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With massive of improvement in mobile camera image quality, why should we buy a dedicated camera or DSLR/Mirrorless ?

To Buy or Not To Buy

In this post, I will discuss a few reasons to buy a dedicated camera and a few reasons for sticking to your mobile camera for all your photography needs.

To Buy

• Lenses : with dedicated cameras, we have an option to attach a plethora of lenses ranging from wide 10mm to telephoto 700mm. Also, we have an option to choose from fixed focal length prime lenses or zoom lenses. Most importantly, dedicated camera lenses have a variable aperture (less or more background blur). Unlike, mobile cameras that only comes with fixed number of 2 to 3 lenses and with fixed aperture.

• External Flash: with dedicated cameras, we have an option to link multiple flashes/strobes of almost unlimited power and size. Also, we have an ability to attach a variety of modifiers (Such as, Umbrellas, Softbox, Beautydish). Flashes have an ability to drastically change look & feel of a photo. We can add color using gels, make night look like a day, darken or brighten certain areas. Most importantly, we can freeze a motion using these flashes. However, with mobile cameras we are constraint with available light or computational voodoo to fix low light scenes

• Blurriness (bokeh): with dedicated cameras, we have an ability to attach fast low aperture lenses with F1.2 or F1.4 or heck even F.95 apertures to blur the crap out of a background. Additionally, we are not only limited to the background blur, we can also blur a foregrounds as well. Also, the blur looks organic with smooth transitions. Unlike, mobile camera portrait mode that looks fake even on a most expensive iPhone or Samsung.

• Clarity: simply put dedicated cameras have bigger sensors in them. Bigger sensor means more light and more light means more details; simple math! Mobile cameras have sensor size of 1cm (~5 times smaller) that can only capture very small set of details. The images look fine on a mobile phone screen but as soon as u transfer them on a bigger screen or print, it looks like mash potato in a hand of a 5 years old kid.

Not To Buy

• Always available: Chase Jarvis once said “the best camera is the one that’s with you”. A mobile camera is always with you, If you are like me and like to capture street life around you; lugging a dedicated camera with you is rather impossible. Also, if you are just going to post pictures on social media or take selfies, a mobile camera is more than adequate.

• Dynamic Range: Dynamic range in photography describes the ratio between the maximum and minimum measurable light intensities (white and black, respectively) ^[1]. Dynamic range of a modern mobile camera is equal to that of a flagship dedicated cameras and far superior than a entry level dedicated camera from likes of Canon, Nikon or Sony. A modern mobile camera will capture better sky details and dark shadows without need to fiddle with flashes/strobes or manual controls.

• Ease of use: Mobile cameras are easy to use!!!!!! We do not have to learn about exposure controls or composition techniques. Simply point and tap on a button; bam, you have an awesome looking picture with perfect skin and a majestic looking sky.