How Much do use your Smartphone for photography?

[raydm6]

Champs-Élysées 2024

Lots o’ phones… (video screen capture - not my video)
🙂

 

[Mackinaw]

Impressive picture. This is the reason why we included a cellphone picture category as part of our Juried Photo Exhibit. If you're High School/college-aged, this is how you take pictures.

Jim B.

 

[JohnGellings]

Hmm. The phone camera app is right on the "lock screen" and I can configure the iPhone 15 custom button to bring it up with a single click. That's as fast a pulling my camera out of a bag and getting it ready to shoot. 😉

That's true... it is on the Lock Screen. But not the "telephoto" lens option...so, bring out of pocket, access Lock Screen, change foal length, then ready... my other camera is on my neck, in my hand with my finger on the combo on switch / shutter button. We are never going to agree here and that is ok. I truly like some work people do with phones....for over 10 years people have done great work with them. That's not the issue for me. I just do not like using it when I can use other cameras.

 

[Yokosuka Mike]

If you zoom in on the phone screen I'm in there taking this picture with a Sony A7III.
Photography is a big world, there's plenty of room for everyone and every kind of camera.​

Sony A7III camera
Sigma 65mm f2 DG DN Contemporary lens
January 2024 - Yokohama, Japan​

 

[Godfrey]

That's true... it is on the Lock Screen. But not the "telephoto" lens option...so, bring out of pocket, access Lock Screen, change foal length, then ready... my other camera is on my neck, in my hand with my finger on the combo on switch / shutter button. We are never going to agree here and that is ok. I truly like some work people do with phones....for over 10 years people have done great work with them. That's not the issue for me. I just do not like using it when I can use other cameras.

LOL! "Methinks thou dost protest too much!" I could set my iPhone 15 camera to remember the previous settings I was using, set up the telephoto lens, and then it's pick up, click, done.

But who really cares ... ? I like making photographs. I'll use anything that comes to hand to make a photograph, if I see something and want to make a photograph of it. If that something happens to be my phone, and my phone makes a good photograph, job done. That's all. Would you not make a photograph with your smartphone if it was all that you had available and you saw a nice photo you wanted to make?

G

 

[michaelwj]

LOL! "Methinks thou dost protest too much!" I could set my iPhone 15 camera to remember the previous settings I was using, set up the telephoto lens, and then it's pick up, click, done.
…

G

Exactly.
I have the 15 pro set to be at 35mm by default, with the side button bringing up portrait mode. It’s so easy and really an excellent camera.

 

[dourbalistar]

I enjoy taking photos much more with my film cameras, but smartphones are well past the point of sufficiency. I mostly use the smartphone for quick snapshots and note taking, but here are a couple direct comparisons. Personally, I'm more satisfied with the film versions, but one isn't "better" than the other per se.

Taken with the Google Pixel 2, which is close to ~28mm equivalent:


Compared to the film version, taken with Nikon FM2n, Nikkor-S Auto 55mm f/1.2, Fujifilm Fujicolor 200:

 

[dourbalistar]

Here's a black and white comparison, taken with the Google Pixel 2, with some additional cropping and post processing done "on-board" using Snapseed:


Compared with the film version, taken with a Leica M5, Canon 50mm f/1.4 LTM, ORWO N74+, developed in LegacyPro L110 at 1:31 for 6.5 minutes:

 

[Freakscene]

Here's a black and white comparison, taken with the Google Pixel 2, with some additional cropping and post processing done "on-board" using Snapseed:


Compared with the film version, taken with a Leica M5, Canon 50mm f/1.4 LTM, ORWO N74+, developed in LegacyPro L110 at 1:31 for 6.5 minutes:

I assume that these are taken at different times and/or days.

Irrespective, this shows what I saw when I did a comparison. In the film shot I like the scene rendition better, but in the phone photo I like the sky better. The film can’t capture everything as easily as I can make the scene on digital look like the film version. So sorted for me. And that is before the cost/time analysis.

 

[dourbalistar]

I assume that these are taken at different times and/or days.

Irrespective, this shows what I saw when I did a comparison. In the film shot I like the scene rendition better, but in the phone photo I like the sky better. The film can’t capture everything as easily as I can make the scene on digital look like the film version. So sorted for me. And that is before the cost/time analysis.

