The evolution of phone cameras. Are DSLRs still worth the money

There was a time when you had to invest a small fortune just to be able to take a decent photo. Few were the people who could afford a quality camera. Important events were immortalized by paid professionals, there were films to develop and days to go by until your photos were ready. Then DSLRs came into the picture. Digital single lens reflex cameras revolutionized photography, with their interchangeable lenses, high-quality images, battery life and overall versatility.

But technology evolves at a staggering pace. Now we are talking about smartphone cameras with 4K video capabilities, phones with dual lenses and the ability to take a snapshot and instantly share it with the whole world. There is an insane megapixel race and everyone is trying to come up with more complex and appealing features. So why would anyone spend a considerable amount of money on a DSLR camera, which also involves a lot of maintenance and additional purchases to be made, when they can obtain almost the same results with a camera attached to a device that does so much more and for significantly less money? The cameras industry has indeed been affected by this smartphone boom we are witnessing for quite some years now. The ones to suffer the most were manufacturers of point-and-shoot cameras, which continue to decrease in popularity. Even the big players on the DSLR market, such as Canon or Nikon, have experienced a drop in sales.   

The advantages of smartphone cameras are indisputable: they are more affordable, they are way more convenient, because they can fit I your pocket and you can take them anywhere with you, you have a large phone screen at your disposal to playback your videos or watch your photos right after you shoot/take them and you can edit them and share them almost instantly.  But even so, for the true photo enthusiasts and professionals, the amazing world of DSLRs is not in danger of extinction. No matter how great smartphone cameras are, DSLRs still have some unquestionable advantages over them:

• The image quality is still better with a DSLR than with a smartphone camera, regardless of the insane number of megapixels advertised by the smartphone manufacturer. The fixed lens of the smartphone camera, without the option to change your focal length is frustrating and translates into a narrower field of view. The ISO settings, dynamic range and other controls are still pretty standard with all smartphone cameras and can’t compete with the complex settings of a high-end DSLR.
• The autofocus is still inferior in smartphone cameras, compared to DSLRs. Even though phone cameras are getting better every year, they are still struggling when it comes to autofocus and they have an annoying shutter lag
• The image sensor is way smaller in phone cameras, which is an obvious drawback compared to DSLRs. Even though the average consumer is not really preoccupied with the image sensor size, as long as the camera packs as many megapixels as possible, that size is important because it also affects the ISO performance, the dynamic range, the resolution, or in other words, the overall image quality
• The interchangeable lenses will always be an important advantage DSLRs have over phone cameras. You can’t expect a single lens to be able to perform equally in every scenario, so being able to choose the right type of lens for the job is crucial for a high quality image. A smartphone limits you the same fixed lens, regardless of the conditions, light and so on
• Battery life has always been an issue with smartphones. The smarter the phone, the bigger the screen and the resolution, the worse the battery life. It is very hard to find a smartphone that can get you through more than a day of use, whereas a DSLR camera, even an average one, can get you through even more than 1000 picture on a charge. The battery in smartphones is also drained from the constant use of apps, social media, texting and so on, so it is only normal to run out of juice faster.