How much £ to spend to outperform a mobile phone?

Soldato
Joined
18 Oct 2002
Posts
3,376
Location
Northants
I know it can be kinda done . But i want a p20/30/40 level of in camera trickery with a glass lens .. Where i can pick hdr or night shot or any of the other modes.. BUT stick it in manual like i do my dslr . It would not be hard to do . Its just up to the tech guys to do it
 
Soldato
Joined
18 Oct 2002
Posts
3,376
Location
Northants
A quick example .. Phone or Dslr ? All grabbed from my FB so no info in the pictures
668d546333aabc9d5afec7e8e54a8034.jpg


20b6aa54ea16d8874b1bb60ea8daf1fb.jpg


daa1e474b855587312a38bfa9b066741.jpg
 
Soldato
OP
Joined
25 Mar 2008
Posts
9,182
A quick example .. Phone or Dslr ? All grabbed from my FB so no info in the pictures
@Barks can do it, no problem...
it is blindingly obvious to my eye which of those were shot on a phone.
;)

(Sorry, Barks. Ever since 23 June 2016 whenever I hear "blindingly obvious" I naturally assume the speaker is mistaken - :D )

Then i got a Huawei P20 Pro . Was just blown away with the quality of pictures ..
Yup - this is the phone that did it for me too. I thought my Samsung Note8 was incredible and then my wife got a P20 Pro, and I was staggered.
 
Soldato
Joined
18 Oct 2002
Posts
21,066
What makes a mobile camera so awesome is the built in image software processing. The scene modes make it easy for the average joe to get instant results, from what is actually rubbish camera hardware, similar to those from a DSLR/mirrorless system*, which has had time spent on it in post processing.

As this software improves the divide between systems will reduce to a point where lugging around anything that doesn’t fit in your shirt pocket, mostly pointless.

The other reason why current phone tech produces photos that appear to look so ‘good’, is the majority of people are using the outputs solely for social media. If they printed a large print for their wall, or a photobook, the results would be less impressive and it would be easy to see which came from a phone or high end camera.

* At screen resolution.
 
Soldato
Joined
20 Jul 2008
Posts
4,363
What makes a mobile camera so awesome is the built in image software processing. The scene modes make it easy for the average joe to get instant results, from what is actually rubbish camera hardware, similar to those from a DSLR/mirrorless system*, which has had time spent on it in post processing.

As this software improves the divide between systems will reduce to a point where lugging around anything that doesn’t fit in your shirt pocket, mostly pointless.

The other reason why current phone tech produces photos that appear to look so ‘good’, is the majority of people are using the outputs solely for social media. If they printed a large print for their wall, or a photobook, the results would be less impressive and it would be easy to see which came from a phone or high end camera.

* At screen resolution.

For me the image processing doesn't enhance the images, it ruins them. It is virtually impossible to take a photo on my iPhone 11 Pro or my previous Samsung S20+ (which I sold solely because the camera was unacceptable) without loss of detail and artificial sharpening. iPhone 11 Pro often ruins shots of sunsets and clouds because the sharpening and contrast is so evident. Frustratingly there's no way of turning it off and you have to shoot in RAW using third party apps to get results that are even remotely comparable to a proper camera. It seems smartphones are allergic to grain and the smoothing algorithms destroy detail and render images a rather synthetic feel, sometimes blurring faces to oblivion so they're a smothered mess.

As I said before the laws of physics and sensor/optics sizes explain why such a difference exists between smart phones and dedicated cameras. The image processing tries and fails to bridge that gap but I accept this will get better with time. I absolutely agree with your last point but as soon as you're out of instagram the differences are enormous. Just look at these two examples below and tell me the iPhone is "similar to those from a DSLR/mirrorless system." From my view if you buy that then you're falling victim to the relentless marketing campaigns from Apple/Samsung. They can say what they want but the results speak volumes.

Apple iPhone 11 Pro1/444s ƒ/2 ISO20 6mm (I had to manually adjust the exposure to prevent the entire image from being blown out but you can see it's trying to dial down the highlights and ends up creating a synthetic, fake looking image)


FUJIFILM X-T201/250s ƒ/5.6 ISO500 50mm (cheap kit lens, nothing fancy - objectively superior photo)
 
Last edited:
Soldato
Joined
18 Oct 2002
Posts
21,066
For me the image processing doesn't enhance the images, it ruins them.
Completely agree.
My Instagram and a Facebook feeds are full of mobile ‘portrait’ mode photos. The users think they have an amazing image, with a pro quality bokeh look and at first glance that looks to be the case. However if you spend a couple of seconds looking at them you can clearly see subject and background blur errors which completely ruins the photo.

This processing will mature though and when it does, those expensive F1.2 lenses will become obsolete :( :p
 
Soldato
Joined
20 Jul 2008
Posts
4,363
Completely agree.
My Instagram and a Facebook feeds are full of mobile ‘portrait’ mode photos. The users think they have an amazing image, with a pro quality bokeh look and at first glance that looks to be the case. However if you spend a couple of seconds looking at them you can clearly see subject and background blur errors which completely ruins the photo.

This processing will mature though and when it does, those expensive F1.2 lenses will become obsolete :( :p

I'm the same it drives my inner OCD crazy. I think I said a few pages back, the wine glass/pint glass edges fading into mist is the worst culprit. I'm pretty sure Steve Jobs wouldn't have signed off this iteration of Portrait mode. It is temperamental but as you say will eventually improve.

Also the funny thing that I've found with my IP11 Pro is just taking a close up portrait with the normal camera yields a much sharper image with slight/pleasant bokeh. It looks much better and if you use that lens to take selfies rather than the front facing camera the images are superior.
 
Back
Top Bottom