Probably not anytime soon, but the quality gap is closing and the lightweight and compact phone sure is convenient.
We use tripod-mounted high-resolution cameras when photographing for Iris Arts. The cell phone is useful for occasional video content and to assist in composition. But the computational photography of the cell phone is so good (especially HDR) that it can give us a good idea of what the final photograph should look like.
The modern cell phone is an especially competent image-maker, especially in difficult lighting conditions. My iPhone X, for example, has more than enough pixels to make a very satisfactory 13X17 inch print. That might not be good enough (yet) for the large prints preferred by hospitals and hotels, but soon?
Recent experience: tripod-mounted Nikon and hand held cell phone at dusk
Recently, Nancy and I were out photographing at at local beach on the Salish Sea at sunset. The conditions looked promising for a colorful sunset—scattered, scalloped clouds, and a break in the cloud bank near the horizon to let the setting sun peek through. We expected the clouds to turn a brilliant red, but instead, the clouds remained dark and the sea turned a copper-red.
The light was very contrasty. It was extremely bright near the sun at the horizon and got very dark in the blue-gray clouds. In other words, the dynamic range was great—something that would make a harsh photo—too bright without detail in some places, too dark without detail in others,
The RAW file from the tripod-mounted Nikon camera. Photo: © Donald J. Rommes
I started photographing the scene with my Nikon—a full-frame camera capable of capturing images with a huge dynamic range. I knew I would need to work on the photo in Photoshop® to get the right balance of light and dark, but I was used to that. Eventually, it got very dark, the sun had set, and while a brilliant scarlet glow on the horizon illuminated a portion of the sea, the clouds and sky remained very dark. That's when I pulled out the cell phone.
The same file as above, processed in Photoshop® to control the brightness near the sun and bring out detail and local contrast in the scalloped clouds in the lower right. The upper part of the image was also lightened somewhat and the saturation of the orange sea was reduced to make it more believable to those who weren't there. This photo is from a big file and can be enlarged to make large prints. Photo: © Donald J. Rommes
Similar composition to the photo above, also with a tripod-mounted Nikon, but taken slightly earlier and made by merging two side-by-side images. This is the RAW file, processed only for color balance. Photo: © Donald J. Rommes
Same image as above, processed in Photoshop®. Since this is a photo made from two (overlapping) side-by-side images, the file size is even greater than the already-large 47MP Nikon file and is capable of making a very big print. Photo: © Donald J. Rommes
The cell phone comes out at last light
After the photos above were made, the light dropped much further and the color was almost gone from the sky. A bright band of crimson/orange remained where the sun had set and this color illuminated the sea, but not the underside of the clouds. I made another exposure with my tripod-mounted Nikon, but I felt the contrast was probably too great to make a good photo and there was not enough color in the clouds.
I did want a reminder of that crimson moment though, so I pulled out my cell phone and took a couple of hand held shots. The results are remarkable given the conditions.
The RAW image from the Nikon exposed at 1/4 second at f10 and ISO100. Detail is recoverable in the deep shadows, but this unprocessed image is shown to give the viewer an understanding of just how dark and contrasty the scene was. Photo: © Donald J. Rommes
Same general scene as above, but taken a bit later with the cell phone—hand-held. The cell phone has done a remarkable job of balancing the highlights and shadows in the camera and rendering a sharp image in very low light. Photo: © Donald J. Rommes
The cell phone image above has problems that will become increasingly evident with enlargement, but it was done hand held in the near-dark. A print made from the phone can only be enlarged so much before there's a real loss of quality, but I bet most people would find the results acceptable at moderate enlargement—especially if a tripod was used. If we at Iris Arts could use only our cell phones and ditch our tripods, just think of how light our packs would be on the trail!
Cell phone photo from above with some minor processing in Photoshop®. Photo: © Donald J. Rommes
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