DxOMARK Shows The Progress Smartphone Cameras Have Made in the Last 5 Years

[snappy604]

Its funny watching the same scoffing I've watched time and time as technology changes. I heavily borrowed a digital camera in the 90s (had a floppy! 640x480 resolution) and loved it.. but people scoffed it'd never be as good as film.. then had the use of a Canon D60 (not 60D.. it was 6 megapixel) and saw a lot of potential.. film people still scoffed... then 7D.. and so on (sadly still no full frame).. but now people love their digital SLRs and film is niche... The first phone cameras were awful too.. now they take better than old film point and shoots and better than many digital compacts. Yes they don't cover every use case, but they sure have improved a huge amount. As someone said imagine if they used larger sensors or multiple cameras stiched together etc.

I take better pictures with my SLR than my wife, but she gets some of the best 'awww' moments of our kids because she has her phone handy during those times.. where I'm busy getting the SLR out of the bag, getting the right level, tweaking the manual settings etc.

all in all... it's pretty amazing and either way, happy with all the options. Again would love to see some of the software/processing capabilities be brought to a body with the larger sensor and lenses! I can only imagine the potential given what they can get with tiny phones.

 

[Talys]

I take better pictures with my SLR than my wife, but she gets some of the best 'awww' moments of our kids because she has her phone handy during those times.. where I'm busy getting the SLR out of the bag, getting the right level, tweaking the manual settings etc.

This was actually what I was talking about, with reference to baby pics.

So, on one hand, you can whip out the phone and take a thousands cute shots of your kids, and you and your family and friends will treasure them, and they'll give you memories that you otherwise wouldn't have. But most those photos your wife takes are probably not that much more exceptional to those that several billion other people will take -- trillions of kids photos.

And let's be honest, remove the context -- if they're total strangers -- you would never go through and look at a digital album of them, any more than you would type "cat" in Google Images and sit through checking out a billion random cat pictures.

Still, if you have a professional photographer take some photos for keepsakes, those photos will (hopefully) be really special. No different than the 50 professional wedding photos you pay for, versus the 5,000 wedding photos that friends and family took on an iPhone.

So what makes those photos worth paying for? Composition... flattering poses... lighting... perspective... the interesting story each photo suggests, right? Well, frankly, a 40 year old film SLR can achieve a lot more of this than an iPhone. It's just that the latter is way easier to use.

 

[snappy604]

I take better pictures with my SLR than my wife, but she gets some of the best 'awww' moments of our kids because she has her phone handy during those times.. where I'm busy getting the SLR out of the bag, getting the right level, tweaking the manual settings etc.

This was actually what I was talking about, with reference to baby pics.

So, on one hand, you can whip out the phone and take a thousands cute shots of your kids, and you and your family and friends will treasure them, and they'll give you memories that you otherwise wouldn't have. But most those photos your wife takes are probably not that much more exceptional to those that several billion other people will take -- trillions of kids photos.

And let's be honest, remove the context -- if they're total strangers -- you would never go through and look at a digital album of them, any more than you would type "cat" in Google Images and sit through checking out a billion random cat pictures.

Still, if you have a professional photographer take some photos for keepsakes, those photos will (hopefully) be really special. No different than the 50 professional wedding photos you pay for, versus the 5,000 wedding photos that friends and family took on an iPhone.

So what makes those photos worth paying for? Composition... flattering poses... lighting... perspective... the interesting story each photo suggests, right? Well, frankly, a 40 year old film SLR can achieve a lot more of this than an iPhone. It's just that the latter is way easier to use.

currently yes, but doesn't mean it will be in future.. which is the point I was trying to get Trust me, way prefer my SLR pictures, but damn it's annoying taking 20lbs of gear on a hike and more often now I'm ok with phone pics than say 3 yrs ago.

 

[okaro]

currently yes, but doesn't mean it will be in future.. which is the point I was trying to get Trust me, way prefer my SLR pictures, but damn it's annoying taking 20lbs of gear on a hike and more often now I'm ok with phone pics than say 3 yrs ago.

There is more options than a phone and a DSLR. Canon G9 X beats a smart phone hands down and is much smaller than a DSRL.