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Smartphone vs. Camera: Which Is Better?
Kamera Express
Smartphone vs. Camera
The physical size
One major and important difference between a smartphone and a DSLR or mirrorless camera is the size. A smartphone is much more compact and flat, and easily fits in your pocket or bag. A regular camera is larger and heavier, which means you often need to bring a (small) bag for it. It's not a lot of effort, but it is an extra step you need to take into account. You also always have to make sure the battery (or batteries) of your camera is charged. Because the phone is so compact and so integrated into daily life, it's almost a given that you always have it with you and that it's charged. Ideal for quickly photographing an event.
The image sensor
The heart of every smartphone camera is the sensor. When taking a photo, the camera module captures light. The sensor converts the incoming light into electrical signals, which the phone then turns into a photo. Because a smartphone is more compact than a regular camera (DSLR or mirrorless camera), there is also less room for a large sensor. The downside is that the sensor in a phone can capture less light. As a result, more noise appears in low-light situations, and there is greater depth of field. The advantage of a regular camera with a larger sensor is not only that it can capture more light. A larger (modern) sensor also has a wider dynamic range. The contrast between light and dark is much clearer, and there is much more detail, especially in the shadows and highlights. Smartphones are getting better at this too, as processors and camera sensors become faster and more efficient. There are also more — and more complex — algorithms that help make the photo look better. Think of exposure adjustments, object recognition, and so on. The more modern smartphones can take 12 photos at different exposures with a single press of a button and merge them into one photo. In this way, they try to achieve the same result as a camera. A smartphone relies much more on software and algorithms to work around the limitations of its small sensor.
In the end, the photo from a camera is of better quality, especially when you start enlarging it. Photos from smartphones become very grainy when you zoom in, due to the noise reduction and small sensor. But these days, there's no need to dismiss the smartphone camera entirely.
The lenses
With a mirrorless camera or DSLR, you have the option to swap lenses. From telephoto, to fast lenses, to wide-angle — the possibilities are almost unlimited. Most smartphones have only one lens. More modern phones nowadays have two, three, or sometimes even more cameras.
Phones with one lens: These phones have a lens with a fixed focal length. They often include a lot of technology, such as autofocus and various lens elements.
Phones with 1 lens
Phones with dual lenses: These can be used in several ways. Some phones have a lens with a fixed focal length, while the other camera is used for monochrome images. The software in the phone combines the two images to produce sharper photos. Most phones use the second lens to provide a different focal length, such as a wide-angle or telephoto lens. These always deliver better image quality than digital zoom. Generally, the second lens is also intended to calculate distance. These phones have a special portrait mode that allows you to artificially mimic a blurred background. Calculating the distance is necessary in order to determine the amount of blur. Otherwise, it looks fake. The level of background blur also depends entirely on the distance to the object or model. Because it's artificial, it doesn't always turn out well. With a regular camera, it always looks right, since the depth of field is real and not simulated.
Phones with multiple lenses: Phones with multiple lenses often feature a combination of the setups above. Phones with three lenses typically have an arrangement of two different focal lengths and one lens for depth or monochrome, or all three lenses have a different focal length. With 4 or more, the setup involves different focal lengths, and/or monochrome and depth lenses. The configuration is often set up so that you have a wide-angle, a normal, and a telephoto lens.
Software and hardware
A DSLR or mirrorless camera takes beautiful photos thanks to its extensive and advanced hardware. And, of course, thanks to the settings and the knowledge of the photographer. If you take a photo of a model and you stand close enough to them with a wide aperture, you'll automatically get a blurred background. This is due to the distance to the model/object, how wide the aperture of the lens is, and the size of the sensor. A smartphone is already compact and simply doesn't have room for all of that. Everything has to be as compact as possible. Camera modules in smartphones are quite complex, but with the small sensor and the small lenses, it isn't possible to create a beautiful bokeh and achieve the same result as a DSLR. To make up for this, the smartphone has to rely on very fast and advanced chips and software to artificially produce the effect.
