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Feedback from travel photographers, Iphone 12Pro vs traditional cameras

mil

Hello .
I've always taken my Nikon D7500 camera with me on Vac. with a wide angle lens and a 55-300 mm but also as a backup ,I do take my Iphone . Now with the new 12 pro, it looks like cameras will be a thing of the past... and with all the travel restrictions it might be really uncomfortable to carry with all that weight and equipment . I checked the features and it looks amazing.
Check this out:
iPhone 12 Pro and 12 Pro Max cameras. The 12 Pro and 12 Pro Max both have a triple camera setup on the back. There is a 12MP ultra wide-angle lens with ƒ/2.4 aperture, a 12MP wide-angle lens with ƒ/1.6 aperture, and a 12MP telephoto lens with ƒ/2.0 aperture. They both support Night Mode, Deep Fusion, and Smart HDR for photos.

What are your thoughts?

Comments

travel maven

MIL: I have been using DSLRs for many years and I have a Samsung Galaxy S9 smartphone. I have never owned an Apple Phone so I can't speak to that. I do agree that the newest smartphones are totally amazing yet I don't think that they will ever replace DSLRs for the true Pro Photographer or Hobbyist. My main reason for not giving up a DSLR is that I like to shoot images in the RAW mode in order to capture all of the information in an image for post processing. While the new I Phone 12 looks very impressive, I read that the formats for this phone are JPG or HEIF. I was not familiar with the HEIF format so I did a bit of research. The one site I went to stated the following:

Images shot on iPhones with HEIF are 8-bit and the images have been significantly processed by the camera. RAW files are a 16 bit lossless file. containing all the information captured by the camera. They have superior color detail, a wide color gamut and extended dynamic range. They offer much better exposure and white balance latitude. They are better suited for lens correction and noise reduction as well. The article stated if you want the best possible results, and the most flexibility when editing your images, shoot RAW. So, in summary, I guess it is just a personal choice. Many people would be quite happy with the results from the smart phone cameras. They do an amazing job, however, if you enjoy post processing your images and be able to access all of the data in that image, I feel that the RAW format is still the way to go.

For travel purposes, I recently purchased a lightweight Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ1000 and I always have my Samsung as a backup because it creates amazing videos and captures images with low light quickly without having to mess with DSLR settings.

I do have to mention that the older I get, the less I want to deal with lugging around heavy camera equipment , especially when traveling on a tour. These enhanced smartphones are looking better to me all the time for travel.

AshvEd

I have an iPhone 11 Pro and just began using an app called FilMic Firstlight which does allow you to take images in DNG, which is a RAW file format. I have been pleased with the results so far however it will never replace my full frame mirrorless camera. I understand the iPhone 12 Pro camera has some outstanding qualities.

Ken from Vegas

Someone said that the best camera is the one you have with you. From that point of view, phone cameras do have an advantage - that makes them a great backup camera. They also pack a lot of power easily accessible by the untrained photographer. For people who don't want to mess with camera settings and just view their pictures on a TV or other device, they may be fully adequate. If you're going to buy the new iphone anyway, try it out and see if it is adequate for you.

For people who want to print enlargements and want to have creative control over the image, a DSLR or high end mirrorless camera will always beat that cell phone camera. Here are just a few reasons (when I refer to DSLRs it applies to high end mirrorless cameras, too):

The DSLR has a viewfinder, the phone has a screen. Harder to compose your photo on a screen, especially in bright light.
The DSLR lets you control depth of field and shutter speed. Limited control on phones.
The DSLR lets you optically zoom. The phone has one or more fixed focal length lenses. Any zooming on a phone is really cropping
(i.e. throwing away parts of the image).
Shooting RAW (discussed by others) gives you more latitude and control in post-processing.
The DSLR has a big sensor with a big, optically refined glass lens that you can cover with a lens cap. The phone has a teeny tiny
sensor with simple plastic (usually) lenses that live in your dusty, dirty, scratchy pocket. Physical size of the sensor is much more
important than the pixel count. This makes a huge difference in image quality especially in low light (the phones usually do some pretty
drastic noise reduction and other processing tricks to compensate for this).
1. It's easier to hold a camera steady looking through a viewfinder than holding it out so that you can see a screen. And so on....

That being said, I see a lot of people lugging around big DSLRs that clearly haven't go a clue how to use them. They never take their camera out of AUTO mode. I often see them holding their cameras wrong (your left thumb should point to the sky, cradling the camera in your left palm). When I ask them what software they use for post-processing, they don't know what I'm talking about. These people clearly don't have a clue how to use the power of a DSLR. They would have been better off buying a cheaper, lighter camera or using their phone.

