Do I Really Need A Camera In 2022? Or Will My Phone Do Instead?

In this episode, Do I Really Need A Camera In 2022? Or Will My Phone Do Instead? And also some more thoughts on the last episode, What Does The Future Of Photography Look Like?

 Hi and welcome to Episode 141 of the Photography Explained podcast. I’m your host Rick, and in each episode I try to explain one photographic to you in plain English in less than 27ish minutes, but still without the irrelevant details. What I tell you is based on my lifetime of photographic experience. And not Google. No Google required for this one.

First - here is the answery bit
If you want to fully explore the wonderful world of photography you do need a camera, even in 2022. Sure you can get great photos with a phone, but buying a camera allows you to grow your photography without limits, and fully embrace and enjoy the wonderful world of photography. Buy a camera and you open up a world of techniques, creative photo taking possibilities and of course the gear to help you. You don’t get all of this with just a phone, in my humble opinion.

Having said that, if you are happy taking photos with your phone then that’s fine, I just want you to know what you might be missing out on.

Listen on for much more.

What’s next?
Episode 142 - I Only Take Photos With My Phone - What Photography Stuff Am I Missing Out On?

Transcript

In this episode, Do I Really Need A Camera In 2022? Or Will My Phone Do Instead? And also some more thoughts on the last episode, What Does The Future Of Photography Look Like?

Hi and welcome to Episode 141 of the Photography Explained podcast. I’m your host Rick, and in each episode I try to explain one photographic to you in plain English in less than 27ish minutes, but still without the irrelevant details. What I tell you is based on my lifetime of photographic experience. And not Google. No Google required for this one.

First - here is the answery bit

If you want to fully explore the wonderful world of photography you do need a camera, even in 2022. Sure you can get great photos with a phone, but buying a camera allows you to grow your photography without limits, and fully embrace and enjoy the wonderful world of photography. Buy a camera and you open up a world of techniques, creative photo taking possibilities and of course the gear to help you. You don’t get all of this with just a phone, in my humble opinion.

Having said that, if you are happy taking photos with your phone then that’s fine, I just want you to know what you might be missing out on.

That was my answer - here is the talky bit

Well, to start with, I answered this question in episode 5, way back in October 2020. Yes, back in the very early days of my podcast, 2 years ago. And a lot has happened since then!

My answer back then was yes, you do need a camera in 2020. And that is my answer now. It does of course depends on a number of things, which I will go through now.

Ok, firstly, there is the experience of taking photos with a camera
I have said this before, and I will say this again – I love taking photos with my camera, be it my Canon 6D or my Olympus EM5. And I hate taking photos with my iPhone.

Ergonomics – that’s what I am talking about.
My Canon 6D is so well designed, it fits into my hands naturally, it feels like it belongs there. Which it does. All the controls are to hand, and using the camera is instinctive and enjoyable.

My Canon 6D is such a pleasing piece of kit to use.

My Olympus EM5 is also great to use. It is not quite as good for me as the Canon 6D is, but only because it is smaller, and I have not used it anywhere near as much as I have used my Canon 6D. But it is still a great camera to use.

And then there is my iPhone. As wonderful as it is I hate taking photos with it. Apple are, in my opinion, far too obsessed with how things look. I am not saying that they are anything other than wonderful bits of kit, because they are of course, but I hate the fact that I have to put my phone in a case just to be able to use it without dropping it. That’s dropping it, not dripping it as the script said!

Sorry, but this completely defeats the object doesn’t it? All that shiny roundness is hidden by the case that I have to use because it is so shiny and rounded.

And I have tried various times to use my phone without a case, none of which went well.

Whilst you can take great photos with a phone, it is still not the same as the experience of taking photos with a camera.

Image quality

In general terms, you get higher image quality taking photos with a camera than you do taking photos with a phone. I am talking here about the combination of the stuff in the camera, sensor size, lens quality, and all the other things that you get when you take photos with a camera, that you just do not get taking photos with a phone.

 Sensor size

Cameras have larger sensors than phones – well you would expect so. And the sensor is the bit that turns the light into digital stuff. No, I am not going to explain how sensors work in cameras – that is well beyond my capabilities. Larger sensors give the ability to capture more data than smaller sensors, giving higher quality images.

Lenses

Lenses give cameras a massive optical advantage. Again, a lens is a one off, bespoke, specialist thing designed to do one thing only – to focus light from what the camera is pointing at into digital stuff that is captured by the camera sensor.

