A phone vs a camera

redbourn · Nov 3, 2015

I have a relatively good Nikon camera D3300, lenses, a new softbox and lighting equipment but I continue to prefer photos that I shoot with my phone,

Something has to do with the ease that you can move a phone.

There is obviously more and I will understand it.

The tomatoes are an old favorite, spikes of garlic, a sprinkle of olive oil and your favorite herb, whatever it is - almost all go well with tomatoes, basil, oregano etc.

Grill for a couple of minutes and enjoy!

Shot with my phone ... and maybe over tweaked in LR

Comments?

Michael

goodguy · Nov 3, 2015

Michael if cell phone camera works for you then god bless you, nothing wrong with it.

For me cell phone is a last resort devise.
I have the Samsung Note 5 with a 16MP camera and it can even shoot in RAW.
I was so exited when I got it, I used it in various conditions and found it to be significantly inferiour to my DSLR.
Not good for me for doing portraits or macro.
I found it good just for doing landscape.
No right or wrong here its a matter of personal style and taste.

BTW these tomatoes looks really delicious

imagemaker46 · Nov 3, 2015

Nice phone picture, what is the point you are trying to make? that you can't shoot the same thing with a camera? I've also shot some nice phone images that I can shoot better with my camera.

dannylightning · Nov 3, 2015

well if you really like using the the cell phone camera and your happy with the images than go for it. something that small and easy to carry around is definitely the most convenient option.

food photos usually look gross to me for some reason so i cant say much about that photo besides it looks gross lol.

you can do a lot more with a dslr and the image quality should be better on a dslr. but use what you like.

Dave442 · Nov 3, 2015

What you might like to try is a bit more processing than you are currently doing with the files from the DSLR. Try going overboard on the processing, try out some LR plug-ins for some other looks. Try some HDR and focus-stacking.

For food I am about to eat I infrequently do a quick snapshot, may be the camera or the phone.

Peeb · Nov 3, 2015

I would greatly prefer to have images from my DSLR, but I certainly prefer the portability of my smart-phone.

Whatever you prefer to shoot with and get the best images with is the right choice.

DarkShadow · Nov 3, 2015

Thats probably because your used to over saturated color eye candy and everything in focus a mile away.

Braineack · Nov 4, 2015

The posted image does not look good -- but it's not entirely the fault of the phone.

The phone seems to capture a decently sharp image (where in focus), but that's about it.

Two problem I see with it is the color rendering is poor and the DR is abysmal. There's no detail in the shadows.

Otherwise, there's plenty of issues with this image beyond the camera used:

The DOF, as mentioned, is about 0.5" wide.

The lighting is awful. Look at all the specular highlights. The plate is overexposed yet the food is underexposed. The light is uneven. You're even casting a shadow of the knife and covering the ketchup.

The WB looks off, too yellow. Processing off this image in general looks bad. Way too much contrast -- hurts to look at.

The composition is very poor. It looks like you started eating dinner and decided to capture a snapshot to post on FB -- you even left the knife in the shot. The background is distracting. The angle of view is odd. The plate-scaping was amateurish. you're focused on the tomatoes, when more emphasis should probably be on the steak.

Using a DSLR, iphone, or x-ray machine wouldn't have saved this image as setup. The problem is technique not image capturing device.

astroNikon · Nov 4, 2015

Essentially you like the fast and easy use of a phone.
Pull it out, take a shot and you are done.

Compared to your camera setup ... tripod, setup, light setup, get everything right then take a shot.

You could just pull out the camera and take a quick shot just like the phone.
Then work on your technique as mentioned above.

I like using my phone too. I'm actually looking at getting a small (pocketable) sensor camera for greater DOF up close than my FF camera. A Nikon P7100 (P7700 & P7800 newer versions) as in another thread another poster has just gotten. It would fill the slot between my phone and DSLR.

TCampbell · Nov 4, 2015

The cameras built into mobile phones are getting quite good. The latest iPhone 6s has an amazing camera (and the 6s Plus has built-in optical image stabilization). I've also noticed that it's possible to get much closer to a subject with the latest iPhones even over the previous year's model.

But there are some things you can't do with a tiny camera. To create a narrow depth of field requires a combination of factors including longer focal length lenses, lower focal ratios, and physically larger sensors sizes (as well as a closer subject.) You can certainly cover the "close" subject focusing distance and even the lower focal ratio issue, but camera phones don't have long focal length lenses nor large imaging sensors. This means it isn't really possible to create a deliberately shallow depth of field and allow for selective focus on just one part of the image.

Here's a food shot taken with a 100mm macro lens at f/4 (this was an f/2.8 lens but we decided to slightly decrease the intensity of the background blur to the point the the background objects are more recognizable, even if they aren't intended to be the center of attention. The focus is on the food -- the center of attention -- but the background creates an atmosphere for the food to help create a mood.

A shot like this would not be possible with a mobile phone camera.

Pasta Carbonara by Tim Campbell, on Flickr

A shot like this also wouldn't be possible using the kit lens included with most DSLR cameras, but certainly is possible with any DSLR camera if you select the appropriate lens (I used a 100mm macro at f/4 on a full frame camera, but this could also be done using a 60mm macro lens at f/2.8 on an APS-C camera to achieve an extremely similar result.)

beckylynne · Nov 4, 2015

TCampbell said:
The cameras built into mobile phones are getting quite good. The latest iPhone 6s has an amazing camera (and the 6s Plus has built-in optical image stabilization). I've also noticed that it's possible to get much closer to a subject with the latest iPhones even over the previous year's model.

But there are some things you can't do with a tiny camera. To create a narrow depth of field requires a combination of factors including longer focal length lenses, lower focal ratios, and physically larger sensors sizes (as well as a closer subject.) You can certainly cover the "close" subject focusing distance and even the lower focal ratio issue, but camera phones don't have long focal length lenses nor large imaging sensors. This means it isn't really possible to create a deliberately shallow depth of field and allow for selective focus on just one part of the image.

Here's a food shot taken with a 100mm macro lens at f/4 (this was an f/2.8 lens but we decided to slightly decrease the intensity of the background blur to the point the the background objects are more recognizable, even if they aren't intended to be the center of attention. The focus is on the food -- the center of attention -- but the background creates an atmosphere for the food to help create a mood.

A shot like this would not be possible with a mobile phone camera.

Pasta Carbonara by Tim Campbell, on Flickr

A shot like this also wouldn't be possible using the kit lens included with most DSLR cameras, but certainly is possible with any DSLR camera if you select the appropriate lens (I used a 100mm macro at f/4 on a full frame camera, but this could also be done using a 60mm macro lens at f/2.8 on an APS-C camera to achieve an extremely similar result.)

mmmmm that looks so good. Now I'm hungry dammit!

Braineack · Nov 4, 2015

TCampbell said:
A shot like this also wouldn't be possible using the kit lens included with most DSLR cameras, but certainly is possible with any DSLR camera if you select the appropriate lens (I used a 100mm macro at f/4 on a full frame camera, but this could also be done using a 60mm macro lens at f/2.8 on an APS-C camera to achieve an extremely similar result.)

I think one of the bigger problems people have with food photography is TOO narrow a DOF.