if you can do this and make a living out of mobile phone photography then hats off to you.

I can’t.

And the fact that phones have got more people out and about taking and sharing photos has to be a good thing.

But the point is this – digital cameras are still worth buying in 2021.

To summarise

You can take great photos with a phone

You can take rubbish photos with a phone

But

You can take great photos with a camera

You take rubbish photos with a camera

But whatever you use you still need to get the composition right, and make sure that the exposure is correct, however you do it.

This applies, whatever you use to take photos.

My one-line summary

Cameras give you more opportunities to take better photos than phones do – if they didn’t what would be the point of cameras?

Next episode

Photography Explained Podcast Episode 78 – What Are My 5 Best Accessories For Mobile Phone Photography? And coming up soon will be a series of episodes about travel photography – well why not as the summer slowly creeps up on us here in England, and the possibilities for travel come back to us?

Going weekly

I hope that you are enjoying my weekly output as much as I am.

Shout out

And now time for a shout-out to David in Panama City Beach, Florida, who got in touch by email some time ago. I hope all is good with you David.

I’m done

Thanks for listening to my small but perfectly formed podcast. To find out more about my podcast and do stuff to help me check out Photographyexplainedpodcast.com/start.

Brought to you by

This episode was brought to you by tea. A simple, refreshing cup of tea. Cheers.

I’ve been Rick McEvoy, thanks again very much for listening to me and for giving me 12 (ish) minutes of your valuable time, and I will see you on the next episode.

Cheers from me Rick

OK – that was the podcast episode.

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And finally a little bit about me

Finally, yes this paragraph is all about me – check out my Rick McEvoy Photography website to find out more about me and my architectural, construction, real estate and travel photography work. I also write about general photography stuff, all in plain English without the irrelevant detail.

Thank you

Thanks for listening to my podcast (if you did) and reading this blog post (which I assume you have done as you are reading this).

Cheers from me Rick