I know, that is as technical as I get.

This is a camera lenses sole purpose, it’s raison d'être, if you like. I know, I need to steady on here with these fancy words.

And the focal lengths that lenses offer give you much better picture taking capabilities. It is just a fact. I can’t get the photos with my iPhone that I can with my Canon 6D and Canon 17-40mm lens.

I just can’t.

And the image quality that you get with a lens is better than with a phone camera lens, which after all has been shoehorned into that shiny, rounded, slippery thing. Talking of slippery things. I have compared my iPhone with a slippery eel, in the ergonomic stakes that is…

 I know, this Is not going to endear me to Apple…..

Low light performance

Larger sensors generally give better low light performance – that is why photos taken in the dark on phones can look noisy .Sure there is software that can fix this, but there is always a price to pay for any such fix.

I have taken photos in the dark with my phone where the noise was so bad I could not use the photos.

Accessories

Well, what can you attach to a phone? Not that many things. It’s physical size is one of its limitations. And always will be.

 Take a camera though, and you have a pretty limitless amount of gear to help you take better photos.

This for me is a difference that will never go away, the accessories that allow us to adapt our photography to challenging circumstances.

The good old, complicated photography stuff

There is a heap of old school photography stuff that I use to take photos.

• Aperture
• Shutter
• ISO
• Exposure
• Back-button focus
• Focus point
• Depth of field
• Exposure compensation
• Auto bracketing
• Camera self-timer
• 17mm focal length
• Etc

All this good stuff I use when I take photos with my cameras, which I don’t really think about when I am taking photos with a phone.

See the two are different. And this is another main difference.

Taking photos with a phone is more about letting the tech do all the hard work for you. Yes there are things that you can select, but there are things that you cannot select. I can’t change the aperture on my phone. And if I can change the shutter speed I don’t know how to. Nor the ISO. That is exposure pretty much done by the camera then!

Yet all these things that we learn in photography have a purpose, a reason, and are used to take better photos.

And this is why phones will never completely replace cameras.

 But, if you have no interest in any of this stuff then no, you probably don’t need a camera.

How quick do you need the photos?

I don’t need the photos immediately. Clients don’t expect them immediately. I can get photos issued after a shoot pretty quickly, often the next day, and that is more than fine. A week is still the norm, and fine. – there is no need for immediacy most of the time.

And where photos are needed immediately you can do this too with cameras – this is where other gear comes into play.

But I get the fact that immediacy with phones is brilliant, of course I do. It does not however define what I do and how I work.

What are you taking photos of? What are you going to do with the photos?

If you are taking photos of your family, day to day stuff, your hobby, that kind of stuff - -do you need a camera? Maybe, maybe not. If you are sharing photos on social media, and with family and friends, same question.

You probably need want a camera. And you might not want one.

But, if want to get serious about your photography?

Get a camera. You can’t get serious about photography with just a phone. OK you can, but it is just not the same. I am sorry, it just is not. I have explained some of the reasons why to justify this statement.

Do you want to make a living from photography?

Get the best camera that you can. And the best lenses that you can. And learn how to use the stuff, practise until you know your gear inside out, know the limitations and push them. Know your camera so well that you can pretty much use it with your eyes closed. 

Or if you just want to take photos with your phone.

If you just want to take photos with your phone then that of course is fine. You don’t have to buy a camera. There is absolutely nothing wrong with this. This does not make your photography any less valid. It just means you are missing out on so much more.

Good enough

I have taken this from a previous episode. Well it applies just as much here.

How good do your photos need to be? Do you need high quality, “professional photos”. Yes I am using air quotes here. I know, you can’t see them. It depends. Good enough now can be photos taken with a phone. And if the photos you take with your phone are good enough then you are sorted.

In defence of phones

If I sound like I am anti-phones then no, I am not. I am into photography, and want everyone to know what the possibilities are in photography, what is available to us all, what photography can give to us all. Photography has after all given me so much and I do not want you to miss out.

 Phones are amazing. Phones can take amazing photos. Yet we still compare the two, and almost expect phones to be as good – that is just not fair. We need to give phones a break, they do so much else why should they also be expected to be as good as cameras, which after all serve pretty much one purpose only, which is to take photos?

I just wanted to make that point.

And yes tech means that the limitations of taking photos with a phone reduce year on year, of course they do, but there is still a quality gap between the two.

