Hello everyone,
Kind of fell into this rabbit whole yesterday. I usually take pictures with my phone, which is not great at this (Moto G84), so I was considering getting a compact point and shoot camera to have better pictures.
At the moment, my main use case is to indeed take selfies with my girlfriend, or friends/family. I’ve read a bit about the topic, and it seems like the consensus is that recent phones (less than 5 years) will take better selfies and general pictures than point and shoot cameras.
Is this true?
I see a Sony RX100M3 second hand at 350€, is it worth it?
Thank you for your help
Like the old internal combustion days, there’s no replacement for displacement. Time and technology made that less true with turbo/superchargers as well as hybridization.
In the camera world, large sensors gather more light so they will have less noise. Phones generally have smaller sensors, so they have more noise per image taken. Phones work around this by compositing multiple exposures into a single photo. This helps reduce noise and increase dynamic range. Sensors themselves have had some advances like dual gain, lower noise, etc so when comparing an “old” to “new” sensor of a similar size you’ll generally see some improvement in performance.
That said, there are limits.
The first big limit comes with motion. If your subject is moving your phone won’t be able to image stack without bluring the photo. This is only really an issue in lower light (indoors, dusk outdoors, very cloud days, etc).
The second limit is depth of field. Phone are getting better at faking this, but IMO don’t replace a dedicated camera + lens combo. Bigger sensors have the potential for shallower depth of field.
The final is reach. Phones only have so much magnification to offer and if you’re photographing something far away there’s no substitute for optical reach. Some phones do now have a telephoto lens, but they’re generally not that long thanks to physics.
The RX100 III has a 1‑inch format, 13.2 × 8.8mm sensor. Your phone has a 1/1.5" (~ 8.5 x 6.5 mm) sensor. So in terms of surface area, the RX100 III is basically twice as large. I don’t know that I would make that tradeoff, especially with the gains in sensor technology that have occurred in the past decade.
If you wanted to look at a camera, I would look at APS-C offering. Their sensors are ~22.2 mm x 14.8 mm, which is six times more surface area. Full frame is another step up (15.6 times mor surface area), but that’s going to mean larger camera bodies and lenses. A Sony a6xxx, or Fujifilm xt3/xt4, might be worth looking at. It will be bigger than a point and shoot, but it will be more capable.
/A dad that carries around a full frame body despite having a OnePlus 12
Thank you for the detailed answer!
Portability is definitely a thing. My girlfriend has a Sony Alpha a6000, and when the pictures are definitely very good looking, we don’t use it very often as it’s a bit too bulky to have on us all the time.
Imagine the capability of that Sony but a nicer form factor, that’s basically what Fuji is trying to do with some of their lineup.
If you still want to go point and shoot, look at Rico GR3 (or whatever the latest model is).
I’m just having a look at the Fuji xt3/xt4, interesting.
I remember having a look at those, but the lack of flipping screen would not be fit for my main use case
No problem!
There are integreated APS-C and full frame cameras that combine the camera body and lens into one unit. By ditching the mount you’ll save some size. The GR 3, mentioned below already, is one example. Fuji’s x100 line is another. Sony had a FF offering at one point too.
Micro four thirds might be worth looking at too. Something like an OM-5, or Panasonic gx85, and a pancake prime would be pretty small.
What lens do you have the the a6000? Something like the Sony 20mm f/2.8 is pretty tiny.
Thank you for the references, I’ll have a look.
About the lens, from what I see it’s a 50mm/f1.8? Sorry, completely new in this topic 😅
The 20mm f/2.8 looks good indeed, but would it work for selfies, or would another lens be more fit?
For ease, I’m not going to get into focal length equivalency.
According to the first google result, your G84’s selfie focal length is 25.5mm in full frame terms. The Sony 20mm f/2.8 is 30mm in full frame terms, so it will be a little tighter than what you currently experience on your phone.
Great, thank you!