The difference is photo quality between camera types is huge! Last week I talked about the three most common camera types. Smartphone cameras have fairly low resolution which is the megapixels per photo while a DSLR camera has a high resolution. What does this mean for your photos? If you are not going to crop your photos or blow them up, it isn’t as big of a deal. On the other hand, if you plan to print, or enlarge your photos, low pixel counts make for grainy photos. Olivia is modeling for me so you can see the difference in pixels, especially with her in action, running.
Let’s start with a smartphone photo. Most smart photos have a resolution of around 70, up to 150. Smartphones don’t have many lens options either. Zoom is an option but it is not the same as a telephoto lens. Above is a smartphone photo in normal photo mode. When editing the photos, I am only cropping, nothing for color or other edits.
Since I would like to see a closer shot of Olivia, I use my photo editing software to crop the photo. Here is Olivia close up, but notice how grainy she is. A photo should be crisp but there are not enough pixels in a smartphone shot to crop and still have a really nice photo.
Next up we are using our point and shoot camera. Once again, Olivia is running at me as I shoot her photo. The photo isn’t bad when Olivia is so small and in the distance. Trying to use the zoom on the point and shoot doesn’t work very well because my target is moving too fast.
The photo quality once again suffers when I go in and crop it. First of all, I think Olivia’s ears turned into horns, LOL! After the crop, anyone can make out the dog and the ears in the photo, but once again the image is blurry and not at all crisp. Our point and shoot has twice the pixels as our smartphone camera, but still not enough for good cropping.
My final example is the DSLR. Knowing Olivia is running, I use my telephoto lens with the correct manual settings to capture motion. Please ignore Bailie as my settings have her a bit blurry on purpose. She was not supposed to be in the photo but she showed up.
Now I have cropped this photo and Olivia is looking pretty good. Bailie is totally gone, and you can see Olivia’s furs looking pretty crisp and clear.
The resolution makes a big difference in photo quality especially if you need a photo to be larger. For social media, phone photo resolution doesn’t matter all that much, but most action shots will still appear a bit blurry. Next week I’m going to give you some simple tips to get started using a DSLR camera if you are interested in giving it a try.
My GBGV Life is happy, so we’re joining Comedy Plus for Happy Tuesday!
Excellent demonstration. If i ever get into phtography, i’ll get a good camera and lessons!
Lessons or even just one class is quite helpful.
We have all 3 types of cameras. My mom does not understand that big camera at all. Maybe she will learn something. Thank you for your teaching lesson. XOXO Sparkle
It takes work to learn how to use the fancy camera, but once you start to catch on, it is fun and the photos are so much better.
Your mom takes great shots. I’m terrible with any camera.
I love that hat. Very smart looking.
Thank you for joining the Happy Tuesday Blog Hop.
Have a fabulous Happy Tuesday. Scritches all around and my best to your mom. ♥
Since I’m a French Scent Hound, a beret is quite fitting I think 😉
Another wonderful expose on cameras! Waiting for the DSLR info next week. I’m glad to see that you have taken to helping people learn about taking pics! We need you, Madison!!!
People are always asking how to take better photos, so I thought I’d try to help out a bit.
I have lots of cameras- but no phones thank you very much! Have a great day!
That is probably a good thing!
Awesome shots. I have seen a big-time difference between a quality old camera of mine and a higher end, quite brilliant current camera.
Ryan
Mom wishes she still had a film camera to toy around with. Cameras are amazing but they are only as good as the one using them when it comes down to it.
Mom is a woos when it comes to learning new technology. Your photos are wonderful!
Thank you. Mom had a tough time figuring it all out, but a class helped and baby steps did too.
We have a point and shoot camera, a camera on the phone (and a tablet) that isn’t used much and SLR cameras (yes, FILM) that haven’t been used in ages. Maybe it’s time to get them out and look at them!
Mom would love a film camera just for fun, but we don’t have one around here.
You can really see the difference.
Many people don’t see why good photos don’t come from their phones, but there really is a difference.
All I can say is I wish I had taken more pix of Bogie with my point-n-shoot instead of just the phone. 😔
We are still so sad about what happened. Mom has so many photos of us all, but there are never enough once we are gone.
Great examples!!
Thank you. Your mom is pretty good at taking photos, so you guys are lucky.
Those are all terrific photos, love those flying ears!
Olivia’s ears were born to fly!
The new IPhone 13 has a better than average camera; works great for online photo posting. But you’re so right about a regular DSLR when you want enlargements, or to print (300 px) … as I work in Adobe Creative Cloud with many photos; believe in distance shooting
often, then a tighter crop of the original photo to get a “close up”, if 180-300 px it will be sharp. I think one issue often is many shoot
too close up to begin with and leave no room for cropping or adjustment. Your advice is great … and your photos always great. (the
phone advantage is immediacy)
Thank you. We use our phone more than we like because it is always there and easier to haul around than a big camera. Many people these days don’t know the difference and claim their phone is just as good, but technically it is not. It all depends on the kind of photos you want and need.
This is a very good comparison. A DSLR is always better compared to a mobile phone camera. I’ve experienced these grainy issues when used mobile phone. Thanks for sharing and hosting this link up.
Amila – leisureandme.com
We use our phone a lot on social media and it is alright but nothing like using the big camera.
More recenly I’ve been using my phone rather than my cumbersome camera, a decent one though, and along with my editing suite I’ve not been disappointed!
We are usually disappointed if we wanted a really nice photo, but for social media our phone does a fair job.
I LOVE your photos! my degree is in fine art and you would think that with all that training, I should be able to take a good photo, but I can’t seem to get the composition right, your photos are always so well composed and balanced. Thanks for showing the differences in the cameras!
Thank you. Art has many forms and some people just naturally do things while others struggle. Mom loves taking photos, it has been her thing since she was little.