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Comment by Lio | Hacker News Reader

Weirdly I use my iPhone for photos but I don’t enjoy the process.

I still have my Nikon DLSR set up but when I want to “do photography” for fun these days I use a Fuji X100F.

This is a somewhat limit camera although I can get fixed focal lengths from 28-100mm eqv. and it has some other neat tricks. I hardly ever shoot RAW now and if I do I process the RAW in camera.

This means I can’t take ever possible shot but I really enjoy working with the camera flaws and all. It’s only for fun so you get what you can.

What I don’t get is why the camera makers haven’t expanded on the creative options for their systems. Why aren’t they offering flash systems with better integration than say Godox?

Why don’t they offer control of flash colour temperature for balancing?

What about photo stacking in JPGs?

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How much better are the photos you get out of the Fuji then the ones you get out of your iPhone?

The Fuji X100F is about 3 times as heavy then a usual smartphone. So carrying it around would quadruple the weight of my "camera equipment".

I wish somebody would run around with a pocket camera and a phone for a day and then write a blog posts with comparison shots.

That’s an interesting question.

For convenience you can’t beat a smartphone. I only take the Fuji with me when I’m specifically in the mood to take photos. I don’t blog but if you do then maybe the camera you have with you is the best choice.

On the question of quality again it’s interesting. The latest generation of smart phones are reputedly very good so I don’t know what the difference is.

The other thing is that with the X100F you get lots of control but no training wheels. Smartphones lack control over what picture you get but you’ll still probably get something pretty most of the time.

The Fuji has stuff like a leaf shutter so it will let you do certain tricks with flash exposure you can’t easily do in post. It also has really good film simulation and a good optical/digital view finder.

Now that’s pretty specific so if it’s not something you think you need a smartphone will again be more useful.

I started with an X100F because I was really fixated on the idea that a small flat/pancake lens would mean I’d more likely take the camera with me than leave it home.

In reality the X100F, while compact, is camera-size and camera-weight, so the actual dimensions matter little. It won’t fit in a pocket, that’s the dimension that really matters.

I swapped for a slightly better camera (X-T30) which is about the same size and with a lens that is also slightly longer (talking actual length here).

The shots I get of my family and kids are the prize. The difference between my phone and camera results make the strap around my neck worth it. But it’s still a challenge not to leave it at home.

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