Phone Camera Vs Canon 5d Mark Iii While Traveling

Hi John !
It would be very interesting if You can upload one photo which You have made with phone and exactely the same with Your pro camera both in full resolution and the preview option.

For me the phone never can replace the camera. I guess it depends what phone you have. But knowing the weight of that camera of yours I can see why you ponder this question. I switched to a mirrorless camera and love that I am not lugging around that weight. For ease, the phone will always win. Some phones also do an amazing job in dark lid areas.

Looks like a wonderful trip, John.

Yes, cellphone cameras have come forward in leaps and bounds. I finally upgraded my iPhone 6S to a iPhone 13 mini in December and have been astounded by what it can do with multiple lenses and an AI engine.

Incidentally, I have sold several framed prints (up tp 30" if I recall correctly) from my iPhone 5 on FAA so I guess it depends on what you want. I still usually carry my Sony A2II with a 21-240mm zoom attached and that's more that enough equipment for me to lug about and I always carry my phone.

Enjoy your travels!

Phones have advanced quite a bit. Some even have an internal zoom lens. Still though its good for landscape, less for action because you have to focus on stuff. On trips I use it to shoot through windows (always have a case that has rubber and lets you get up against the glass). Its good in a pinch and it doesn't make you look like you are casing the joint if you keep it as portrait.

It gives weirdly wide angle shots and works well inside.

Note that all your images are uploaded to the cloud automatically so if you have anything you don't want to be in the cloud, check that or it will be there forever as I found out. Seeing shots from years ago in there. Plus it has a geo code which is both good and bad.

Be sure you aren't sharing full size shots on facebook...

I have 3 cameras on me on trips, I have the mk4 still, part of me wants a sony. A small canon 40x pocket camera, its the only way to get some shots and its good as a quick camera as I always have it on me. And the phone, which is used only in back ups because its like shooting pictures with a bar of soap.

Close up detail looks terrible on a phone (or mine does) despite it being clear. But some phones have a 60mp+ size, maybe its clearer. I can't wait for a phone that has 360 picture ability. They made the lens they just have to make a camera that goes with it.


Also phones are great for sneaking pictures of people. Not that anyone would notice you with a camera, everyone is looking at their phones.


----Mike Savad

I have a long-time friend here with a 300+ image gallery - all done with an iPhone XR. And he sells (here and elsewhere.

I, too, have sold several prints done with my old IPhone 6s and now with my iPhone 12.

Last Fall I sold my remaining Nikon gear to go all in with the Olympus MFT system. From macro to 600mm, I’ve got it all in one shoulder bag that weighs under six pounds.

For me, lighter is better. YMMV

The sensors in phones are incredibly small. A good quality point-and-shoot with a larger sensor might be better.

I presently have a number of full frame cameras. A phone could NEVER replace the quality, DOF, etc.. However, I also purchased a P&S supposedly with a large sensor, for convenience - to avoid all the lens change garbage. The quality rivals the full frame quality.

DA, I wholeheartedly agree with your statement: "A phone could NEVER replace the quality, DOF, etc.."

However, cell phone images can and do sell. Unless one is shooting for very large sizes, art photographs are more dependent on the eye that the hardware. Being in the right place at the right time also helps and then the best camera to have is the one you have with you. Here are two examples...both were recent sales here at FAA.

For the rainbow shot, an iPhone panorama - I was enjoying a drink on deck and did not have time to go back and grab the Nikon. For the second shot I was on the beach just after sunset and all I had was my iPhone 12.
1) https://fineartamerica.com/featured/rainbow-panorama-over-olivees-mountain-on-st-kitts-island-bill-swartwout-fine-art-photography.html
2) https://fineartamerica.com/featured/sunset-at-the-big-chill-beach-club-bill-swartwout.html

I am starting to build a cell phone photography site at https://www.myphoneography.com/ There is not much there yet but it already has 70 (non-bot) page views a day. It will likely be a summer project to grow it more.

Sometimes the phone is the camera you have with you for the shot, and as everyone has mentioned, the quality keeps getting better.

I've gone up the foodchain from a Fuji point and shoot to a Fuji GFX100s medium format, which of course is a bit of overkill :)

So for the cell phone photos that sell.

How are you getting the big files to generate a modest size print here on FAA?

I'm guessing you are using the panorama function, then editing, etc?

Or are you using other methods?

As mentioned the phones have very small sensors.

I don't care how good my phone, or any phone is, really. I hate the experience of picture taking with a phone. I'll do random selfies, I'll do quick reference photos for a place I want to revisit with my real camera, I'll use the phone for video for my Facebook page. But the picture taking experience isn't the same, and that's a big part of what I enjoy about my photography. A phone's camera has its uses, but for me, it's not for photos I care anything about.

We need all our images to be able to be printed big and your not going to get that with a cell phone. Phones are not using quality glass and have very tiny sensors. Images taken with a phones I have seen tend to be soft and noisey. We do a lot of large images and murals and we have three murals in the works right now and our clients want them to be tack sharp so if I took any image with a phone, then it would be our luck they would want it as a mural! So I will stick to my Sony A7R for now. When the phone images can be zoomed in at 200 to 400 without pixelating out then I will take another look. We all like less weight, but the cell phones don't meet the standard we need for all our images to be, at least not yet!

They're great, but they just aren't there yet. Sharpness, dynamic range and color depth don't compare to my Sony mirrorless. I don't know how many sunset images I've taken with my Samsung that looked absolutely stunning on the view finder, but awful when I look at the actual image it stored. The blacks are washed out, like some low contrast filter was applied. The highlights blown out. The colors of the sunset reduced to 2 or 3 shades of orangish redish mush. The dark landscape reduced to blobs of grey with no detail at all.

I do think camera phones are stellar when conditions are ideal. Lot's of light. Day time shots. Those tiny sensors are always going to be a problem though and I think there's only so much that software can do to help it.

As I noted above - the phone camera was only to create a photo blog on a Facebook page I created for travel. Very few images from the phone would be of the composure and care I put into my "real" cameras. Nonetheless, the results from the phone surprised me. Like this one: https://www.facebook.com/JohnsTravelPhotos/photos/pcb.120446340634220/120446113967576/

On my travel blog page (https://www.facebook.com/JohnsTravelPhotos) you can see the phone photos. I am still working through 5,200 photos I took with my cameras. I had my shutters set to take 3-5 image with each click to increase the odds of a good result. I didn't take 5,200 different shots. LOL

Whatever camera is used, for the sake of your audience's patience, edit down to only the very best photographs.