iPhones, DSLRs And Mirrorless Cameras

iPhones, DSLRs And Mirrorless Cameras

by William Lulow

I finally had an opportunity to hold the new Canon R5 Mirrorless camera and see its details more closely. It is substantially more money than my current Canon DSLRs cost, and it is a bit smaller. But with no prism in the viewfinder, it felt more like I was looking at the groundglass of one of my former view cameras. The viewfinder image was a bit larger and clearer than my DSLRs. This allows for more edge-to-edge examination in the camera itself. Mirrorless cameras have what is called an “electronic viewfinder” (as opposed to an optical one). This is why they don’t need a bulky penta-prism on top to make the image viewable right side up and adjusted for left-to-right viewing. In mirrorless cameras, it is all done electronically. So the camera body is smaller, easier to carry and much more quiet when it makes the exposure. Are they the ultimate answer for photographers? It depends on the kinds of images you make, how carefully you make them and whether you use your equipment professionally or just because you enjoy it.

All this being said, I must say that I am thrilled with my new Apple iPhone 13 Pro and its built-in camera. It’s got some features that should make professional photographers really like it. After using it for a couple of months and looking at some of the results, I am impressed with its performance. There are a couple of caveats that can be applied to any iPhone or camera phone however. One of my friends considers these tools really “cameras with phones attached.” Not so sure about that, but here are some of the points which should concern all camera phone users:

1. For the professional, they are not substitutes for “real cameras,” either DSLRs or mirrorless ones. Yes they can be controlled much more than earlier versions, but they still rely more on the chip than regular cameras on MANUAL mode. You cannot set the ISO sensitivity or the shutter speed in most iPhones, but you can select several types of lighting experiences based on what you see, and you can actually set an aperture (F/stop).
2. Most camera phones are extremely convenient to use and this breeds a kind of attitude that is sometimes detrimental to making really good photographs that will stand by themselves. The temptation is to make a lot of images just because you can. The trick would be to make just one image of what is in front of the camera.
3. Most people hand-hold their camera phones, usually at arms length so that they can see the image they are taking. There is no viewfinder that you can hold up to your eye. Having such a viewfinder is helpful to making good images because when you hold it to your eye, your elbows are usually braced against your body helping you to hold the camera much more securely. As a matter of fact, I have tried to hold my iPhone steady at the 15x telephoto setting and found it was just impossible. The phone would have to be mounted on a tripod. A friend and I went up for a helicopter ride in Hawaii recently. I had both my DSLR bodies with two different lenses and my friend had his iPhone 11. Because we were strapped in to the open door chopper, I had some difficulty looking through my viewfinders. Consequently, he got better images with his iPhone. But this was a very particular case. So, eye-level viewfinders are not ideal in every single use.
4. Both of my regular DSLRs have in excess of 20MP (megapixels) which makes for much clearer images that you can work with in post production. The iPhone has 12MP, which is certainly good enough for most uses, (I have even made 11×14 prints from those files) but when you are really looking for intense clarity in your images, you could be a bit disappointed with iPhones, in general, not because of their inherent quality but more because of how they are used. My new iPhone 13Pro seems to be able to render even 16×20″ prints with little or no loss of sharpness.
5. It is difficult to use an iPhone, even the newest model, with your usual studio flash units. One reason for this is that the iPhone uses what is called a “rolling shutter” which paints the image as you shoot, almost instantaneously. But, it’s not a true instant capture. That’s what prevents the use of external flash units with the camera phone. It can be done, however with newer models of Profoto brand monolights, but it requires additional software to modify the lights to make them compatible with the iPhone. Using the iPhone’s built-in flash can also be problematic because it too, is not instantaneous. Once you choose flash mode and press the shutter, the camera first performs its auto-focus routine and then takes the picture. There may be as much as a 2-second delay in taking the picture. The other drawback is that the flash itself, is built into the camera and as a result is very close to the lens axis.
6. My overall feeling about the iPhone camera with the 13Pro is that because the camera is the best Apple has offered yet, it kind of lulls you into thinking that it’s all you would need. It isn’t!

So, for traditional professional photographers who are working with clients every day, the iPhone is kind of an impractical tool as far as capturing images for use commercially. Their sensors are so sensitive to light that one may argue that you wouldn’t need to use studio-type flash units with great light output. And, they can probably be used successfully with regular continuous light, if you wanted to go back to that. But remember, for any type of professional, commercial use, the iPhone must be mounted on a tripod for best studio results.

One other thing, when the iPhone is put in “portrait” mode, it automatically throws the background out of focus, if there is a background – in a studio, with a plain, single color background, part of the subject may be rendered unsharp. But I haven’t played with this feature yet.

As with any photographic endeavor, it pays to be as careful as you can be in setting up your camera, whichever format you choose, figuring out a proper exposure and composition and then processing your image to its optimum quality. Here are a couple of images made recently with my Apple iPhone 13Pro:

These images are just about as good as I could make with my DSLRs. One thing camera phones do well is to make images in very good light. If the lighting is way less than normal, that’s when they begin to have problems (although I have even made some good sunset shots with them as well). One other thing I have run into of late with iPhones: they may record images in a new format, HEIC – which stands for High Efficiency Image File Format. If you see these, they have to be converted to JPEGs if you want to open any in Photoshop to work on them. The converter software is free, but you will have to download and install it which will set up an additional step or two in your workflow.

So, maybe it is a matter of preference. They certainly are a whole lot easier to carry around in your pocket. You don’t need to carry them over your shoulder and they are always ready when you need them. In that sense, as a touring camera, they are pretty good. It’s just that they don’t perform that well given circumstances that are difficult to control or when you need to shoot in a photo studio situation. One of the things I have always loved about my studio work is that I have been able to set up many different lightings that all have added to the quality of my portraits, product and fashion pictures. Light still is the determining factor of the impact of any photograph.