Hi and welcome to Episode 75 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 have smaller sensors than cameras, have fixed lenses and are used in a slightly different way than cameras to take photos. The accessories you can get for phones are relatively limited. Cameras have larger sensors and you can change the lenses. There are more accessories available for cameras than there are for phones. Cameras are generally still better than phones for taking photos, but you can get great photos with phones.
You can listen to the episode here
Or keep on reading. Or do both. Entirely up to you!
Let me compare some stuff quickly, using my Canon 6D and iPhone XS as examples – the two things that I use.
1 Sensor size
- Canon 6D – 36 x 24mm
- iPhone XS – 7.01 x 5.79mm
The larger the sensor, the better the image quality, in general terms.
2 Lens
- Canon 6D – pretty much whatever I want
- iPhone XS – two lenses on the back of the phone and a forward-facing “selfie” lens.
3 Focal length
- Canon 6D – whatever I want
- iPhone XS – main lens 4.25mm – equivalent to 26mm on my full frame camera – wide angle
- iPhone XS – telephoto lens 6mm – equivalent to 52mm on my full frame camera – not telephoto
Telephoto on a full frame is anything over 60mm. 52mm is a standard lens focal length.
Now I found lots of different numbers for this – the important bit is this
- Canon 6D – any focal length that I get a lens for
- iPhone – Compared to full frame equivalent, I have a wide-angle lens and a standard lens.
4 Aperture
- Canon 6D – whatever I want, from F1.2 to F32 depending on the lens and the money I spend
- iPhone XS – Wide-angle lens: ƒ/1.8 aperture
- iPhone XS – Telephoto lens: ƒ/2.4 aperture
There are crop factors that apply – I won’t get into that. What matters here is that on my Canon 6D I choose the aperture, on my iPhone it is fixed for each lens.
5 ISO
- Canon 6D – 100 – 25,600
- iPhone – 24-2304 – I did not know that.
I do not know how to change the ISO on my phone, nor do I know if I can.
On my Canon 6D I have full control of the ISO.
6 Resolution
- Canon 6D – 20.2 megapixels
- iPhone XS – 12 megapixels
The Canon 6D has a much higher resolution (on a bigger sensor let us not forget), but the iPhone has a remarkable 12MP.
7 Accessories
- Canon 6D – pretty much anything I want
- iPhone XS – a relatively limited range of accessories
8 Apps
- Canon 6D – Canon Connect App – that is it!
- iPhone XS – pretty much everything and anything available on the App Store
9 Video
- Canon 6D – 1920 x 1080
- iPhone XS – 720, 1080 and 4K
I am not sure what the difference is. I have taken hundreds of videos with my phone, and 1 with my Canon 6D.
I know that 4K is the best.
10 Taking a photo
- Canon 6D – love it
- iPhone XS – hate it
I love taking photos with my Canon 6D, but hate taking photos with my phone. It’s a handling thing.
11 Viewing a photo
- Canon 6D – hate it
- iPhone XS – love it
The LCD screen on my Canon 6D is quite frankly rubbish. The screen on my iPhone is amazing.
12 Sharing a photo
- Canon 6D – give me a couple of days
- iPhone XS – give me a second
The immediacy of the iPhone is amazing. The lack of immediacy with the Canon 6D was never a problem until phones with cameras were unleashed on the world! And immediate sharing is of course so popular these days
13 Other stuff
- Canon 6D – not a lot
- iPhone XS – lots
I know, my Canon 6D is a camera, and that my iPhone is so much more than a phone.
14 Speaking to other people
Well, I can’t phone anyone from my Canon 6D, but I can from my iPhone. Just saying….
The talky bit
I have to say that in some ways comparing phones to cameras is a bit unfair, cameras are cameras, and phones are our day-to-day everything.
One fits in a pocket, the other does not, unless you have massive pockets that is.
But this is what we do – we compare things, we need to know which is better. But do you know what? They are both amazing.
Cameras can take amazing photos. But they don’t do a lot more.
Phones can take amazing photos. And they do a lot more than that, as we all know.
And you can take rubbish photos with a camera or a phone.
One last thing – taking photos with a phone is different from taking photos with a camera. Now whilst that might sound obvious, let’s just think about that for a second.
With my Canon 6D, there are lots of settings that I have to make sure are correct, with my iPhone I just take the photo.
And for anyone getting into photography with a phone first all the stuff that you need to do with a camera might just seem completely alien. And I think this will drive the cameras of the future. See what a visionary I am!
My one-line summary
Cameras are bigger than phones, and that applies to everything. Cameras take photos. Phones take photos and do lots more.
Next episode
Episode 76 – Is It Better To Take Photos With A Camera Or A Phone? What do you think? I am going to wrap up my thoughts on phones and photography for now and get into some more nitty-gritty photography stuff.
Going weekly
I am loving being weekly. It gives me more time to think and work on what I am saying, and also to work on other stuff in the background which will make for much better listening and reading for all of you good folks out there.
Shout out
This weeks shout-out is to Terry all the way over there in New South Wales, Australia. Thanks for the emails Terry, it was lovely to hear from you and I am glad you found my podcast helpful.
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 a very nice coffee. Cheers.
I’ve been Rick McEvoy, thanks again very much for listening to me and for giving me 10 (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.
Want to know more?
Head over to the Start page on the Photography Explained Podcast website to find out more.
And here is the list of episodes published to date – you can listen to any episode straight from this page which is nice.
Let me know if there is a photography thing that you want me to explain and I will add it to my list. Just head over to the This is my list of things to explain page of this website to see what is on there already.
Let me send you stuff
I send out a weekly email to my subscribers. It is my take on one photography thing, plus what I have been writing and talking about. Just fill in the box and you can get my weekly photographic musings straight to your inbox. Which is nice.
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
