Camera Phones vs Digital Cameras

April 29th, 2007 | jchaager | commentary, photography, websites

I’ve been playing with digital photography for several years now, and I’ve really come to love my Canon Digital Rebel. It’s sharp. It’s fast. And it can take some stunning photographs. I’ve also got a Motorola camera phone. I’ve used it a few times, but the pictures it takes are so blurry and over compressed that I just can’t stand using it.

Now, along comes CNet UK with an article comparing 4 camera phones with a Canon Digital Rebel XTi. The article is superficial at best as the author takes two pictures of a scene with each phone, one in normal lighting and one in low lighting, with the camera’s set on Auto mode. From this, he decides that the camera phones are nearly as good as the Canon.

The whole premise of the article is suspect: Camera phones are just as good as a $1000 digital SLR. Anyone into photography knows that the key to a great photograph is in lighting, composition, and the right equipment. The composition of the photos is kind of unimportant to the point of the article. And since it is an equipment comparison, that isn’t a factor. But the lighting of the scene is so bad, that it makes all the camera’s look pretty bad.

I don’t think I’ll be looking to cNet for advise on my next camera purchase. It’s always best to go to a qualified site for advice, such as DPReview.