Hacker News Reader

Comment by x87678r | Hacker News Reader

I bought a new SLR body probably every 5 years for the last 40. My newest smartphones are so good I've given up. Yes if you want crisp incredible detail, or if its your wedding you need an SLR, but no other reason.

View on HN

I’m not even close to a serious photographer nor have a trained eye, but phone cameras have such terrible dynamic range and artifacting (the impressionistic watercolor look), they’re still not even close to a real camera. Maybe in very specific conditions and never viewed zoomed in or bigger than Instagram sized, they’ll do.

I sync my camera photos to my Photos library along side phone pictures and whenever I’m flipping through to share something with a friend, they always notice and comment, “You took those on your phone!?” The difference is still huge.

Also, few phones produce good raw files which are essential for archiving. I can get better results from 15-year-old raw images shot with an EOS 30D than I get out of my flagship smartphone.

I only sorta joke that the amount I use a camera is inversely proportional to how much the body and the system cost. I use my iPhone a bunch, my Fujifilm X series a fair bit when traveling, and my Canon 5Diii mostly only if I'm going on a particularly photography-oriented trip or some other specialized purpose. I'm honestly not sure if I'll ever upgrade my Canon body at this point.

I do see a big difference but it is another expensive ecosystem to maintain, it is difficult to justify for a thing that can only take pictures and I have no hope of making a buck with to offset costs.

I think people can get sucked into buying what they don't need, but buying a good body and a lens or two every few years can be worth it even if you're just an amateur trying out different types of photography.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com