Phone Camera vs. DSLR—What Are You Missing With A Phone? Hi, and a very warm welcome to Episode 182 of the Photography Explained podcast. I’m your host, Rick. In each episode, I will try to explain one photographic thing to you in plain English in less than 27 minutes (ish) without the irrelevant details. I’m a professionally qualified photographer based in England with a lifetime of photographic experience, which I share with you in my podcast.
Here is the answery bit
If you use a phone and not a camera, you are missing out on so much of the wonderful world of photography.
- The taking photos with a camera experience
- Time and enjoyment
- Composition
- The viewfinder
- Image quality
- Consistency
- Cameras
- Lenses
- Camera settings
- The simple self-timer
- Tripods
- The other accessories that help us.
Yes, these are the things that you are missing out on if you take photos with a phone and not a camera. I will go through these one by one now and tell you more.
You can listen to the episode here
Or keep on reading – entirely up to you.
Now, I say DSLR camera as that is what I use, a Canon 6D. But these things apply, of course, to all DSLR cameras and mirrorless cameras. And to be honest, I couldn’t fit mirrorless camera in the title!
The taking of photos with a camera experience.
I love taking photos with my camera, but I don’t love taking photos with my phone. That is it. I don’t like taking photos with my phone.
I love photography, and taking photos with my phone is about as enjoyable as checking my bank balance.
It is a functional thing I do with the device that is all things to me, but it is not my main camera.
Taking photos with a camera is a wonderful experience. I know this sounds a bit vague and woolly, especially if you have never held a camera, but taking photos with a tool designed to do just that and nothing else is a joy.
Taking photos with my camera changes how I approach taking photos. Or, more accurately, taking photos with my phone changes my approach to taking photos.
With my phone, I lift it to eye level and touch the screen.
With my dedicated camera, as that is what it is, I look around, think, take everything in, study the light, and study how things relate to each other. I move around to get the best composition that I can. After all, I am looking for one photo, the best that I can get, that I will edit.
But with my phone, I take the photo and move on.
Time and enjoyment
Time spent taking photos with my camera is time that I love. It is my thing that I love to do. I have been doing this for over 40 years now, and I love doing this more than ever.
But I don’t enjoy taking photos with my phone.
I make time to take photos with my camera, but I barely stop when I am taking photos with my phone. Sure, I could spend more time taking photos with my phone—of course, I could—but I don’t want to!
And there is a very good reason why.
Composition
Sure, phones cameras are amazing. But I cannot get the best compositions holding my phone in front of me. To get the best compositions, I need to put my phone on a tripod. And if I am going to do that, I might as well use my camera—more on tripods in a bit.
No, there is something else about cameras that you do not get with phones.
The viewfinder
The thing that you look through on the back of the camera is the viewfinder. A DSLR has an optical viewfinder. Through optical genius, you are actually looking through the lens that you are taking the photo with—exactly the same view. With a mirrorless camera, you have an electronic viewfinder.
I use this to compose my images. When I look through the viewfinder, all I see is what I am looking at. Everything else is out of my view, and there is nothing else distracting me.
And in bright sunlight, yes, we do get this every now and then here in England; I can see perfectly what I am taking a photo of.
With my phone, on a sunny day, I can’t really see what is on my screen.
If I can’t see what I am taking a photo of, how can I possibly get the best composition?
The small matter of being able to see what I am taking a photo of when I look through the viewfinder is, on its own, such a significant difference between taking photos with a camera rather than with a phone.
And that is a problem for phones.
Image quality
You can take better photos with a camera than with a phone. You can get better quality images with a camera than you can with a phone. I covered that in the last episode.
And lots of other technical stuff. Check out episode 181 for lots more on this.
But I am more than happy to repeat this here—you can take better photos with a camera than you can with a smart phone. Sure, you can take great photos with a phone, but a camera gives you more opportunities and capabilities to take better photos.
