DSLR or modern Camera phone?

[Eric]

Anyone still getting out the DSLR for their photography? I used to use it all the time but my camera phones have been so good for so long, it's really hard to justify getting the camera bag out unless I am planning a full shoot. I have since purchased phone adapters for my tri-pod and found using my iPhone12 is my preferred go to. I miss the control and there is definitely still some creative focusing lost by using the phone, but I still struggle to make the effort to get out the DSLR.

 

[Andy]

I've been watching this question for a while, because the overlap is getting bigger every day. I think it's a case of "the best camera is the one you have with you", at this point. I print a lot more of my DSLR photos, but take a lot more pictures overall with my phone. A lot of my phone pictures are "good enough", but there are a lot of times that I need super accurate, reliable, and fast (meaning I can adjust it by touch alone) control over my camera settings. I also think it's a question of physics--phone camera software is getting really good, especially at automagic post-processing, but there's no getting around the fact that a phone's camera/lens elements have to be a lot smaller and cheaper. I can usually see a difference between my phone and camera shots in things like depth of field/bokeh or the overall "intensity" and "depth" of an image--for my style of shots, camera pictures just seem to have a quality to them that I can't (yet) replicate on my phones.