Mobile Vs. Camera:- Which is better for photography?

    Consider there are two persons, one with a Civil engineering degree and another with a Master’s degree in Structural Design. So both will be able to design a simple residential house. But in case of designing a Railway bridge, the person with Master’s degree in designing will be preferred, as he is having more deep knowledge and capability of doing that work. 

    Same is the case with Photography. Only medium changes according to the work. Mobile is also able to take photos. But for serious professional work, you need to have a camera because it is designed and dedicated to that only. 

    ‘Which is better: Mobile or camera?’ is an unending topic for discussion. Because now-a-days photography has become much diverse in nature. There are many new types of photography now. Also, there are many ways to showcase our photos. In that, Digital platforms are at peak and are believed to be on top place, in future. 

    So, deciding which is better; a mobile or a camera, is a bit difficult. Because each one has it’s own pros and cons. Let’s look at them below. 

Pros of Mobile

1. Always available:- It is true that, now-a-days people will forget to wear their cloths, but will not forget their mobile. And it’s true that, mobile has become an essential part of our body. That’s why whichever may be the time and place, mobile will be available with us to click photos. 

2. Affordable:- The person who uses a phone without a camera is very rare these days. Because even a basic phone will have an inbuilt camera, even if it is of worst quality.

3. Easy to handle:- Considering the size and weight of mobile phone, it can be easily handled by anyone, in any posture (taking in air to get top angle, bending down to the ground to take the low angle, etc.)

4. Easy to understand:- The mobile camera interface is easy to understand for everyone. Means we can get our photo clicked by telling other person to ‘Just click on the white/red sphere on the screen’.

5. Easy to carry:- Just put in your pocket. That’s it. As easy as that. No need of separate camera casing, sack, bag, etc.

6. Touchscreen:- In today’s world, 99% things are having touch screen. So mobile camera is also easy and fast to use, for anyone. 

7. Less options:- As there are less setting options available in a mobile camera as compared to a dedicated camera, there are only few things which need to be changed. So no hard work here.

8. Not missing any important moment:- Mobile is always in our reach and that’s why it less likely to miss any moment while taking photos.

9. Filters and other characteristics:- Various filters and other available effects, make mobile a viable option for photography. These filters mostly include skin smoothing filters, brightening filters, dog-cat face filters, etc. 

Cons of mobile

1. Less settings:- If we want full control over how our photo comes out, mobile is not the right equipment, as it has very few options which we can change. 

2. Fixed field of view:- Mobile’s camera lens is set for wide angle, as a default view. So when you want to take a photo of distant object or an up-close object, mobile can’t be used effectively. (Though mobile has a zoom function, it is digital zoom so it can’t be used for good quality photo. We will see the detailed reason for not using digital zoom, in another post.)

3. Small sensor:- Due to restriction of space, mobile must have smallest possible sizes of all the parts. Camera sensor is also one of them. So due to small sensor, image quality is limited in mobiles. 

4. Not-so-good Low light performance:- Size of individual pixel of a sensor determines low light performance of the camera. As the size of mobile camera sensor is very small, pixel size automatically becomes smaller, resulting in bad low light performance. That’s why when taking photos in low light, noise gets introduced  in the photo, making it look bad.

5. False BLUR:- Today we see ‘blur effect’ in many mobiles. But as that function works on the basis of AI (Artificial Intelligence), it can do it’s job upto a certain extent only. Also the results you get are not accurate results. But for normal use, it is enough.

6. Small dynamic range:- The ability of any camera to capture details in highlights and shadows is called as dynamic range. In many mobiles, this value is low, that’s why they can’t produce good quality photos in high contrast situations. (Means, at any given time, the mobile can capture details either in highlights or in shadows, but not in both.)

    Other than all points mentioned above, limited shutter speed, electronic shutter, processing power, etc. are some other negative points of mobile camera system. But to understand those, you need to have decent knowledge of working of camera and physics. So these additional points will be covered in future posts. 

    Now to look at second side of the coin, let us see pros and cons of professional DSLR or mirrorless camera. (For the sake of practical sense, we are not comparing mobiles to small digital cameras, as those are not used professionally in photography industry.)

Pros of DSLR / Mirrorless camera

1. Bigger sensor:- The main advantage of using DSLR / mirrorless camera is that, it has much bigger sensor than any mobile. In comparison with mobile sensor, cropped camera sensor is 16 times larger and full frame camera sensor is 36 times larger. So judging from these figures, just think how much difference it can make in image quality. 

