What do I do for fun you ask? I compare cameras 📷 Yes, I’m such a nerd😆 To be more specific I like to take the same photo with different camera models. My perhaps unrealistic goal is to one day find a small camera that can produce (or outperform) the results I get with my big and heavy Canon DSLR camera. I haven’t found it yet but I’m having fun getting a little closer and testing different options.
Lately, I have been playing with the iPhone camera as well as a small compact “point and shoot” camera. I thought it would be fun to show you the results because maybe you also have a secret dream to one day replace your heavy camera with something much lighter.
I love to capture everyday life; little details of nature, what’s blooming in the garden, what naughty things my dogs are up to, changes I make in the home, and beautiful views I spot on my walks. It keeps my creative mind fresh to have these small projects that I shoot just for me and not for my professional work.
But I don’t want to carry my heavy Canon DSLR with me for those daily snapshots. It’s too much. Not only is it heavy to carry (about 1,5 kg with a big lens), it also draws attention because of the size. Not to mention that I often have the dogs with me on my photo walks and trying to tackle them and shoot with the big camera is almost impossible without help.
So mostly, I just use my iPhone camera, which works well for those quick snaps. But lately, I’ve been thinking “what if I can find a tiny camera that is super lightweight, perhaps smaller than my hand, that takes incredible photos and then easily transfer the photos to my phone”? Then I can have higher quality photos, that fits my style + taste better but without the time-consuming workflow of working with a DSLR.
I don’t want to feel like I’m working as a professional photographer when I take photos for fun. I want the workflow be to be hassle-free, super simple and creative!
So I started playing around with different types of cameras, to explore how close I can get to the photos that comes out of my Canon EOS 5D Mark IV. Are the photos similar in quality or very different? Absolutely! But with some creative editing it’s possible to get very close to a decent result.
Comparing Image Quality: DSLR vs Compact Camera vs iPhone
The 3 photos above are captured with Canon Eos 5D Mark IV and edited on the computer with Lightroom. Three things which are so hard to beat with this camera is its ability to produce amazing colors, perfect white balance and the delicious softness + depth.
The next three photos are taken with Canon PowerShot G7 X Mark III compact camera and edited on iPhone with the VSCO app. This camera is a great camera for the price. I originally bought it for video production and only just recently started testing it for photos. It’s super tiny. Smaller than my hand and weighs 300 gram.
I’ve started carrying it with me everywhere, along with my iPhone. It doesn’t take up much space in my small handbag, and I can also easily fit it into my jacket pocket. It’s doesn’t draw attention when I shot out and about where there’s other people.
The softness and depth is actually not bad with this camera, because it goes all the way to f/1.8. But for still life and food photos I personally find that it distort the things in the scene a little and make them look smaller. For the larger scenes like travel, interior and landscape it does do a really good job though.
The last three photos are from iPhone 11 Pro max. Shot with the portrait mode feature and edited with the apps Snapseed and VSCO.
The portrait mode feature help create blur and depth of field. It’s doesn’t always look good, often more fake. But if you’re lucky to find the right angle and distance it can make a huge difference and give you a beautiful photo.
I find, that in order to get an iPhone image that look similar to an image taken with a dslr I have to use 2 or 3 different editing apps. I tend to play around until I find something that come close.
I really like the Snapseed app for the brush feature because I can paint light and shadow in specific areas of the image or reduce or boost saturation on an item.
I’m not a huge fan of the Snapseed app presets though. So for presets I will often use VSCO for the dark and moody look and the VN editor for more bright and airy look.
Alright, so what’s my verdict of these images when I compare them? From a professional point of view I would say they are all good. If you saw just of them in a magazine, without the opportunity to compare, you would properly not know what camera they were taken with. Am I right?
That being said, when you compare them and see the photos lined up together, and you look closely, you begin to SEE that they are different – it’s all in the details. The dslr photos take the first price for best depth of field, softness, white balance, texture and sharpness. But, to be honest; it’s a close call, and I find that to be absolutely fantastic news!
I can’t wait to test other cameras and see how close I can get to a dslr photo. Next, I’m planning on testing an older digital Fujifilm camera. More specifically the Fujifilm X-M1 mirrorless from 2013. So this camera have been in my cabinet for 10 years. It will be so much fun to dust it off and test it!
And I just ordered a Sony RX100 Mark 7, a small compact camera. A high performance camera with all the new technology. So stay tuned for more comparison projects, if you’re curious to see the outcome.
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