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Are any phones close to SLR-replacement?

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  • 19-05-2020 4:31pm
    #1
    Registered Users Posts: 13,779 ✭✭✭✭


    Considering my next trip (once we're allowed to travel again) and normally I would carry my ageing Canon 400D SLR camera.

    It's a 10 Megapixel, so relatively low by today's standards, but I still get some fantastic shots with it.

    It got me thinking though, it would be lovely to not have to carry the bulky thing around with me on my next trip, plus a Lonely Planet book, etc and perhaps I could combine everything into one small device.

    So if I were to get a new phone with the best camera on the market, what would it be and would it create images that could be printed up to 55" as I do with my SLR shots?

    Ignore price for arguments sake.


Comments

  • Registered Users Posts: 21,466 ✭✭✭✭Alun


    An interesting topic ...

    In November last year (just in time!) my wife and I went on a 4 week trip to New Zealand and of course the whole subject of what photographic equipment to take cropped up. I had an old Nikon D70S and a few lenses, which I seldom used, and a Google Pixel 3 phone. I decided I wanted something to replace the Nikon with, that was a bit more light weight, so sold all the Nikon gear and replaced it with a Canon EOS M50 mirrorless camera and a couple of lenses.

    The EOS M50 came in very handy, especially when we went on a whale watching trip,and in a few other situations where the telephoto and wide-angle lenses came into their own, but when I go back over all my photos from the trip, the ones where I stop and take a second look are pretty much all ones I took on the phone.

    The Pixel 3's camera is generally regarded as being one of the best on the market, and really comes into it's own in difficult lighting situations where it's HDR+ feature can cope with pretty much anything you throw at it without going overboard with the HDR.

    Having said that, there's a lot of post processing and exposure merging going on in the Pixel 3, and combined with the tiny sensor, as a result if you start pixel peeking it all looks a bit messy, so if you want to do any heavy cropping the EOS M50 wins out every time, the images, even the JPEG ones, are a lot cleaner.

    I often wonder what the result would be if you could somehow put the Pixel's processing power into a decent camera body with a large sensor and interchangeable lenses.

    I printed one image from the holiday at A2 size, and it came from the Pixel 3. Make of all that what you will :)


  • Registered Users Posts: 13,779 ✭✭✭✭mrcheez


    Regarding phones though, as I probably wouldn't be travelling until middle of 2021 are there any new ones coming onto the market that will likely have a better camera than the Pixel 3?

    It would be amazing to do an entire backpack trip with literally just a phone, and an external battery pack, and no need for bulky camera, or lonely planet book, etc etc :)


  • Registered Users Posts: 21,466 ✭✭✭✭Alun


    Well, the Pixel 4 is already available and by then I'd assume that the Pixel 5 would be available too.


  • Registered Users Posts: 13,779 ✭✭✭✭mrcheez


    Would the Galaxy S20 Ultra not have a better camera than the Pixel?


  • Registered Users Posts: 2,158 ✭✭✭leche solara


    I reckon it will be many years, if ever, before a phone will take better pictures than a SLR camera. Simply don't have the room for a top quality sensor. But there still is a lot to be said for the portability and spontaneity of a phone camera.


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  • Registered Users Posts: 36,167 ✭✭✭✭ED E


    mrcheez wrote: »
    Would the Galaxy S20 Ultra not have a better camera than the Pixel?

    Googles processing (they all use the same sensors) is generally regarded as better.


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