Why not buy an iPhone 15 Pro Max instead of a camera system costing more than 1500?

Just got back from a trip to Scotland. It was the first trip abroad that I have made without a camera. After using my iPhone 14 last summer, I decided it was fine for what I was going to photograph; family snapshots and some local snaps of the place. I knew I would not have time for dedicated, let's call it "serious" photography.

I am quite amazed at the output I get with the camera in my phone. It seems it does a lot of PP of its own choosing, as the pictures I took out of the plane window over London were very different to what I have achieved with my old phone or even camera.

I think my phone has probably replaced my LX100 for casual things, although you can get a lot more image quality out of the LX100 if you need it.

Can you see it now?

24mm-77mm equivalent is the issue for me, even for family shots on a trip.

Phone shot:

Camera shot:

I have similar examples where my full-frame fisheye was wide enough but a camera phone, even with a wide angle option, was not.

For the type of photography I’m referring to when I say the iPhone is well suited I’m most likely not going to be carrying a fisheye lens (though I do have a Moment Superfish for the phone) or a long telephoto. The only lens it needs to replace is a “35 Summicron”… or, in modern terms, the lens on my X100V.

The 35 Summicron took me across Europe, South and Central America, and was daily carry in NYC. I never found it wanting. If you can’t get a particular shot, look for another. ¯\(ツ)/¯

That attitude has never, ever worked for me since I picked up my first camera when I was 5 or bought my first SLR when I was 9. I don't want my gear to control my photography, I want my gear to serve the photography I want to do.

When I got my first SLR with 50mm, I got sick of it after a few days, and started saving for more lenses. I ended up buying a 28mm and a 70-210. Later, when I got a new camera, I got a 24-85 and a 75-300. That has expanded over the years to 8mm fisheye through 600mm, plus my telescope.

I simply don't tolerate inability to get the shot I want to get because the gear can't do it.