Hacker News Reader

Comment by samastur | Hacker News Reader

Of course you can for best of category products. Most people just don't care about the difference.

Perhaps if you have the 'same' image shot with different cameras side by side you could point out some minor differences. Sure. But if I showed you (or anyone) a shot with no context and background information you wouldn't have a clue. And that's a good thing. Equipment shouldn't matter, and now the playing field is more level than ever.

I think the thing to remember is that modern DSLRs are going to continue to produce decent images across challenging lighting conditions. A DSLR buys you more usable shots to select from later.

You are correct, On a sunny day both types of device will produce similar looking 1000 pixel wide web-ready exterior landscape shots. Now take them into a dark cathedral with high stained-glass windows, try for a quick portrait of a priest walking by holding a candle, and the DSLR will still get the shot, and it will look great. Smartphones cannot do this...yet.

That's not been my experience...

I shoot pics of my kid with a $3500 35mm dSLR and constantly save pictures to my phone. Whenever I show people the pics on my phone, they almost immediately say how amazing the photos are and ask what kind of phone this is.

I'm not some distinguished photographer, but with the right camera and lens, the color, contrast, bokeh, light, some minimal composition (not in that order) all come together very nicely.

Same holds true for video as well.

My point is, this comes up again and again, without any context that the pics weren't taken with the phone.

It's not the $3500 35mm dDSL but the better lens. Cheap lenses on 35mm look worse than an iPhone X. People see shallow DoF, creamy bokeh or flat faces (taken with 85mm++ lenses) and wonder why they didn't see this on other phones. So they ask about the phone.

"Same holds true for video as well."

Which is the reason everyone seems to shoot with a GH5S and no longer with 5DMXs.

You're absolutely right... I was just trying to keep my comment short, and saying $3500 implied a similar level lens as well.

Also, and I think we agree on this, "better lens" doesn't need to mean "expensive", I can get very similar results from a cheap 40mm f/2.8 vs. and a 10x cost 50mm f/1.2 when the lighting is difficult and I can use a very high ISO.

As for the video part of your comment, let's agree to disagree.

I was trying to say that I get people commenting on how good my videos are because they're used to seeing video shot on mobile phones.

However, I'll take Canon color and 1.74x crop 4k over a 2x crop any day...shit 500mbps Canon codec be dammed.

My post was in response to someone comparing APSC and Full Frame cameras and that's what I was comparing.

I'm totally aware of the difference in quality between a decent camera and a phone.

My bad... I misread this thread on my phone.

An APS-C camera in capable hands is just as good as full frame.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com