Some lighter alternatives to your big DSLR for traveling:

  1. A high end bridge camera like the Sony RX10 series. It has a viewfinder, a big-ish sensor, a decent lens and shoots RAW.
   2. Even smaller, a high end point and shoot like the RX100. Viewfinder, shoots RAW and has a big-ish sensor and a decent lens. I 
   have a now obsolete Canon point and shoot that I use as my backup camera when I don't want to carry my DSLR. I will probably 
   upgrade to an RX100 when I can travel again.
   3. A travel (all-in-one) lens for your DLSR. I have a Sigma 18-250mm lens that I take on Tauck tours. Not as fast or sharp as my 
  F2.8 zoom lenses, but a whole lot less to carry and you don't have to change lenses. I use the better lenses when traveling on my 
   own.

Ken from Vegas

Not sure what happened to the formatting on that last paragraph. Maybe my post was too long. Weird.

mil

Thank you all!
To be honest and knowing myself ,I will continue using my camera and the phone just as I have..
just with an advance new toy.. Thanks

Images_Quirky_Eye

How about -- all the above is true. There is a universe of folks using devices to make images, and they all have their own purposes, skill sets, levels of interest that satifies them and makes them happy. I, myself, am kind of kooky because I like carrying equipment around because it helps me be serious and focussed about trying to make good images. For me, it adds to the travel experience. For others, it's a pain.

But it's no more important than taking pix of your grandkids with a smartphone.

And, how about posting some smartphone images that you took and really love?

Let me re-post an image just for today, taken with a mirrorless, and enhanced in PS.

AshvEd

Sunset & moon over Asheville, NC. iPhone 11 Pro image slightly cropped.

Smiling Sam

Sunrise in Coronado National Forest, Tucson, AZ. iPhone 11 Pro, no alterations.

mil

Iphone 8 plus

mil

Nikon D7500

Smiling Sam

When posting to the Tauck Forum it is hard to distinguish any difference in quality between any of the photos based on camera type, other than the ones that Doug does some serious Photoshop processing on.

AlanS

How about this one taken with my iPhone:

AlanS

Oh, that's right, I don't have an iPhone or any cell phone!

BKMD

Alan - which century do you live in?

Sam - that's because the forum compresses the posted jpg files enormously.

AlanS

I hardly ever go anywhere or do anything where "I" need a cell phone. My wife has one, and that's all we need. I don't participate on Twitter, Instagram, etc. or other social media except occasionally, Facebook where I view the doings of our kids and grandkids on my laptop using my wife's FB account. FB and social media are extreme time-wasters and lately purveyors of hate, lies, racism, etc. I visit YouTube to learn how stuff- how to change the battery in my watch, deal with car problems, and get woodworking ideas, but it too is filled with folks providing bad information just to make "click money" on things I often know more about,

BKMD

Alan - For the most part (the social media stuff), I agree with you. I don't do social media, either. However, I still find the phone useful, but not an iphone. I'd never buy an Apple product. It all goes back to needing to replace a battery in my daughter's first ipod (not ipad) 20 years ago. I bought a "battery change kit" on ebay for $7 and dissected it myself, rather than sending the device to Apple and pay $50 for a battery. The company is way to controlling and wasteful for my tastes.

Images_Quirky_Eye

I get pretty bothered -- there are a couple of friends or their wives -- that cannot put their smart phones down -- glance at them while talking to you, excuse themselves mid-conversation to take calls. And then there are those that cannot eat without looking at their phones.

I imagine it makes me an old geezer, because the etiquette or understanding between kids seems to be that it's the way things are in those generations. Seems like you miss a lot of life if you're always staring at your phone. On the other hand, the kids have wonderful networking skill sets and that sems to be a requirement of modern white collar jobs, no?

I have Apple products. Most my friends, who are tradespeople, prefer Androids and Windows because they get more bang for the buck. But Apple was always the lead in the visual arts -- professional photographry, graphic design, cartography, etc. That's where Steve Jobs and Bill Gates parted, historically. One sought the business market, the other the education and visual arts market -- Apple seeded a lot of schools with Macs.

Photoshop was originally designed to run on an Apple product, and screen resolutions and program execution speed for fine editing was better on Macs.

You can offset the higher cost of Apple products by buying Apple stock. LOL. But, Apple captured the household market with the integration of their products -- I've watched folks start with iPads and then slowly move over to the entire Apple ecosystem.

