Mobile phone cameras - a blessing or a curse?

In the last 20 years since Sharp introduced the world’s first 0.35-megapixel phone camera, technology has changed the face of photography available to amateur and hobbyist consumers. In addition to the leaps and bounds in camera phones themselves, the internet and social media have changed why we take photographs, how we document our lives, and who we share them with.

As time has gone on, the photography industry continues to change drastically. As we first moved from film to digital, and then from digital cameras to smartphones, most of us now have a camera in our pocket (or bag) at all times. Consumers have enjoyed the freedom that having this technology available to catch every moment of their children growing up, first foods, days out, holidays, birthdays, celebrations and everyday moments.

The problem with this is many of us have ended up with quantity over quality... thousands of photos clogging up our phones, micro SD cards, external hard drives and of course the cloud - never to be looked at again. Many of them are poor quality, blurry, and grainy, with heads and limbs cut off - but we love them because they're real moments documented. Unfortunately, most of us don't love them enough to print them, make albums or hang them on our walls. Editing apps and filters mean the internet is constantly updated with these photos which don't quite reflect reality. They may occasionally come up on time-hop making us smile momentarily, but for the most part, in our fast-moving consumer environment, once taken and shared they are never seen again.

Beautiful boy with curly brown hair sitting on bench under a palm tree

I think the onset of digital technology initially scared many photographers, who resisted to move with the times and refused to offer digital copies of their work. There was no need to worry though, whilst camera phones are now pretty incredible, often with wide and optical zoom lenses offering far superior details at photography from a distance than they once did, they are still no match for a DSLR. Now with mirrorless cameras, DSLR's are becoming even sharper, better in the dark, and crucially smaller and lighter, meaning, even with the constant improvement of camera phones, they are still no-where near the quality that can be produced by a professional photographer who has the equipment, lenses, and most importantly understands the intention behind each and every photo they take.

The biggest advantage of DSLRs and mirrorless cameras over smartphone cameras is the option of using interchangeable lenses. Digital cameras can utilise lenses with varying focal lengths from ultra-wide to telephoto, macro lenses and more. I tend to use prime lenses, which only shoot at a single focal length, but allow a huge amount of light on the sensor and have no moving parts, unlike zoom lenses, allowing for sharp focus and a quick shutter. Until recently, the basic controls used for the exposure triangle (ISO, aperture, and shutter speed) which allow the photographer to overwrite the camera's internal decision-making capabilities and fine-tune exposure were not available on camera phones.

Ahoy sailor - boys sitting on a boat on the beach in Spain

However, last year I purchased a Huawei Mate Pro 20 which comes complete with 3 cameras (including a wide-angle lens and 3x zoom). This phone (and many others which are now being released) comes with a "pro" setting, which allows the 3 elements of the exposure triangle to be adjusted according to your preferences. Now I have to say I love my Huawei camera phone for holiday photos and daily snaps when I don't have my big camera to hand, or just don't want to take it with me, but even with these controls, it doesn't produce anywhere near the same results as a dedicated DSLR or a mirrorless camera would (despite my niece being pretty amazed that I'd taken some of them on my camera - although I'd like to put that down to my understanding of light and composition).

Firstly, in portrait mode, a bokeh (blur) is sometimes applied around the focal point in a circle, rather than in front of and behind the focal point - this feels unnatural and looks very wrong to my trained eye. Smartphone cameras stand at another major disadvantage as the digital zooms in smartphones are usually just cropping into the image and artificially sharpening the resulting pixels. As mentioned above though, even smartphones are now coming with several inbuilt lenses which go some way to improving this.

Overall I couldn't be without my smartphone camera. I often feel it is a blessing and a curse. I take too many photos and don't do anything with most of them. They're not as good as those on my DSLR camera, and detail is often lacking... But, wow - what a privilege to document my babies growing up - and I vow to do more with the photos I take in the future.

If you also find you have thousands of photos, but none of them are hitting the spot, being printed and cherished forever, why don't you book a studio or lifestyle photography shoot and get some beautiful pictures up on the wall or printed in a stunning album?

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by Joanne Lewis • 4 December 2020

A picture of Santa and me...

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by Joanne Lewis • 3 December 2020

... Buy one, Get one Free*

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Unbelievable Photography deals Black Friday 2020

by Joanne Lewis • 26 November 2020

I couldn't let Black Friday 2020 go by without some amazing deals for my wonderful and valued customers... I've missed you all so much this year, but have loved the few shoots I was able to squeeze in between lockdowns and Home Education. With all the optimism I can muster for next year (I am naturally a pretty positive person) I am offering some spectacular deals on vouchers for my Hertford Studio and outdoor or on-location sessions next year (packages may be given as gifts, but please confirm preferred locations around Hertfordshire and some parts of London, Cambridgeshire and Essex with me before booking).