In praise of the cell phone.

Sometimes a dedicated camera is not the right choice, and I do not have a camera with me constantly. Now that I have a choice of focal lengths on my iPhone, I find it much more useful. Things like this little set are much easier to do without getting noticed, with a cell phone. I always have it with me, so I can catch the unexpected. The quality is not bad too. Fine for internet, and I do not think I will ever make a huge print of this demo, that I came across by chance, whilst out shopping.

Or maybe this crop.

I wondered why one of the protesters, wanted to keep the church out of her panties.

With today's modern cameras just about any digital camera can output at least decent looking images, especially in good light.

Personally I use my phone camera to take snapshots when I have no other option.

Especially when needing different types of flash (bounce, fill, off-camera etc) I prefer to use my dslr.

Most people choose to use a phone camera as their main and/or only camera and that is fine as it is their choice to make if the phone camera gives them the image quality that meets their needs.

When I see professional photographers turning up to weddings and major sporting or other events with just a phone camera in hand then I will consider taking them more seriously.

The pictures my family like most, are the pictures of my cat. My phone camera is great when I catch the cat doing something interesting. I can post funny ones to my son to make him laugh, almost in real time.

A phone camera is great for those everyday moments, that we might like to share.

Or when I was out on site, on a farm, and sent a picture of a new friend to my wife.

I doubt anyone would disagree, especially when no other camera is an option at the time.

In 2023, the total number of cameras shipped worldwide had decreased to less than 8 million units (*).

In 2023, the total number of smartphones shipped worldwide had increased to over 1100 million units. Yep, more than one billion.
That's ~150 smartphones vs. one traditional camera.

(*) compared to over 110 million cameras in 2011