by Arturo Rivo Jr
Since the start of Digital Photography in 1975, technology hasn't stopped from evolving. We've seen developments over the decades that made photography an essential part of human lives. Photography plays a major role in human history.
In the 1980s, the DSLR was born. And since then, the DLSR had become the standard tool for serious and professional photographers.
A lot has happened since then and then the smartphone era began. We saw the very first camera on the smartphone in the 2000s. It quickly spread and the technology saw a rapid development through the years.
In 2010s, we saw the amazing developments of smartphone camera features. We saw features we only dream about.. We can enjoy upto 12 megapixels of digital picture.. a feature we only see on DSLRs before. As smartphones become a commodity especially to the middle class, it brought the power of photography to millions of people.
Now, in the 2020s era, I think all of us had experience using a smartphone camera. The technology has tremendously advanced. In the photo below, I will compare an old digital DSLR from 2008 to a 2019 smartphone. We can clearly see that in paper, the features of the smartphone camera easily beats the DSLR's.
With the power of computational photography, smartphones can shoot great pictures. Based on my experience, some photos can be even compared to high end DSLRs. And when uploaded to social media, you cannot tell the difference. Search Youtube for image comparisons done by some photographers. It will blew your mind.
Smartphones brought to the death of the compact point and shoot cameras. Does it threaten the existence of DSLRs too? Well for a quick answer, YES in mass market. Smartphones now dominates the photo enthusiast market. It is obvious, smartphones are in everyone's pocket.
But DSLR lovers, don't worry. Serious amateur photographers and professional photographers will still choose a DSLR over smartphone camera. Smartphones still cannot beat the DSLR because of 4 things.
1. Larger Sensor
A DSLR have a larger sensor than smartphones, well as of now. A camera sensor captures light and covert it into signals which then results to an image. A larger sensor means it can capture more light, and more light means more information and dynamic range, thus producing better images than smaller sensors. As of now, smartphones have very small sensor and rely on computational photography to produce pictures.
2. Quality Lenses
You cannot put quality zoom lenses and best quality lenses on smartphones. Picture quality greatly depends on the lenses. Have you seen a 400mm lens? You cannot attach this huge lens to a smartphone. Even if you could {someday}, it will look rediculous! LOL
3. Creative Control
DSLR can fully control all the elements you need to create a creative photo. A smartphone can simulate many of these scenarios but they only depend on computational photography or their software. Also, in DSLRs, you have a wide variety of accessories to help you achieve the output you want. This includes high quality speedlights.
4. Batteries
DSLRs can shoot tons of high quality images before it runs dry and you can immediately replace then with a spare one. Well, this is debatable since there are battery packs/ power banks for smartphones that keep you going.
CONCLUSION:
The smartphone cameras WIN the enthusiast market. In today's technology, the smartphone cameras meet the most of the people's photography demands. It is light weight, easy to use, produce great pictures especially for social media, easy to share and you carry them everyday and maybe you forgot, they are still phones right? LOL. Smartphone cameras is now the go-to camera for millions of people. Sad to say, they don't need a DSLR to enjoy great photography. But for serious and professional photographers, the DSLR will not leave their bags anytime soon. With the rise of smaller but powerful Mirrorless Cameras, weight and versatility will continue to improve for these cameras. Smartphones still cannot beat the quality images a DSLR or a Mirrorless Camera can produce and will never beat the quality of its lenses. But one advantage of smartphones is that professional and serious photographers are also using them. And admit it, it complements your main camera and it's fun to use. In the end, it all goes down to your choice. It all goes down to which is "enough or good enough" for your everyday photography needs. I am excited to see the future of smartphone cameras as well as the continuous development of the successor of DLSRs which is the Mirrorless cameras.
Comments