Smartphone with good camera or smartphone + separate camera?

[RamoN]

Well as the title says im debating wether to invest more in a smartphone with a better camera or buy a smartphone with a normal camera and buy a separate one.

My two options are the sony xperia go and the xperia acro s. Why those? because i loved xperias since the x1 that i used till i almost destroyed it, also both those xperias come ip rated so they will withstand my abuse more than others.

- The xperia go has a 5mp camera to have around, costs a lot less and would leave me enough money to buy a decent digital camera soon.

- The acro s has a 12mp camera which is suppoused to be really nice and would let me have a good camera with me at all times but it costs more so it would be a bigger investment.

I know a good camera is better than anything but im no profesional so i dont have a need for something with lots of options, just good image quality, so even if i buy a digital camera it wont be anything too good.

What do i use a camera for? Well i like to tour on my motorcycle and photograph landscapes and other things, i like to take pictures of what i cook or build at home, etc.

My fear of a separate camera would be that when i need it i will have left it at home, or have it somewhere inside a bag so i will end up using my phone camera anyway. My fear of a phone with a good camera is to invest too much money on a phone (something i never did) so im a bit hesitant to do it.


So if anyone could give me an opinion, suggestion or any words on the matter i would appreciate it.

Thanks.

[TMFKAMJ]

Check out the Nokia Lumia 1020, at 41mp its the best camera on the smartphone market, period. It is more expensive but it all depends on if you're really serious about it. You can also get a camera grip for it that has a tripod mount and IIRC has 6 extra hours of battery.

[dks]

Do not duel too much on the megapixels as there are other factors like noise during night shots, picture quality, colour etc. Generally a higher megapixel camera will be better specified, but that is not allways true, especially when comparing different brands.
If you look at full frame SLRs then you will see that the megapixel rating is not the most important factor in picture quality.

The way I see it is that a proper camera will give you optical zoom too, though there are now detachable lenses for some phones, I was told.

However, the phone is allways with you, so even if you get a separate camera get a phone with a decent camera too. Compare the pictures between the two phones you are interested in, the way you will view them and see if you notice any difference. On a PC monitor they may look exactly the same.
A few years back 41 Mp was only found on Medium format cameras.   

[RamoN]

Thanks for that tip, im gonna look some camera tests of both, from what ive seen on a quick search the acro s looks much better on the landscape shooting.

That nokia seems nice but its way out of my budget.

[derekmac]

Personally I'd do as much research as possible and get the phone that has the best camera that you can afford.  As a phone is usually on you, you might find it a burden to carry a separate camera as well, and find yourself not wanting to take it with you and wishing you had bought the phone with the better camera.

I have a DSLR, but only take it with me if I'm going someplace where I know I'll need a telephoto lens, or want to do macro shots or just take high quality photos.  Between my last three phone, I've taken over 3000 pictures with them together.

99% of the pictures I post here have been taken with my phone as well.

Here are a few I've taken with my phones:

[RamoN]

Well you are right, i went for it and purchased the acro. (guess ill just needed a little push  ) Now ill have to open the thread on how to improve my picture taking skills 

Those are great pics!

Thanks everyone for the advice 

[JAfromMn]

I went smartphone with good camera.

my Nokia 820 has  Carl Zeiss lenses .

it works best for me because I'd rarely have the Camera with me at work.

[jekostas]

Check out the Nokia Lumia 1020, at 41mp its the best camera on the smartphone market, period. It is more expensive but it all depends on if you're really serious about it. You can also get a camera grip for it that has a tripod mount and IIRC has 6 extra hours of battery.

Yeah, except the 41 megapixel output is all but unusable.  The camera is designed to use pixel-binning and output 5 or 8MP photos.

I went smartphone with good camera.

my Nokia 820 has  Carl Zeiss lenses .

it works best for me because I'd rarely have the Camera with me at work.

Not to burst your bubble but the likelihood of your phone actually having a Zeiss-made lens is pretty well zero.  The name is licensed based on a summary review of the optics by Zeiss, Schneider or whatever other company is slapping their names on stuff these days for licensing fees (hint: be wary of anything that says "Kodak" or "Polaroid").

Even among compact camera makers the only company that uses lenses that are even designed by the name brand on them is Panasonic/Leica.

[powernoodle]

I'm with Mr. Derekmac on this one.  If you use your smartphone's camera, its always with you (I assume) and is one less piece of gear that you have to lug around.  I guess it boils down to just what kind of pic quality you are looking for.  I've been using my smartphones exclusive for a few years.


Good enough for Powernoodle:  Samsung S2 Skyrocket.

[jzmtl]

Phone camera plus something you can fine tune exposure, shutter, aperture and all that, but not a full on DSLR so you'll actually carry it with you.

At least that's my plan, got the phone, but never found a good camera that fits.

[Whoey]

The camera on my Nexus 4 does leave to be desired. Even though it is 8MP, it doesn't take the best pictures, at least not in my experience so far.

I do have my fancy Nikon D5100 DSLR but as many have pointed out, sometimes you're only carrying your phone, and use what's at hand.

[Grant Lamontagne]

I use a camera a lot at work- and I mean a lot.  I took well over 100 photos on Friday alone.  I use my cell phone for most of that, but I have a nice camera at home that I use whenever I want to take serious photos- ie detail shots of multitools etc.



I suppose it's not a serious requirement to have a good camera at home, but I've had that one for years and I like it.  A good photographer with a cell phone camera will take better photos than I can with a great camera, tripod, light tent etc, so perhaps you should see where your skill lies before making a decision? 

Def

[enki_ck]

I use a cell phone camera for documents or notices I need to remember at work, something I see on a notice board, working hours or my doctor, dentist, barber, ... things I used to photocopy or write down. For most of these things a cell phone camera is more than enough. And I use it too for some quick pic of a thing currently being discussed on the forum. It's faster to just take a pic with a phone and upload it through the photobucket app than to take out the camera, take pictures, find the usb cable, hook it up to the PC, upload to disk and then to photobucket (or directly to photobucket). And for the most things a quick pic will be enough. I very rarely if ever need a separate camera in my day to day tasks and with the quality of pictures one can nowadays take with the cell phone camera, I don't see why I should.  

[kkokkolis]

I like both. I had a nice Sony Ericsson Cybershot camera phone but I changed to a smartphone. So, now, I carry my Sony Cybershot when I travel. I don't care for DSLRs, just point and shoot capability. iPhone's camera covers me 90%.
A colleague of mine bought two days ago from Berlin a Sony camera for smartphones. Carl Zeiss Jena lens, 20MPixels and 350€ but it is great. With that you don't care about what camera your phone has. It communicates with the phone through WiFi.


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