Camera vs Phones: How long until phones catch up to camera quality?

[Mr_Geek]

Originally Posted by Mr5150

I agree. But flagship smartphone cameras sure do take some fine pictures! I made an 8x10 print of my ski resort photo above. You can’t tell the shot was from an iPhone

I definitely agree. My Pixel 2 takes some amazing shots.

The direction that smart phone cameras are now going is using software to make photos look nicer as soon as you take the shot. This is what set's the Pixel 2 camera apart as the best in my opinion. They know we've kind of reached a limit on the physical capabilities of smart phones so they are going the software route now.

[Malloric]

Originally Posted by Mr5150

And the second law of cameras is: The best camera you can have is the one with you. I always have my iPhone 6s in my pocket. I would have missed a number of excellent pictures if I relied on a quality point and shoot camera.

With that said, there is a wide range of quality when it comes to "cell phone" cameras. Two years ago I compared my iPhone 5s (a four year old model) to my 2008 Canon G9. The iPhone out performed the G9. The only thing the G9 did better was the optical zoom, but some of best shots have been with a fixed lens camera. I sold the G9.

Taken with my iPhone 5s two years ago:



The current crop of iPhones take even better pictures. Even my 6s is superior to my old 5s

That's a hard shot for a camera so it's not surprising.

[superseiyan]

Originally Posted by Malloric

That's a hard shot for a camera so it's not surprising.

How so?