What Are The Main Differences Between A Phone Camera And A Camera?
Phone cameras have smaller sensors than cameras, have fixed lenses and are used in a slightly different way than cameras to take photos. The accessories you can get for phones are relatively limited. Cameras have larger sensors and you can change the lenses. There are more accessories available for cameras than there are for phones. Cameras are generally still better than phones for taking photos, but you can get great photos with phones.
Hi and welcome to Episode 75 of the Photography Explained Podcast.
I’m your host Rick, and in each episode, I will try to explain one photographic thing to you in plain English in less than 10 minutes (ish) without the irrelevant details. What I tell you is based on my lifetime of photographic experience. And not Google.
Let me compare some stuff quickly, using my Canon 6D and iPhone XS as examples – the two things that I use.
You can listen to the episode here
Or you can read on - it’s entirely up you!
1 Sensor size
Canon 6D – 36 x 24mm
iPhone XS – 7.01 x 5.79mm
The larger the sensor, the better the image quality, in general terms.
2 Lens
Canon 6D – pretty much whatever I want
iPhone XS – two lenses on the back of the phone and a forward-facing “selfie” lens.
3 Focal length
Canon 6D – whatever I want
iPhone XS - main lens 4.25mm – equivalent to 26mm on my full frame camera – wide angle
iPhone XS - telephoto lens 6mm – equivalent to 52mm on my full frame camera – not telephoto
Telephoto on a full frame is anything over 60mm. 52mm is a standard lens focal length.
Now I found lots of different numbers for this – the important bit is this
Canon 6D – any focal length that I get a lens for
iPhone – Compared to full frame equivalent, I have a wide-angle lens and a standard lens.
4 Aperture
Canon 6D – whatever I want, from F1.2 to F32 depending on the lens and the money I spend
iPhone XS - Wide-angle lens: ƒ/1.8 aperture
iPhone XS – Telephoto lens: ƒ/2.4 aperture
There are crop factors that apply – I won’t get into that. What matters here is that on my Canon 6D I choose the aperture, on my iPhone it is fixed for each lens.
5 ISO
Canon 6D – 100 - 25,600
iPhone – 24-2304 - I did not know that.
I do not know how to change the ISO on my phone, nor do I know if I can.
On my Canon 6D I have full control of the ISO.
6 Resolution
Canon 6D – 20.2 megapixels
iPhone XS – 12 megapixels
The Canon 6D has a much higher resolution (on a bigger sensor let us not forget), but the iPhone has a remarkable 12MP.
7 Accessories
Canon 6D – pretty much anything I want
iPhone XS – a relatively limited range of accessories
8 Apps
Canon 6D - Canon Connect App – that is it!
iPhone XS – pretty much everything and anything available on the App Store
9 Video
Canon 6D – 1920 x 1080
iPhone XS – 720, 1080 and 4K
I am not sure what the difference is. I have taken hundreds of videos with my phone, and 1 with my Canon 6D.
I know that 4K is the best.
10 Taking a photo
Canon 6D – love it
iPhone XS – hate it
I love taking photos with my Canon 6D, but hate taking photos with my phone. It’s a handling thing.
11 Viewing a photo
Canon 6D – hate it
iPhone XS – love it
The LCD screen on my Canon 6D is quite frankly rubbish. The screen on my iPhone is amazing.
12 Sharing a photo
Canon 6D – give me a couple of days
iPhone XS – give me a second
The immediacy of the iPhone is amazing. The lack of immediacy with the Canon 6D was never a problem until phones with cameras were unleashed on the world! And immediate sharing is of course so popular these days
13 Other stuff
Canon 6D – not a lot
iPhone XS - lots
I know, my Canon 6D is a camera, and that my iPhone is so much more than a phone.
14 Speaking to other people
Well, I can’t phone anyone from my Canon 6D, but I can from my iPhone. Just saying….
The talky bit
I have to say that in some ways comparing phones to cameras is a bit unfair, cameras are cameras, and phones are our day-to-day everything.
One fits in a pocket, the other does not, unless you have massive pockets that is.
But this is what we do – we compare things, we need to know which is better. But do you know what? They are both amazing.
Cameras can take amazing photos. But they don’t do a lot more.
Phones can take amazing photos. And they do a lot more than that, as we all know.
And you can take rubbish photos with a camera or a phone.
One last thing – taking photos with a phone is different from taking photos with a camera. Now whilst that might sound obvious, let's just think about that for a second.
With my Canon 6D, there are lots of settings that I have to make sure are correct, with my iPhone I just take the photo.
And for anyone getting into photography with a phone first all the stuff that you need to do with a camera might just seem completely alien. And I think this will drive the cameras of the future. See what a visionary I am!
My one-line summary
Cameras are bigger than phones, and that applies to everything. Cameras take photos. Phones take photos and do lots more.
Next episode
Episode 76 – Is It Better To Take Photos With A Camera Or A Phone? What do you think? I am going to wrap up my thoughts on phones and photography for now and get into some more nitty-gritty photography stuff.
Going weekly
I am loving being weekly. It gives me more time to think and work on what I am saying, and also to work on other stuff in the background which will make for much better listening and reading for all of you good folks out there.
Shout out
This weeks shout-out is to Terry all the way over there in New South Wales, Australia. Thanks for the emails Terry, it was lovely to hear from you and I am glad you found my podcast helpful.
I’m done
Thanks for listening to my small but perfectly formed podcast.
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Brought to you by
This episode was brought to you by a very nice coffee. Cheers.
I’ve been Rick McEvoy, thanks again very much for listening to me and for giving me 10 (ish) minutes of your valuable time, and I will see you on the next episode.
Cheers from me Rick