They were taken on the same day at around the same time, but it was just after sunset and the light was changing and fading quickly. I had to wait for some people who were scrambling up on the boat to leave so that I could get clean composition. The smartphone photo was probably about 10-15 minutes after the film photo, and both were quick snaps as I was packing up. My main focus (pun intended) was getting a photo with my Pentax 6x7:


Meanwhile, the rest of my family was in a nearby restaurant and my then six year-old son was eating my oysters. 😆

 

[Freakscene]

They were taken on the same day at around the same time, but it was just after sunset and the light was changing and fading quickly. I had to wait for some people who were scrambling up on the boat to leave so that I could get clean composition. The smartphone photo was probably about 10-15 minutes after the film photo, and both were quick snaps as I was packing up. My main focus (pun intended) was getting a photo with my Pentax 6x7:


Meanwhile, the rest of my family was in a nearby restaurant and my then six year-old son was eating my oysters. 😆

The tide must move quickly too; the water level changed quite a bit. The rest makes good sense.

Your son has good taste. Eating my oysters is a walking home offense at my place [that’s a joke].

Marty

 

[cboy]

Here's a black and white comparison, taken with the Google Pixel 2, with some additional cropping and post processing done "on-board" using Snapseed:


Compared with the film version, taken with a Leica M5, Canon 50mm f/1.4 LTM, ORWO N74+, developed in LegacyPro L110 at 1:31 for 6.5 minutes:

Pixel 2 does produce nice images. Better than my pixel 3, 4 in my experience. Though not sure about the latest flagship. I sometimes have pixel 2 around just for snapshots.

 

[JohnGellings]

LOL! "Methinks thou dost protest too much!" I could set my iPhone 15 camera to remember the previous settings I was using, set up the telephoto lens, and then it's pick up, click, done.

But who really cares ... ? I like making photographs. I'll use anything that comes to hand to make a photograph, if I see something and want to make a photograph of it. If that something happens to be my phone, and my phone makes a good photograph, job done. That's all. Would you not make a photograph with your smartphone if it was all that you had available and you saw a nice photo you wanted to make?

G

You’ve got it. I would not use my cellphone for my projects because it’s not going to work for what I want to do and how I do it. I see no difference in saying that vs saying I don’t want to use a film camera for a particular project or a Nikon Z9 for a particular project. I go out with my camera with a particular project in mind…with a purpose. I do use my cellphone for casual photos and videos of my kid though.

 

[Axel]

I always carry with me one or two cameras, and I have my phone with me to check my emails and to have a quick photography tool ready to be used at any time.

Exactly as me. And I also caught a snap on the 31rd with my phone while my camera was in the bag under my seat:

 

[Freakscene]

The tide must move quickly too; the water level changed quite a bit. The rest makes good sense.

Your son has good taste. Eating my oysters is a walking home offense at my place [that’s a joke].

Marty

Actually, this is a good point: I work with oyster farmers a lot. When I eat them I report on to the grower what I thought of them. I always send a photo so they know what they look like at the point of service.

 

[stephen_lumsden]

I use my oppo with a 27mm equivalent if I want colour or run out of film, see below when my contax ii ran out of film and I did not want to go thru the hassle of reloading, and I only had the 50mm sonnar on it in any case. Also the low light abilities on phones are getting much better.

 

[dourbalistar]

Pixel 2 does produce nice images. Better than my pixel 3, 4 in my experience. Though not sure about the latest flagship. I sometimes have pixel 2 around just for snapshots.

FWIW, Pixel 2 used a Sony IMX362 sensor. After that, they switched to the Sony IMX363 sensor for a few generations of Pixel phones, including my current Pixel 6a. Not sure if there's a functional difference, but either way, Google ekes out good performance from that 1/2.55" 12.2 MP sensor.

 

[Disappointed_Horse]

Maybe a way to describe my feelings about this subject is this: I very much prefer shooting with my film cameras, but I don't dislike shooting with my iPhone any more than I dislike shooting with any other digital camera. Shooting with my iPhone does not feel much different to me than shooting with any other digital camera, but there is a world of difference between shooting with a film camera vs. shooting with any digital camera.

 

[Bob Michaels]

"Different horses for different courses" My wife photographs our experiences with her 4 year old Samsung phone and post on social media that night for everyone to see. I photograph with a Fuji camera, edit and print 8x10 later for a family record. Interestingly, when people look at my prints they say "OK, OK, OK, Seen this on Facebook, Seen this, Seen this." They simply cannot differentiate her cell phone images shown on their cell phone from my prints.

I also see examples how the world who are not photographers respond. I have a 10x12.5 print of a capture by an early m4/3 image converted to B&W included in a exhibit series shot on 35mm B&W film. Nobody has noticed the difference. Also, an early cellphone capture printed in an exhibit series where everything else was shot digital color. They comment about the subject matter, but not the image quality.

 

[Yokosuka Mike]

I need a viewfinder. I need to press my eye into a rubber eyecup and look through a viewfinder to compose a picture. That’s me.

I’m sure there’s some kind of phone viewfinder device out there to solve this problem but I don’t need to solve a problem that I’m not really interested in solving.

All the best,
Mike