Smartphones is now better than 5 year old consumer cameras

My iPhone 5

Many of the best smartphones are now equipped with great 8- or12 megapixel[1] cameras. For many, the camera on their smartphone is the only camera they own. For me personally that is the truth. My iPhone 5 is the only camera I have. I think it takes excellent pictures, and when it comes to 1080p[2] video, it has replaced all my other equipment. The quality is enough for me, and I think that is all that matters. I use to say that the best camera is the one you always have with you. And my iPhone 5 is always with me.

And apps and services like Instagram) makes it so much more fun to take pictures. You get instant interaction and comments. I think that is more important than having the latest DSLR[3] camera..

How do all these mobile compete against digital cameras, then? Pretty good, according to a study by DxOMark Mobile.

The biggest downside to smartphone cameras versus regular digital cameras is image noise, which is the result of the incredibly small sensors used in smartphones. The smaller image size causes less light to reach the sensor, resulting in noisy photographs. Depending on the smartphone, the noise may be reduced using filters that result in slightly blurred or otherwise degraded images. The iPhone 5, which was rated by Consumer Reports as having the best camera on a smartphone, has more artifacts than the Galaxy S III, for example, but the Galaxy S III has overall poorer image quality due to using image filters to reduce noise.

We have come a long way since the first camera phones, and even the first digital cameras. My first digital camera ( a Panasonic) had VGA[4] resolution (640x480) and no zoom :)




  3. A digital single-lens reflex camera (digital SLR or DSLR) is a digital camera that uses a mechanical mirror system and pentaprism to direct light from the lens to an optical viewfinder on the back of the camera. Search for more.  ↩

  4. Video graphics array, a standard for defining color display screens for computers. A VGA display has 640 horizontal pixels and 480 vertical pixels giving a total display resolution of 307,200 individual pixels. Search for more.  ↩