Mobile Photography: Good enough or no?
It’s not surprising anymore. Too many smartphones have a lot of awesome camera features now that it starts making people think “this is as good as a proper camera”. But I’ll show you why they’re wrong.
Companies are pushing for smartphone innovation every single year. Better chips, better displays, better performance, and of course; better cameras. Samsung has their Ultra series with insane capabilities of capturing images on a smartphone. Companies like Xiaomi, Sony, and even Sharp has phones with the new Sony 1" sensors. Vivo’s new X80 Pro allows for breathtaking night shots even in the darkest environment. Companies are reaching out and collaborating with photography pros like Zeiss and Leica.
These factors have led to a new trend… Smartphone photography. And there are loads of these people in social media platforms like Instagram and Facebook. Heck, even I myself am a smartphone photographer.
For the years I have ventured in this field, I have never been satisfied with the quality of the photos. And no, it’s not that typical stereotype among photographers about having the best possible tools. I like to compare my work to works of professional DSLRs or mirrorless cameras- which I feel like are hardwares that set the standard for photography. Anyways, those photo comparisons always disappointed me because of the lack of quality. Soon, I learned to accept that smartphone photography can never be as good as professional photography. But why?
- Sensor size
Sensor size is essential. What a photosensor does is, it let’s in the photons into the sensor which then converts them into a digital picture. The general rule is that; the bigger the sensor, the more light it will let in thus creating better, sharper images. And you might think with these insane 1" sensors on some smartphones, it would be good enough. “A 1-inch is almost the same size as a DSLR sensor,”. And it’s true that phones with larger photo sensors produce better images, but there are no way close to being as good as a professional camera. Why? Because companies often exaggerate the sensor size.
Now it’s not some kind of scam or ploy to gain more sales, no. The reason the sensor sizes are exaggerated is because old cameras would use vacuum tubes, with the diameter of the tube influencing the quality of the image. Now imagine if you could fit a rectangular photo sensor inside the 1-inch diameter tube, you would have a sensor measuring 13x8 mm sensor (which is the same size sensitive piece used in those vacuum tube cameras). The reason companies say “1-inch sensor” is because they have a rectangular sensor that would fit in a 1-inch diameter sensor… to provide the same quality picture. You can see a more in depth explanation in this YouTube video by Marques Brownlee.
So regardless of how larger image sensors in smartphones become, there’s a good reason to doubt they will never be as big as DSLR or mirrorless camera sensors.
- Less control
Enter now, the Samsung S22 Ultra. It has a 5x telephoto zoom. Or what about the Sony Experia 1 IV, with a physical zooming lens.
People might say that’s amazing. But it’s nowhere close.
I get that a zoom lens on a smartphone is very compact and convenient to bring around. The whole thing fits on your pocket! Whereas a proper zoom lens for a camera might require an extra bag to carry it around. But see, this article is all about quality- and quality gets killed in smartphone lenses.
Let’s speak for S22 Ultra. The 5x telephoto lens is quite nice, as it is meant for zoom and quality. Go beyond that, and the quality starts to detoriate. It might seem nice at first, but once you start cropping the image or zooming in with a editing software, you will start to see the quality drop. Besides, videos filmed using zoom lenses have horrifying quality. A professional camera would seldom suffer from these issues. Sure, you will have to sacrifice portability- but I think it’s worth for the quality content that is achievable.
- Better focusing
Even with the best photography softwares these days, DSLR/mirrorless cameras are simply better at depth of field and focusing. In DSLR images, you can clearly see the subject to be crisp and sharp while the background is a velvety blur. In a smartphone, that level of blur is simply hard to achieve solely via the camera software. Additional blurs are more than often added via third-party apps or using lens attachments.
It’s true that there are amazing software capabilities for focusing like Samsung’s laser autofocus technology introduced in the Note 20 Ultra. But those can never beat the blurring and separation capabilities of a camera.
With that said, it does not mean that you must venture into professional photography using proper cameras. Smartphones are wonderful in their capabilities, but one should never expect results alike a DSLR camera because that is plain impossible for now.
Stay tuned for the next article where I will share tips on how to improve your smartphone photography game.