As we get older, one way to view a smart-phone is as an Assistive Device -- an alternate brain -- or a brain booster! You can use Google Maps to get around Manhattan, you can us Waize to avoid traffic jams, you can look up how to spell words, recall information that doesn't come to mind but is on the tip of your tongue.

You can get emergency help if you fall. The Apple watch, if you don't know, will actually ask you if it needs to call 911 if you take a tumble -- I fell off my bike and it asked. The smartphone app can tell me where the sun sets, at what time, etc. for my photography needs. You can use it as a decible meter, a light meter, and get your travel info using the Tauck and similar apps.

And, Apple keeps working on the health aspects -- rudimentary EKGs with the Watch, blood pressure, calories expended, stairs climbed, pedometer, can even interpret your sleep cycle for issues like sleep apnea.

So good grief, I guess I take the opposite approach and embrace technology -- at my age, I need all the help I can get to improve and enhance my functioning. In a sense, these contraptions can make you a bionic man. LOL.

But the thing is, you control the devices -- what we complain about is inadvertently letting the devices seduce and control us. No one has to use Facebook or Twitter. I think one needs to make conscious decisions about how and how much we use technology in our personal lives.

What I'll share with you is that my wife, like many of her cohort teachers of that era -- pretty much refused to learn in any depth, how to operate computers or smartphones. But, a curious thing happened -- she realized we were aging and she would be really stuck if she could not deal with our finances, or update a computer, etc. if I pre-deceased her. She finally became open to learning and sought it. So, old dogs and new tricks . . .

Smiling Sam

Alan - Oh, that's right, I don't have an iPhone or any cell phone!

I don't know if you're familiar with the comic strip Crankshaft, but your post reminds of the main character.

AlanS

Don't get me wrong, "we" use my wife's iPhone for information- driving directions (Waze,) business phone numbers and hours, restaurant wait list, and especially instant gratification answers to 'inquiring minds want to know' questions- how far is it to the moon? What is this song? (Shazam), Which Beattle sang lead on . . . ., etc., etc. As to all the rest of it, I know I can do without it. I seldom need a phone even when my wife is not with me- certainly not enough to justify the expense. Plus, I know it wouldn't take me long to sit on and break or lose the phone.

What Apple does best is come up with devices, capabilities, and features we never knew we needed and then convinces us we can't live without them!

Images_Quirky_Eye

You're right, Alan. I don't use it as much as my buds. It's great though, to use the camera to take pictures of seriel numbers, or things old eyes can't see that well! When I travel in foreign countries, I keep it on hand and often get a local sim card. I have a penchant for getting lost in foreign countries, left behind by the group while I'm framing a shot. LOL. Where's Doug? is the refrain.

I take pictures of recipes before I start cooking.

And, you can take shots of your gums, skin irregularities, etc., magnify them, and send them to your doctors, dentists, or in-laws in medicine, LOL. There's so many practical things you can do with the device, rather than use esoteric apps. In RC, we take pix of each other's transmitter menus because there are so many variables to set. It might be sort of like taking pics of avionics of an unfamiliar plane. In fact, I've seen professionals do stuff like that. One pic is worth a thousand . . .

AlanS

Now I wish we were taking a photo of our airport parking location before getting on a plane for a Tauck tour!! New Tauck update today (November 4)- cancellations through Dec 31.

Smiling Sam

Alan - New Tauck update today (November 4)- cancellations through Dec 31.

And they still haven't implemented your suggestion of change bars, highlighting, strikethrough, etc. to make it easily identifiable as to what changed since the previous version.

Images_Quirky_Eye

A little bit of distraction.

British

Some wet cheetahs and a soppy pair!

Images_Quirky_Eye

Love it! Kinda makes you feel you are a guest in their home.

Images_Quirky_Eye

I love the colors and composition of Portrait of A Lady at the Market. She was selling her fabrics and spotted me with my camera poised -- and playfully high-fived me.

Images_Quirky_Eye

One of the things that impressed me in India was not only the hardships folks lived under, but how hard-working and unquestioning the children seemed to be.

Hope it's ok to post these images -- at this point, it settles me down to spend time in Photoshop.

Smiling Sam

British - Much easier to get on the equator at the Mt Kenya Safari Club.

Sealord

A popular sign. (;-)

Of course, the equator passes right through the bar at the Mount Kenya Safari Club. The Coriolis demonstration that they do is of course ‘fake’. The effect influences large masses of atmosphere but has no effect on a small quantity of water.

BKMD

I like this sign: