Even though I am a professional photographer, I genuinely appreciate phone cameras. They have made photography more accessible to everyone, and I love that! Without getting too technical, there are some important differences between your smartphone camera and what I lovingly refer to as “big-girl” cameras (DSLRs). While I DO think you can take absolutely beautiful images on a smartphone (the best camera is the one you have available), I think it is good to know what the advantages and disadvantages are. Especially if you are dreaming of working with a DSLR one day!
Control
The major difference between a phone camera and DSLR comes down to control. Your phone is built to automatically expose an image using it’s TTL (through the lens) light meter. You don’t input any exposure settings to create your image, it reads the light it is seeing and does it for you. It also automatically focuses.
Entry level DSLRs can also do this, but they are really designed for you to use the light meter and input your own exposure. Aside from a simple exposure slider up or down, and changing an applied depth effect, there isn’t much about exposure you can control with your phone.
Sensor
Okay this is the other biggest difference between a phone camera and “real,” IMO. But you might be wondering what a sensor even is? A sensor is basically the digital version of a piece of film. It is the electronic, light sensitive surface that captures the light and therefore image coming in through the lens. It records the information in pixels, and the size of the sensor and how many pixels can be captured within that space are what provide you with resolutions.
On a DSLR, the sensor is much, much larger than a smartphone. So, even if your phone touts a 15mp resolution, the amount of space it can cram pixels in and record them will be nowhere near as large as a DSLR sensor, and therefore technically not as high-quality of an image.
This matters in two tangible ways. First, will matter if you’d like to make large prints of your images. Secondly, it is why your phone images look so poor in low-light conditions. The smaller sensor is not as efficient in low-light situations.
Lenses and Aperture
The lenses on your smartphone are also very different from piece of glass mounted on a DSLR, and cannot be interchanged. The maximum aperture, or the widest the lens can open to allow light, on a smartphone these days is usually between 2.0-4.0 which actually isn’t bad, but you can purchase lenses for your DSLR that really suit the particular subjects and scenarios you want to capture.
When should I upgrade my phone camera?
I would say there are two major signs you might be happier adding a DSLR (or mirrorless) camera to your bag:
- If you are feeling like you don’t have enough creative control over your photos (not that you don’t think they aren’t good enough, more that you are taking good photos and wish you could do even more).
- Frequently wanting to print your photos (I mean this means they are pretty good, or at least make you that happy, right?)
Otherwise, I think the convenience of a phone camera is really, really hard to beat! I love my DSLR, but carrying it around can be a nuisance because it is large and heavy. I totally understand the want for prettier photos though, but a new camera doesn’t automatically mean that! Practice taking slowing down when you take photos and really look at what you are seeing. When you get a good handle on it and enjoy taking photos, you might be ready to upgrade! Here is a link to a post on my recommendations for upgrading!
Want to learn more?
If you want to learn more about how to take better phone photos, sign-up for our email list to download my FREE Pretty Phone Photos Guide here. If you’re ready to upgrade to a big-girl camera and learn how to use it, sign up for one of our courses or check our our resources here. See what camera I recommend to start out with in this blog post!