I currently have the Pixel 3 smartphone, which has a great camera (widely considered the best on a smartphone). Interested in automotive and landscape photography as a hobby and I'd like to shoot in raw and edit. Which I think the P&S will have an advantage in because of the bigger sensor and lens? Also optical zoom but not sure I need that.
Smartphone (Pixel 3) or ~$300 point and shoot camera (Sony RX100 or Ricoh GR)?
- Thread starter OldSkoolMillennial
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Me, I never zoom. I use my feet. IMO, no matter how great the cell cam is, and my S9+ is quite terrific as well, a decent P&S will be a massive improvement. Not just in quality, but in options. However, I would personally wait a bit and wait for the right DSLR deal to come your way. It took me no time at all to tire of my P&S because I wanted it to do other things. Things you need other lenses for.
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The other option I was looking at was mirrorless like Sony A6000 or Olympus EM10. I've seen a few around my price range. I wouldn't be committing to the full size of a DSLR.
I had a lot of fun with my Fuji super zoom point and shoot cameras over the years. They do give more control and much better zoom than than a cell phone. But the controls are not easy to use, usually buried in a menu and takes several button pushes. Also most point and shoots don't shot raw at least last time I was looking a point and shoot.
I think a small mirrorless is probably the better way to go. Both the ones you mentioned were contenders when I bought my last camera back in February. I went with the Panasonic GX85 and love it, probably would have been more than happy with either of the other two. The Panny just happened to be on sale bundled with the 45-150 lens, a spare battery, and a few other extras pretty much for free. I keep reading rumors that Micro 4/3 is dead or dying, but I really love mine. Picture quality is more than good enough for me and it's so much easier than lugging around a full sized camera and lenses. If the system really does die I guess I'll buy up some awesome used lenses for pennies on the dollar.
I think a small mirrorless is probably the better way to go. Both the ones you mentioned were contenders when I bought my last camera back in February. I went with the Panasonic GX85 and love it, probably would have been more than happy with either of the other two. The Panny just happened to be on sale bundled with the 45-150 lens, a spare battery, and a few other extras pretty much for free. I keep reading rumors that Micro 4/3 is dead or dying, but I really love mine. Picture quality is more than good enough for me and it's so much easier than lugging around a full sized camera and lenses. If the system really does die I guess I'll buy up some awesome used lenses for pennies on the dollar.
I have both an RX100 (III) and a Ricoh GR. I would put the image quality way above any cell phone. They are getting better all the time, but most of the advances seem to be using software to mimic dynamic range (HDR, etc). You are always going to be limited by the tiny sensor in a phone, and there in no getting around that.
If you can live without a zoom I highly recommend the GR. It is a great little camera with an excellent lens.
If you can live without a zoom I highly recommend the GR. It is a great little camera with an excellent lens.
Sensor size won't make a tremendous amount of difference, honestly.
The main difference will be the colour fidelity of the sensor; that is, the amount of information it can accurately capture.
RAW is a must if you want to go above and beyond smartphone(though many now offer the option to shoot in RAW) but I'd suggest you save up and get a DSLR.
The Canon Rebel T6i is a very solid enthusiast-level camera with the added bonus of being able to upgrade and swap out lenses. It's 24 megapixels as well which, I find, is nice to have(a good amount of megapixels) as it lets you crop and retain a lot more detail. Especially for automotive, if you want to capture A LOT of detail, higher megapixels will be a huge bonus.
I think you can get a T6i with an 18-55mm kit lens for about $600.
Cameras are definitely something I'd advocate buying right the first time. I started on the T6i before moving on to the 5D Mark IV, but I still use my T6i.
The main difference will be the colour fidelity of the sensor; that is, the amount of information it can accurately capture.
RAW is a must if you want to go above and beyond smartphone(though many now offer the option to shoot in RAW) but I'd suggest you save up and get a DSLR.
The Canon Rebel T6i is a very solid enthusiast-level camera with the added bonus of being able to upgrade and swap out lenses. It's 24 megapixels as well which, I find, is nice to have(a good amount of megapixels) as it lets you crop and retain a lot more detail. Especially for automotive, if you want to capture A LOT of detail, higher megapixels will be a huge bonus.
I think you can get a T6i with an 18-55mm kit lens for about $600.
Cameras are definitely something I'd advocate buying right the first time. I started on the T6i before moving on to the 5D Mark IV, but I still use my T6i.
Personally I would enjoy and experiment with the pixel 3 for a while before getting a second camera. You could install the Open Camera App to get more controls or shoot in raw.
I have a Pixel 2 and enjoy the simplicity of the controls and cloud backup. Night Sight is a nice feature/capability as well. Their software is getting a lot out of the hardware.
I have a Pixel 2 and enjoy the simplicity of the controls and cloud backup. Night Sight is a nice feature/capability as well. Their software is getting a lot out of the hardware.
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Thank you for the advice. It's currently the strategy while I wait for a sale on the Olympus EM10 MK2 mirrorless camera.
I have mixed feelings on Night Sight. It's impressive what they've done with software but it's not always true to the eye.
Here is a Night Sight photo I took over the Christmas holiday with my Pixel 2. There was an electrical storm which cut off power. As you can see this photo is being lit by a single candle. Much more detail and color is captured when compared to the naked eye. Another person took a photo of the same scene with a Samsung Note 9 that had a similar camera feature. The Note image was brighter but the color was not as nearly as true and there was not as much detail in areas like the tea cups and China wear.
I resized the photo to 1024x768 and saved at a quality of 80 (out of 100) using the Android Photo Editor App, so some of the detail is lost but gives the general idea.
I resized the photo to 1024x768 and saved at a quality of 80 (out of 100) using the Android Photo Editor App, so some of the detail is lost but gives the general idea.
I am pretty sure Night Sight just bumps the ISO. Which is fine, but if you want it for simply more than capturing a moment primarily and quality as a secondary then that's great, but for quality it isn't great.
I trust it allows you to take manual control over exposure anyway like most modern phones.
I trust it allows you to take manual control over exposure anyway like most modern phones.
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Actually more complicated than simply bumping the iso.
Google AI Blog: Night Sight: Seeing in the Dark on Pixel Phones
Sir Millennial, given your stated subject interests, I would definitely suggest the separate P&S camera, if only for one reason...that being, the ability to conveniently tripod mount the camera and use a remote trigger of some sort!!
Especially shooting your cars, getting angles, perspectives, lighting tweaks, etc. are all painstaking and shooting handheld is difficult. Similar story for landscapes. Certainly there are devices to mount the cell phone, and indeed the Pixel has an impressive camera, but tripod shooting is not nearly as easy and you're sure to get interrupted with phone calls!
Especially shooting your cars, getting angles, perspectives, lighting tweaks, etc. are all painstaking and shooting handheld is difficult. Similar story for landscapes. Certainly there are devices to mount the cell phone, and indeed the Pixel has an impressive camera, but tripod shooting is not nearly as easy and you're sure to get interrupted with phone calls!
