Mobile phone cameras vs compact digital camera

[Guest2]

For many years I had compact digital cameras, a few different Canon powershots, Panasonic DMC-TZ4, a larger FinePix S1000fd, Kodak easyshare C813 and some others.

Looks at photos of my travels in 2008, the pictures are way better on the C813 than with my iPhone 13! I just presumed that phones overtook compact digital cameras at some point but it seems not.

The shutter speed on my iPhone 13 is often sluggish and colours and no where near as good as with a proper camera. Optical zoom is also poor.

Are compact digital cameras now at the point where they are not so big, shutter speed is good and picture quality is way better than phones. Preference is Canon Powershot

 

[Guest2]

Depends what you want to use the photos for. For many a smartphone these days will do, but for any 'serious' photography, even a point and shoot will easily out perform a smartphone.

Gigs, festivals, holidays. Indoor dark photos at gigs are often quite poor on a phone. It was my pics from 2006 with the cheapo Kodak that made me think "wow, phones are still crap at taking good pictures"

The biggest barrier for me is actually wanting to take an extra thing with me. The phone is always with me and can take decent photos most of the time. The majority of photos are used for sharing on social media or with family and so any short comings of image quality aren't really an issue.

I did have a dedicated camera for many years and I adore the photos I've taken with them, but it was always a constant internal struggle whether I wanted to bring it vs being more present and just taking a few snaps/videos on my phone. When I took my camera I would always be in photography mode and this removed me a bit from what was happening and the experience I was trying to capture. My wife and son would run off along the beach and I'd take photos, instead of running too

This is very true and the reason I have been using phone cameras for years. I always had pocketable compact cameras but it was still carrying something else. Though back then no-one really used phone cameras because they were terrible.
You could still run on the beach with a good waterproof compact digial camera and phone. I wouldnt buy anything that didnty fit into a jeans / shorts pocket.

I did buy a Nikon COOLPIX P900, which had an 83x optical zoom. I took it out with me once as it was so big! Fantastic at taking photos of the moon and reading the ingredients on a drinks can from over the road