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Summary
For most people, their smartphones have become their primary camera.
However, DSLR and mirrorless cameras are still the go-to for advanced hobbyists and professionals.
But at the same time, you might have considered hiring a professional photographer with a real camera.
Emy555/Shutterstock
Some smartphones even have portrait mode, so which one comes out on top here?
I wanted the background to be blurrier, which I succeeded by changing the aperture to f/4.
While I could do that on my iPhone, I still prefer using the feature on my camera.
The main reason why is that my iPhone, in my opinion, exaggerates the effect.
Again, using a camera offers much more control over this.
I shot the camera photo in Aperture Priority, which allowed me to control the lighting better.
This is one of manyreasons why you should use Aperture Priority Mode on your camera.
2A Landscape
Next, let’s compare how my smartphone and camera performed when capturing a landscape.
I was quite happy with my smartphone picture here, which is the one on the right.
However, I didn’t like that the clouds looked more blue than they were in real life.
When taking the same photo on my camera, I zoomed in a bit with my lens.
I could, however, easily have taken the same shot and zoomed out a little.
While you canuse Lightroom and Photoshop Expressfor smartphones, you’re limited to editing a JPEG file.
Despite owning a Fujifilm rig, I regularly take pictures of food on my smartphone instead.
Beyond everything else, it’s just much easier.
I could alternatively add a filter in an app like Apple Photos or VSCO.
For social media and eventaking pictures for a blog, it would be more than good enough.
At the same time, the camera image was also quite good.
I later edited this, but it works fine as is (for the most part).
The only thing I would change is making the white balance (what is white balance in photography?)
a bit cooler, as the Kelvin number was too high here.
When capturing the same scene with my camera, I adjusted the lighting meter to -1.
For this reason, the image straight out of the camera looks darker than my smartphone shot.
I also feel like there’s less clarity in the midtones, which I was happy with.
The white balance is also better, which is because I could control it.
Sometimes, however, the photo looks better on my smartphone than on my camera when I take both.
This was one of those examples.
As you’re free to see, smartphone and DSLR/mirrorless cameras both have their uses.
