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iPhone 6S camera vs professional DSLR

I7guy said:
I disagree about your point. You don't need raw to understand the art of photography and take a great composition using the rule of two-thirds, etc. Sure you're limited by the tools, but a photographer can capture a great snap that tells a story no matter what equipment. Without raw if you want to take the photograph to the next level, then the tools are limited by the format. I'm a photographer myself with the big bulky camera and lots of lenses, pro-flash and the like. The art of photography is separate and distinct from the tools of photography. Anyway, this is another discussion that will clearly side-track what the OP has tried to do. :)
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Well, when you put it that way. You do have a valid point. It's only that I love and prefer working with RAW files; however, should someone want to understand composition and practice. Using their iPhone is a great start!
 
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Great comparison OP. Obviously the SLR gives cleaner images but the iPhone is at a point now where a regular point & click digital camera is redundant (optical zoom aside).

I'm a photographer and I totally agree with I7guy - the art of photography and the science of photography are 2 very different things. Any camera offers the opportunity to practice the art of photography.
 
The workflow is actually the thing I love most about the iPhone for casual use.

In order to preserve maximum quality for post-processing pictures straight out of a DSLR looks ugly until they are processed. When I am travelling I can't to share them until I am at home and process them in Lightroom. We are in the age of social networks. Sometimes, it is frustrating to know that I have a good material on my memory card, but can't show it to anyone before spending time on them.

Once they are post-processed there is a problem of presenting them. Nowadays, most people don't print their photos any more. We all want to access pictures from anywhere and share them. Now there is a problem what to do with processed DSLR pictures. Shall import them back to my Photos catalogue (which won't work the same way, there is no location or time info)?, or shall I use Lightroom mobile for presenting them (which is nowhere as good as Photos on iPhone) or shall I upload them to Flickr? I really miss easiness of use of iPhone where everything stays in the camera roll and is automatically organised in collections, synced across devices, backed up, if i do a change the change is instantly available everywhere, etc.

I really wish there was a professional DSLR with iOS inside :)
 
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mpe said:
In order to preserve maximum quality for post-processing pictures straight out of a DSLR looks ugly until they are processed. When I am travelling I can't to share them until I am at home and process them in Lightroom.
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You could always shoot RAW + JPEG and share the jpeg.

mpe said:
Now there is a problem what to do with processed DSLR pictures. Shall import them back to my Photos catalogue (which won't work the same way, there is no location or time info)?, or shall I use Lightroom mobile for presenting them (which is nowhere as good as Photos on iPhone) or shall I upload them to Flickr?
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You could check out Houdahgeo: it will GPS tag your original files so they retain the info when imported into Lightroom, Photos or wherever. It also does sidecar files, but I've never used that. AFAIK the time stamp is a part of the file metadata too, so won't that be preserved anyway?

re: the main topic of the thread, I think it's pretty amazing that we can make any sort of comparison at all between a phone camera and a SLR. The iPhone camera isn't perfect by any means and the SLR still wins overall, but think about where we were in 2006: things have come a long way.
 
Nice test! I'd co-sign on a few of the things pointed out by others in the thread though, namely depth of field and dynamic range. Also, the fact that you can push the NEF files a gazillion times more than the JPG's out of an iPhone (or any smartphone really). But still, well executed test, and your point is certainly spot on, that for social media sharing, assuming there's a good amount of light available, the 6S does just fine.
 
mpe said:
The workflow is actually the thing I love most about the iPhone for casual use.

In order to preserve maximum quality for post-processing pictures straight out of a DSLR looks ugly until they are processed. When I am travelling I can't to share them until I am at home and process them in Lightroom. We are in the age of social networks. Sometimes, it is frustrating to know that I have a good material on my memory card, but can't show it to anyone before spending time on them.

Once they are post-processed there is a problem of presenting them. Nowadays, most people don't print their photos any more. We all want to access pictures from anywhere and share them. Now there is a problem what to do with processed DSLR pictures. Shall import them back to my Photos catalogue (which won't work the same way, there is no location or time info)?, or shall I use Lightroom mobile for presenting them (which is nowhere as good as Photos on iPhone) or shall I upload them to Flickr? I really miss easiness of use of iPhone where everything stays in the camera roll and is automatically organised in collections, synced across devices, backed up, if i do a change the change is instantly available everywhere, etc.

I really wish there was a professional DSLR with iOS inside :)
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This! When I took photos of the supermoon a couple weeks ago, people had loaded social media with phone photos, but I couldn't post mine until the next afternoon once I had time to edit them, and felt like I missed on the best time to share my photos.
 
A pretty sweet test. Thanks OP!

My iPhnoe 6s won't be replacing my D800E, but the comparison the OP provided proves how far cell phone cameras have come.
 
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Love the comparisons between the photos, great slider on the site and I agree a lot of the iPhone photos are more crisp than the DSLR, but they eventually lose out to the DSLR on other photos. Gives me hope I can become a novice photographer on my iPhone.
 
mpe said:
I've done a crazy thing and took a few test shoots with my 6S against my professional Nikon DSLR (Nikon D800 and 28mm f/1.8G prime lens)

My take is that the 6S is surprisingly good at 2k resolution. So if all you need is electronic viewing/sharing, there is a very little actual difference. Obviously, the D800 is much better given by resolution and dynamic range of the sensor, flexibility, you can put more lenses on it, better controls, etc. I wouldn't even dare to do any testing in low-light as there would be no competition. On the other hand iPhone is easier to use and I love its workflow.

test is here:
goo.gl/F6oTM1

Enjoy
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it's incredible, thanks for sharing, iphone camera is really good but it always depends on the conditions of light, i mean, with good light iphone goes ok but with few light the nikon and and its lenses are really better
 
Nice work OP! It's good to see how decent my phones camera can be, with more practise.

Some really nice photos, looks like a really nice place to be.
 
This is a bit misleading. Your pictures are not of the type that would require the capabilities of a DSLR (except for maybe in the church). Its not a new concept that point and shoot cameras as well as modern smartphones can take "snapshot" type pictures very well. The marginal benefit of a DSLR in these cases to me is not worth carting around a DSLR kit. And as evident in your samples, "out of the camera" DSLR images are often not as attractive to the eye as point and shoot or smartphone pics. Most DSLRs expect some post processing to be done, and don't look as well until that is done.

I use my DSLRs when I'm doing action sports, wildlife, low lighting, wide or long, creative, and when I need external lighting. This is why I bought them.

The best camera is the one you have with you, and for that the iPhone is brilliant since its image quality is very good and I always have it with me, but I would never try and say its equivalent to my Canon kit (5D3, 7D2, and a lot of L glass).
 
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