Digital cameras have larger sensors than phone cameras, giving better opportunities to take better photos. My camera has a full-frame sensor. Modern phones have tiny sensors, which are incredible considering the size constraints, but still tiny sensors. The size of the sensor has a massive say in image quality. I know that sensor size determines the size of everything else, but I am fine with the size of my camera. And you get less noise in low light situations. Sorry I cover this in episode 181.
I was expecting a backlash from this, but all the feedback I got was from people agreeing with me, which was nice.
Consistency
I need consistency with my image captures, not only within a set of photos that I am taking but also from one shoot to the next over months and years.
I take my photos in a certain way, so if you hire me, you will have a pretty good idea of what your photos will look like.
I take all my photos the same way, with the same camera settings. I use Av mode, but I still have manual control of the settings that matter to me. That is how I can take photos today that look similar to photos taken years ago.
This is very important to me and the people I take photos for.
Computational photography won’t give me what I am after.
Cameras
Cameras are clever things. But nowhere near as clever as phones. No phones do all sorts of things. And cameras do one thing and one thing only. And that is their appeal. They are designed to take photos with and nothing else.
And this is what makes them a joy to use.
The handling of a great camera is such a wonderful thing. My Canon 6D has been designed to fit perfectly in my hands, which it does. It is a joy to hold.
I have to put my iPhone in a case, or I will drop it and break it. No, the ergonomics of my iPhone are dreadful.
Oh yes, I want to say that I am talking about my Canon 6D, my Canon DSLR—this is what I use and paid for with my own money. Just saying.
Lenses
The lenses I use are high quality, giving me the specific focal lengths and depth of field that I need. When a lens is put on a camera, the combination just feels right and makes sense. Interchangeable lenses give us photographers all the choices that we need without losing quality. Different lenses for different subject matters. That is all fine with me.
I make a conscious decision to choose the focal length for every image I take. I usually use my wide angle lens, the Canon 17-40mm lens. I also have a telephoto lens that I use when the subject matter requires it, but most of my photos are taken with a wide angle lens.
An optical zoom is better than a digital zoom.
Camera settings
I choose the camera settings to capture images the way I want them captured. I am talking here about
- Aperture – how much light I capture, the depth of field, and the image quality.
- Shutter speed – getting the exposure correct, getting things as sharp as possible every time.
- ISO – it’s set at 100 for the highest quality image capture.
- Auto bracketing – I decide the range of lights and darks I capture – also known as the dynamic range.
- White balance – getting the base colours correct.
- Focus point – where I focus. I do this manually for every photo.
- RAW files – the only processing done is to create the photo – I do the rest.
I use loads more settings, but these are the main ones. Each setting contributes to the images that I get. And you don’t get this little lot with Smartphone cameras.
The simple self-timer
Yes, the good old self-timer. My digital camera is normally on a tripod. More on that in a bit. I have all the settings how I want them. I have decided where my focus point is. So I press the shutter button, and 10 seconds later, the camera takes the photo or photos. I gently press the shutter button and wait 10 seconds so the camera is absolutely still. This helps me to get the sharpest photos that I can.
Tripods
I take every photo I can with my camera on a tripod. Why do I do this? There are various reasons. Firstly, it helps me get the best composition. I find this much better than taking photos handheld. I can make fine adjustments to the composition with my camera in a fixed position.
See, I used to take loads of photos of the same thing and find the best one in Lightroom. Now, I take the time to get the best composition that I can, take one photo, and move on.
Using a tripod allows me to use the lowest ISO to get the highest quality. The shutter speed does not matter as the subject matter, i.e. the building, is not moving, and my camera is sitting on a solid platform, namely the tripod. So, my tripod helps me to take better photos.
The other accessories that help us.
There are a few that I will cover another time, but these are not available if you use a phone.
The talky bit
DSLR vs phone camera—is this really an issue? Yes, it is. Many people who have gotten into photography with a phone might not know about this stuff.