2. Lens options:- As DSLR / mirrorless cameras are made for professional use, there is a vast variety of lens options, suitable for every type of work. Such types of lenses are ultra-wide angle or fish eye lens, wide angle lens, standard lens, telephoto and super-telephoto lens, macro lens and tilt-shift lens.  

3. Full control:- There are plenty of setting options in any DSLR or mirrorless camera, That’s why we get full control over final appearance of photo, thus reducing the time of editing. 

4. Availability of additional accessories:- To make and take great photos and to make photography work easy, the market is flooded with different accessories like external flash, studio light, light modifiers, tripod for stability, monopod, camera grips, straps, camera bags, lens filters, etc.

5. More and TRUE blur effect:- With the help of bigger sensor and specially designed lenses, we can take photos of objects with true blurred background, automatically guiding the eye of the viewer to main subject. 

6. Feature of RAW photo:- RAW photo is nothing but the raw data from camera sensor, on which no processing has been done by the camera processor. This allows greater amount of editing to be done on that photo, without damaging it. Normal JPEG photo can’t handle such extent of editing.

7. Good processor:- Even if you use JPEG format instead of RAW, you get good quality images with the help of advanced image processor present in the camera. This processor is way more powerful than the one present in mobile. So aspects like details, dynamic range, colour, contrast, sharpness, etc. are well managed in the camera.

8. Can be monetized:- If you have DSLR or mirrorless camera, you can use it professionally and can earn money. In this way you can get back the money you spent on the camera. (But to do this, you must learn it thoroughly.)

9. Good for self-use:- If we have camera with us, it can always be used during our family functions or any other function as we want, and we will get professional looking photos for ourselves. (Again, for professional quality photos, you first have to learn photography.)

Cons of DSLR / Mirrorless camera

1. Costly:- As compared to normal mobile, DSLR or mirrorless camera is much costly. In addition to that, for better results you have to upgrade your lenses and add new ones in the kit, over a period of time. And I haven’t talked about different accessories yet, because it’s already a lot.

2. Lot to learn:- There are plenty of settings in DSLR or mirrorless camera, which you need to understand, before you start taking good photos. Also you should be able to spare much time and efforts for this learning process.  

3. Difficult to carry:- Due to the combined weight of only camera and lens, it is difficult to handle the combination. Talking of storage, a well cushioned bag or sack is required to store the camera. So, if it is not used regularly, then after some time the weight starts converting into burden. 

4. Difficult to handle:- While taking photos, after some time the weight and size of camera starts showing its effect and it becomes difficult to handle. Also in some situations like taking photos at unusual angles, many times you may find it difficult to use. 

5. Needs care:- DSLR or mirrorless camera being a complex machine, needs to be taken care of in best possible manner. Camera needs to be protected from moisture entry, because it results in fungus formation inside the lens, hampering the photo quality. Off course it can be taken care of in cleaning process, but that may harm the lens elements inside and is also a costly process. So, the best thing to do is, take preventive measures. Camera sensor is so sensitive, that even the dust particles can damage it. So entry of dust particles in camera body should also be avoided. 

6. Absence of filters and effects:- Unlike mobiles where you get tons of fun effects and filters, camera doesn’t have any of those normally, as it is meant to be used professionally. The photo we get from camera is very near to reality. So to get desired effect, some editing is needed to be done. 

7. Speed of usage:- Mobile camera can be used instantly as soon as we detect a possible photo opportunity. But camera can’t be used like that. At first, it has to be taken out of bag (if the lens is already attached to the camera, then it’s ok. Otherwise add additional time of attaching the lens to camera, in the process), then after removing lens cap and starting the camera, you have to compose the shot perfectly (considering you have right type of lens on the camera) and click the photo. All of this can take up to 10-15 seconds, during which the precious moment might have passed. 

    Other than all these points one fun fact is that, if you have a camera with you, be prepared to get asked by family members and friends frequently, to take their photos. Now it’s up to you, whether to consider this as a good thing or a bad thing.

    After all this, it should be clear by now that mobile and camera can’t and shouldn’t be compared. Because they are different machines, meant for different purposes. Camera has only one function, ‘Photography/Videography’ and mobile has photography/videography as one of it’s many functions. Off course the technology is going to get better and better, in future. Who knows, at that time some mobile cameras may provide the quality equal to that of a camera. 

    For now just remember that, mobile camera can give good quality images, which is enough for 90% of the users. For remaining 10%, there are number of cameras to choose from, to get best quality photos. And for business purpose, picking up DSLR or mirrorless camera is your only choice….At least for now. 

- Prasanna Joshi

    

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Next post:- Types of photography

Keep smiling & keep clicking.

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