Thanks to the multiple lenses, smartphones can estimate depth, and the chips can effectively mimic the bokeh effect. Of course, since this is artificial, the software can easily get it wrong and make small mistakes because it incorrectly "estimates" where the blur should be. In the example, the smartphone made an estimation error. Between the railing, the image is sharp, with no gradual transition of blur. The image is "suddenly" sharp again.
When you take a photo with a smartphone, a lot happens in that single click: the software recognizes objects and people, adds the location, adjusts color and exposure, calculates depth, and possibly applies HDR processing to perfectly expose everything. Sometimes up to 12 photos are captured in that one click. These kinds of techniques are everywhere in a smartphone. Object and face recognition is also very handy. If you ever want to find a photo, you only need to type in the word or the name of the object and search. Google Photos does this online, and on an iOS device it happens on the device itself. Google Photos is much more accurate than Apple Photos, because this program has more data available for recognizing people and objects.
Accessories and add-ons
With a DSLR and mirrorless camera, the accessories and attachments are endless. From countless lenses, to bags, flashes, filters, rigs, tripods, and much more — you can express all of your creativity to capture the perfect image. But there are also more and more accessories available for smartphones. From gimbals for stable filming, time-lapses, and hyperlapses, to clip-on lenses for beautiful macro or telephoto shots. There are also Bluetooth flashes, rigs, 360-degree cameras, filters, and tripods. You can go as crazy as you like. There are even printers to print your photos directly from your phone.
The apps
To take your creativity to the next level, there are plenty of apps to enhance your photography and video. The default camera app on smartphones generally already offers a lot of options. Some are more extensive than others, and some even have a pro mode for adjusting all the settings. But you can always download other apps for more or different features.
The settings
In general, a smartphone is very simple to operate. Click, and the phone does the rest. Some default camera apps have a wide variety of advanced features — even "artificial intelligence" that recognizes the object and scene and adjusts the settings accordingly. (Food photography, for example, requires different settings than shooting in the forest.) Some default camera apps have a pro mode that lets you adjust all the settings — sometimes artificially. Think, for example, of shutter speed, ISO, focus, and focal length.
RAW
A major advantage of a DSLR and mirrorless camera is that these cameras can shoot in RAW. These are very large photo files. But they also contain a lot of information, and you can adjust all sorts of things afterwards and revert back to the original without sacrificing quality. Thanks to the large sensor, there is plenty of information to work with. This means you can — depending on the camera — fully recover a blown-out sky so that you can see detail in the sky again. More modern smartphones also have the option to shoot in RAW. However, it's nowhere near as extensive as on a DSLR, partly due to the size of the sensor — but it's certainly better than nothing. You can definitely recover a bit of light, adjust the colors nicely, and always fall back on the original.
In bright conditions
In bright conditions, it's easy to take a beautiful photo. The sensor of a DSLR/mirrorless camera and of a smartphone receives plenty of light, which means shutter speeds can be nice and fast and the light sensitivity can be lowered, minimizing noise.
In dark conditions
In dark conditions, you can clearly see the difference between a smartphone and a mirrorless camera. This is where all the advantages of a fast lens, large sensor, and the like come into play. Unfortunately, a phone doesn't have the lens for it (because a fast lens has an aperture that is wider than the entire width of a smartphone), nor the large sensor that can capture the light. As a result, the shutter speed slows down, the ISO goes up, and heavy noise reduction is applied. In the example, the photo was taken in an environment with no light in the tunnel. All the light comes from behind.
Back to the overview page
Developments in the smartphone world are progressing incredibly fast. It certainly has its limitations, but it's of course very convenient because you always have it with you. The quality keeps getting better, as does the ease of use thanks to apps and overall usability. Developments are moving so quickly that small new improvements keep enhancing photo quality every time. In 2007, photos on the screen were very mediocre. As of 2019, the technology has advanced so far and promises a lot for the future. For truly serious work — such as weddings, important moments, and beautiful photos for large prints, where every detail in the photo is so incredibly important, and where the great freedom in post-production (working with RAW files) matters — using a DSLR or mirrorless camera is still the best choice.
Model in the photo is Layla Wiersma Layla's website
Photography: Yannick Putz
Instagram Photoplui5 (Yannick Putz)
