Cameras are still an essential tool but we see less and less of them. This is not because they have lost their purpose but because people have lost their interest in carrying another tool to take a picture when their smartphones have a camera ! Here are the viable and legitimate reasons that you still need to carry an actual camera !
Cameras Have Optical Zoom
The first of the reasons why you still need a real camera is because they have optical zoom. Optical zoom is when the actual glass on the lens moves in and out to zoom in when taking a picture. This results in getting the full image quality that the camera is capable of. Digital zoom is the process that smartphones use to zoom in on a subject. Digital zoom simply crops the image to make it appear as if it is zooming in. The more you digitally zoom, the lower the megapixels you are using. It works the exact same way as when you are in your camera roll and you pinch outward to zoom in on a subject. This is why digital zoom looks fuzzy and bad quality.
So by having an actual camera with optical zoom, you can zoom as far as your lens allows and still shoot at the exact megapixels and specs that the camera is able to.
Sensor Size and Megapixels
The second reason why you still need a real camera has to do with sensor size and megapixels. Sensor size and megapixels work together to give you image quality. The camera sensor is a flat rectangle usually 35mm, which is considered to be full frame. The Sensor holds millions of pixels which are referred to as megapixels. 1 megapixel is equal to 1 million pixels, so 26 megapixels refers to 26 million individual pixels on the camera sensor. Since the camera on a smartphone is so small, the camera sensor is also very very small.
The result of this is two things: 1. You cannot fit as many pixels on the sensor because it is so small. 2. Each pixel is very very small. Smartphones have gotten very very good at fitting more and more pixels onto their tiny sensors but they are able to achieve this by making each pixel smaller and smaller. Smaller pixels cannot absorb as much light which has a string of affects on your photography. The two most important affects include needing longer shutter speeds in order to get adequate exposure, very bad low-light performance. And longer shutter speeds of course lead to blurriness.
Having an actual camera solves all of these issues by having a much larger sensor with adequately sized pixels, that can absorb more light, allow you a faster shutter speed, and perform much better in low light situations.
Manual Mode and other modes
The third reason why you still need a real camera is for Manual Mode and other modes. Smartphones do not allow you to control anything about your image other than zoom. They may offer you the ability to control artificial brightness but the rest is purely automatic. Automatic is great and the most convenient option for quick point and shoot moments like when your dog is doing something silly or you just need photo evidence of a fender bender. But other than little things like that, having no camera modes hinders your ability to make pictures look actually good.
An actual camera, even film cameras from the 70s have camera modes such as Manual, shutter priority, and Aperture priority. Nowadays, most all cameras have these three modes and others for certain situations like for shooting sports, animal life, night skies, and landscapes. But Manual mode specifically is the main difference between real cameras and smartphone cameras.
All modes (other than manual mode ) control 3 and sometimes 4 or 5 things: Iso, Shutter Speed, Aperture, and sometimes zoom/focus. But in Manual mode, you control everything yourself and you have full control over the outcome of the image. This gives you the artistic ability to do whatever you want with the image. It also allows you to shoot in any and every situation and be able to get a good quality picture. Being able to control Iso, Shutter speed, and Aperture opens up an entirely new world to photography that you cannot get from just your smart phone.
Auto filter on Smartphones
The fourth reason why you still need a real camera is to get away from the auto filter on smart phones. Smart phones use auto filters to artificially sharpen images. This is the reason why you take a picture of people on your smartphone and the outcome in your camera roll looks way different than it did when you were actually taking the picture. This is a feature that cannot be shut off and can only be remedied with editing after the picture is taken. This is why smartphones tend to make skin look extremely worse than it is to the naked eye. The sharpening filter shows every wrinkle, shadow, and blemish on faces because the smartphone is trying to show the image in greater detail than it is able to achieve.
Actual cameras show images in their true RAW form in real detail that doesn’t require any auto filter to help the picture. However, there are many preset filters you can use to sharpen images or to make images appear as if they were taken with a film camera with an actual camera. This is a pro because you are able to control when you use these filters and when you don’t.
Artistic Ability and Bokeh
The fifth reason why you still need a real camera is for artistic ability and Bokeh. This was briefly mentioned a few times already but it’s worth saying that an actual camera really give you the keys to the kingdom when it comes to photography. The ability to drastically change the outcome of an image through manual mode is truly what makes the difference. Also the ability to get a true Bokeh effect can only be achieved with an actual camera. Bokeh is when the subject of your image is in perfect focus and everything else is slightly but tastefully blurry. This is how the human eye sees the world. So Bokeh is naturally a very pleasing thing to look at. But on a smartphone you can barely control where the camera is focusing. And due to the immobile lens on smartphones, you cannot achieve the depth of field necessary to achieve a bokeh effect.
Screen Time
The sixth reason why you still need a real camera is to lower your screen time and be more present in the moment. Our entire lives are on our smartphones. Work, social media, entertainment, games, email, texts, calls, etc. Our phones are flooded with things to do and things that need to be done. Every time you pull out your phone to take a picture, it is never ever just a picture. It’s a picture and then you go to snapchat or to check your emails etc.
An actual camera only does one thing, it captures moments. Taking pictures on an actual camera allows you to be more present in the moment by making you focus only on the moment itself.
Shoot more
The seventh reason why you need a real camera is because it encourages you to shoot more ! Cameras encourage you to shoot more. It’s simple. When you carry a camera on your neck or on your wrist it makes you see the world in a different way and makes you want to capture more moments. If you enjoy taking pictures recreationally or even if you aspire to have a career in photography, carrying a camera will cause you to get way more reps in. And more practice directly translates to how good your images turn out to be.
Cameras Look Cool
And lastly, we cannot ignore the massive elephant in the room. The eighth reason you still need a real camera is because they just look so cool. Cameras can be so beautiful and look so good around your neck or on your wrist. If you can appreciate quality craftsmanship and machinery, then you’d definitely love the way cameras look. Personally I love the look classic compact cameras both film and digital like the Leica M6, the Canon A1, and all of the fuji X series.
Stay tuned to see why you should shoot on Film cameras instead of Digital cameras !