And if I could just use a phone I would

Another thing that I have said before, if I could do my work with just a phone and get rid of all my camera gear then I would. I just would. OK, I would consider it.

But I can’t, so I don’t need to worry about this too much.

It is not that I have anything against phones, or phones and their role in photography – far from it. I just cannot get the photos that I need to get with my phone.

And there are consequences of this view

I know that there are people who will call me out for saying this stuff, there are people making money from photography using just phones. I know that, and good luck to them. This is what I think though.

What is the point of a camera in 2022?

Well, I have said this more than once, and am sure that I will say this again. The point of cameras in 2022 is to get into photography properly, and take advantage of all the skills, techniques and previous experience of photographers now and in the past. All this good stuff combines to help you and me take better photos.

That is the important thing – to help you and me take better photos.

Do you want a camera?

If you just want a camera that is fine. Nothing wrong with that – they are great bits of kit. And if you don’t want a camera equally fine.

Having a camera or not having a camera is making a conscious decision of where you are going with your photography. It defines the journey that you may embark on.

Either road is fine, that is down to you.

But, 

A camera is the start of taking photography seriously, it is the start of the journey into photographic wonder. I have been doing this photography thing for 40 years now, and am still learning and finding new things out, and new ways to do things.

And still loving photography after all these years.

Do you want to learn photography?

You do? Then get a camera. If you don’t, it might not be worth your while, as phones have amazing picture taking capabilities these days.

But to really get into photography you need a camera. Others will disagree, and that is fine too – see I don’t own this subject, but I do have my own views on it.

Get a camera and you open up possibilities and opportunities that you just do not get with a phone.

This is the fundamental thing for me – if you want to really get into photography or not.

Right – talky bit over

What if I only use a phone?

Well, if you only use a phone you probably don’t care about everything that I have gone through. And that is fine. If I only ever took photos with a phone I might not be interested in any of this other, complicated photography stuff.

 So if you are happy just using a phone to take photos good for you – that is all well and good. I just want you to know what you might be missing out on ok?

Some thoughts from the last episode, “What Does The Future Of Photography Look Like?”

Well, I enjoyed this episode. And I might have sounded a bit like a doom merchant, saying that the demand for professional photos is going to reduce over time, as the gap between pro and amateur photography closes with advances in technology.

But this episode has redressed the balance somewhat.

The future of photography does have cameras in it – I have convinced myself of that again in writing this episode– and I feel much better for this. I was beginning to get worried……. It is good that these things all relate and connect.

I do not see a future of photography without cameras – I just don’t see it. Sure they might change from their physical form of today, but the fundamentals will stand. These include

• The taking photos experience
• Handling/ ergonomics
• That complicated photography stuff
• Lenses
• Gear

What do I do?

I take photos with a camera. I have never issued a client a photo taken with my phone. I use my phone to erm, make calls, send messages, and a million and one other things.

I take personal photos with my phone. I take behind the scenes photos with my phone. I shoot videos with my phone.

But I take photos with my camera.

My camera is a full frame DSLR. My lens of choice has a focal length of 17-40mm. I shoot in RAW on a tripod or other fixed thing. I auto bracket and merge photos together in Lightroom.

That is what I do. This is what I need to do to get the photos that I create and issue to clients.

Next episode

I Only Take Photos With My Phone - What Photography Stuff Am I Missing Out On? Well it makes sense to follow up this episode by telling you what you are missing out on if you do not have a camera.

I am looking forward to writing this episode.

And talking of future episodes – my survey is still out there

My Photography Explained Podcast survey is still on the podcast website – just a few questions that should take less than a minute to answer – just head over to Photography Explained Podcast.com/survey. And thanks for your help.

Got a photography question you want me to answer in plain English, in less than 10 minutes (ish), oh ok, less than 30 minutes (ish), without the irrelevant details. You do? Great - just head over to PhotographyExplainedPodcast.com/start. And yes, I will come up with something snappier.

This episode was brought to you, for a change, by a cheese and pickle sandwich, bag of home crisps, ready salted today, all washed down with a Diet Pepsi as I sit here in my home-made, acoustically cushioned recording emporium.

I’ve been Rick McEvoy, thanks again very much for listening to my small but perfectly formed podcast (it says here), and for giving me between 20 and 30 (ish) minutes of your valuable time. There you go, I have stopped saying 10ish minutes finally.

 Take care, stay safe

Cheers from me Rick