The things that I have talked about are how I approach my photography. Each of these things contributes to every photo that I take.
I am talking here about photography as it has been for years and years. Photography started with, well, other stuff before film. Film was the primary medium when photography became something anyone could do. I don’t need to give you a history lesson in photography – that is not what this episode is about.
I use my phone for all sorts of things, and it is always with me. It is integral to my daily life, with apps for email, banking, health, music, and even my car now. And loads of other stuff, too. And you are probably in the same boat as me.
When I take photos with my phone, I lift the phone and touch the screen, and the job is done. I can post the photos on social media in a second, but that is not what I am about. That is not important to me.
That is phone photography for me.
Much of what I have said relates to the human side of things, the experience of taking photos with a camera, the feeling of holding a camera, and all that softer stuff. And the bits that I do when I take a photo, the things that are particular to me.
As tech evolves and AI grows, I think this will become more important, not less important. Photography is drawing with light, and where we can make a difference is how we capture that light using the tools that we have. Professional photographers use all the things I have discussed and so much more to take photos that stand out, photos that people pay good money for.
Suppose we all rely on phones and automatic settings and processing? Surely all our photos will look the same, as the human part of photography is generally bypassed to varying degrees.
The creative part of photography is what humans provide. That is the difference. The creative bit is all that stuff you do not get with a phone—well, not to the same degree.
What if I use my phone to take photos and not a camera?
I think I have covered this—move on, Rick! Oh no, there is one thing. There is an old saying: The best camera is the one you have with you. And if you haven’t got your camera with you, yep, you’ve got it! And I want to add that mobile phones are amazing these days. I am not anti-mobile phones. Not for a second, okay?
What do I do?
I have an old DSLR. You don’t have to get a new camera. Sure, shiny, new, expensive DSLRs are wonderful, but so are cameras like the 10-year-old Canon 6D. No, a full-frame DSLR will give you excellent images, be it shiny new or ten years old.
So you don’t have to spend a ton of money to get a proper camera. And you can get a full frame sensor camera for not that much these days, like my good old Canon 6D.
Higher quality images are my priority. And always will be.
So, what’s the answer to the question, Rick?
I use my phone to take “proper photos.” Yes, I am using air quotes here, but I know you can’t see them on the audio. I also use my cell phone to take snaps, take behind-the-scenes stuff, and take notes.
And that is what I do!
What is your answer?
Seamlessly, I will move on to my survey. You can tell me what your answer is by completing my survey.
I have set up a survey on this subject. I would really appreciate it if you completed the survey, which will take 2 minutes to complete. Just head over to Photography Explained Podcast.com/survey2024.
I will pick up the survey results in a future episode, so thanks in anticipation for your assistance with this.
Some thoughts from the last episode
This episode is a result of the last episode. No more to say.
Next episode
Learn from your photos and other photographers – title to be worked on. Yes, we have lots of photos, and there is a lot that we can learn from them.
Title worked on – How To Get Better At Photography By Learning From Others
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Check out the questions page, where there is a big old list of things you can choose from.
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Fan mail
A shout out to Karyn in Virginia, who got in touch. It’s great to hear from you, Karyn. And yes, I will gladly do an episode solely on lenses. I have added that to my list and will do this after I have recorded this series of episodes, which are all about taking better photos.
Thanks again for getting in touch.
If you are getting in touch using the Fan mail thing, I can’t reply directly, but I will include what you say in a future episode.
OK – I am done.
This episode was brought to you by a homemade tuna sandwich washed down with water before I settled in my homemade, acoustically cushioned recording emporium. No crisps; I am back to being good.
I’ve been Rick McEvoy; thanks again very much for listening to my small but perfectly formed podcast (it says here) and for giving me 27 ish minutes of your valuable time. This episode will be about 27 minutes long after I have edited out the mistakes and other bad stuff.
Take care and stay safe.
Cheers from me, Rick
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
