Phone Photography: Is My Phone’s Camera Good Enough?

These days pretty much everyone has a camera-equipped smartphone in their pocket. For photographers, this begs the question: is my phone’s camera good enough for photography?

In general, smartphone cameras are more than capable of taking quality images. Smartphone camera technology has improved drastically over the years. The Samsung S23 Ultra, for example, features a 200MP sensor. In comparison, the Canon R7, a professional-level mirrorless camera, has a 40.2MP sensor.

Though on paper, smartphones may seem to have the advantage over mirrorless or DSLR cameras, that certainly isn’t the case. Keep reading as I explain why.

Smartphone vs Mirrorless Cameras

For our comparisons, we will look at the Canon EOS R7, the Fujifilm X-T5, the iPhone 14 Pro, and the Samsung S23 Ultra.

First, let’s break down sensor size. The R7 and X-T5, our two professional-level mirrorless cameras have 32.5MP and 40.2MP sensors respectively while the iPhone 14 Pro has a 48MP sensor and the S23 Ultra packs a whopping 200MP.

The iPhone 14 Pro has four focal length choices; 13mm “Ultra Wide”, 24mm “Main”, 48mm “2X Telephoto”, and 77mm “3x Telephoto” with up to 6x optical zoom and up to 15x digital zoom. The S23 Ultra has three main lens choices; “Ultra Wide”, “Wide Angle”, and “Telephoto” with 3x to 10x optical zoom and up to 200x digital zoom. The Canon R7 utilizes canons extensive RF lens system ranging from a 5.2mm fisheye lens to a 1200 super telephoto. The X-T5 uses Fujifilm’s XF lens system ranging from an 8-16mm ultra-wide to a 150-600mm super-telephoto lens.

Why Specs Don’t Matter

A common misconception with photography is the more Megapixels, the better the image. There are so many other factors involved with each and every photo your camera takes beyond the size of your sensor for this to be true.

A key difference between smartphones and mirrorless cameras is image processing. Smartphones are designed to be point-and-shoot. This means the moment you snap a picture, your phone begins processing your image to be immediately as visually appealing as possible. Mirrorless cameras, on the other hand, are designed to preserve information so you can edit your photos using software like Lightroom, they do this by shooting in RAW formats.

This photo of Lake Louise in Banff, Alberta, was taken on a Nikon D5200, a camera that is over a decade old. When it comes to specs, the D5200 is clearly behind present-day technology, yet it can still take great photos. To further prove this point, this photo is straight out of the camera with no edits. The moral of the story here is that you don’t need a $3,000 camera to take good pictures and that using a smartphone or older DSLR can be a blessing in disguise.

Shooting with a smartphone or older DSLR may end up forcing you to focus on the technical aspects of photography more like your composition or your use of light to shape your photo. Yes, high-end mirrorless cameras and high-end lenses will help you to take great photos, but they are not the be-all and end-all.

Unless photography is your livelihood, buying an expensive camera is a luxury, not a necessity. In fact, there are professional photographers out there who, to this day, swear by the Canon EOS-1D X, a camera featuring an 18.1MP sensor that was released over a decade ago in 2012.

Why Use A Smartphone Camera?

There are three main reasons why you might elect to shoot with a smartphone camera over a mirrorless or DSLR; accessibility, convenience, and price.

The first benefit of shooting on a smartphone camera is accessibility. Chances are you have a smartphone in your pocket right now or are even reading this on your smartphone. This means you don’t have to spend time researching and comparing different camera manufacturers, camera specs, and lens selections; you can avoid this rabbit hole entirely by pulling out the smartphone you likely already have and starting to shoot.

Next, let’s look at the convenience of shooting on a smartphone. Lately, I’ve seen point-and-shoot cameras heavily trending largely in part due to their convenience. That same convenience comes with smartphone photography.

Photographers know best that a simple shoot can become complicated quickly when you go to prep your gear. How many camera bodies are you bringing? Which lenses? How about lens filters, batteries, and SD cards?

Shooting on a smartphone takes all of these variables out of the picture, all you need is to make sure your phone is charged, and you have storage left.

The last benefit I’ll discuss is price, and this is a big one. Though smartphones are getting pretty pricey in recent years, in comparison to shooting on a mirrorless/DSLR, you’ll save money shooting on your smartphone.

First, let’s list some costs associated with shooting on a mirrorless/DSLR. Your two main costs are your camera body and your lenses. Camera bodies range in price, you can get a low-cost DSLR body for $300-$500 or a high-end mirrorless body for $2500+.

As for lenses, these can range anywhere from $250 to over $2500 for a single lens. Along with those, you’ll have to get storage (SD cards, CFexpress, etc), lens filters, extra batteries, and possibly a flash.

Though there’s no specific number as to how much your kit will cost, it’s pretty easy to see that even a camera body or lens will cost more than a smartphone.

Now, as for the cost of your smartphone, there are a couple of ways to look at the cost of your smartphone. The first is to simply look at the price you paid for your phone for comparison. This works for comparison but, in reality, you most likely would have, or did buy that smartphone for daily life, not for photography.

If this is the case, we can think of your smartphone as a “sunk cost”. A sunk cost is essentially money you have spent and will not recover. Yes, you can technically sell your smartphone to buy a camera, but your phone is meant for daily life with the added benefit of photography.

Put simply; regardless of whether or not you buy a camera, you will likely have a smartphone that is capable of taking amazing photos.