Phone Camera vs Digital Camera

[bradley_alv]

I want to start making vlogs, but i dont know if a digital camera is necessary. My current phone is an Elephone M3, it has a 21.0mp camera. I was looking to purchase a Panasonic ZS35 for $200 cad. I was looking at this camera specifically because it has the flip screen for such a low price. Is it worth the $200 for the digital camera? or is my phone camera good enough for taking videos? Thanks, Bradley

 

[Math Geek]

phone cameras always look like phone cameras to me, which is to say not very good overall. if you want to do something that will look professional, i'd do it with a camera and not a phone. there is a reason you don't go to weddings and see a pro filming it on a phone but rather a nice camera.

no matter what the commercials want you to believe, you're not gonna look like a serious pro using a phone to record on.

 

[bradley_alv]

phone cameras always look like phone cameras to me, which is to say not very good overall. if you want to do something that will look professional, i'd do it with a camera and not a phone. there is a reason you don't go to weddings and see a pro filming it on a phone but rather a nice camera.

no matter what the commercials want you to believe, you're not gonna look like a serious pro using a phone to record on.

Fair enough. Thanks! do you have any suggestions on any other $200 cad cameras? or is the Panasonic ZS35 the best for its price?

 

[USAFRet]

I want to start making vlogs, but i dont know if a digital camera is necessary. My current phone is an Elephone M3, it has a 21.0mp camera. I was looking to purchase a Panasonic ZS35 for $200 cad. I was looking at this camera specifically because it has the flip screen for such a low price. Is it worth the $200 for the digital camera? or is my phone camera good enough for taking videos? Thanks, Bradley

Make a video.
Watch it
Does it suck? Probably.
Why does it suck?

Is it the production quality, or the content, or something else.
A $5,000 camera is useless if the person holding it shakes around like he is holding a pencil.
Movies have been made with nothing more than an iPhone. But the cameraman/director was competent.

The equipment is less impertinent than the production quality..
Make something with what you have. Let people (us maybe) see it.
Do not worry about 'resolution'.

 

[Math Geek]

i am a big fan of the canon sx series cameras. i have had a number of the models and love the features vs price of them. not sure what they run canadian but you can get a new one in the US for less than $300. the IS in the name means image stabilizer which helps a lot with shaky hands and when zoomed in real close.

from what i have used they are a good mix of features and price if you don't want/need the expensive dslr models.

 

[Suzuki@1473780084@1473780163]

Worry about audio more than video.

 

[basroil]

I want to start making vlogs, but i dont know if a digital camera is necessary. My current phone is an Elephone M3, it has a 21.0mp camera. I was looking to purchase a Panasonic ZS35 for $200 cad. I was looking at this camera specifically because it has the flip screen for such a low price. Is it worth the $200 for the digital camera? or is my phone camera good enough for taking videos? Thanks, Bradley

Save your money, learn about videography first and then consider things other than a tripod or lights.

 

[Michael Trenton]

Worry about audio more than video.

This! I couldn't agree more. Audio is the most important thing when it comes to making videos. We more likely to accept videos with lower resolution and crap image quality as long as there is decent audio. However, even a 4K video on youtube shot on a $5000 camera is a pain to watch if the audio is poor. Buying some decent equipment for recording audio is the best investment one can make in my opinion.

 

[BlueFireZ]

phone cameras always look like phone cameras to me, which is to say not very good overall. if you want to do something that will look professional, i'd do it with a camera and not a phone. there is a reason you don't go to weddings and see a pro filming it on a phone but rather a nice camera.

no matter what the commercials want you to believe, you're not gonna look like a serious pro using a phone to record on.

I wouldn't exactly agree with this, new phones nowadays have some amazing cameras. Check this video out by Armando Ferreira taken on the Galaxy S6, there are obviously some flaws but it has a professional look to it.

https/www.youtube.com/watch?v=w9c6jSg3FoE

Of course an actual camera is better than a smartphone in pretty much anyway but you can get some good results from a phone too.

 

[Math Geek]

i know this much, if i am paying $1000+ for professional pictures to be taken of my event and the guy showed up with nothing but a phone, i'd be a very unhappy person and be canceling a check post haste.

when i hear "professional photos or videos" my first thought is not a phone camera as a solution. that's just how i feel about it. camera phones have come a long way, i agree, but i don't think they are a replacement for quality cameras for pro level shoots. you can see thousands of videos a day taken from phones and i have never once thought, my that's fine video quality there. it's always shaky, poor light quality and leaving a lot to be desired. even a go pro is a better choice for video if the budget is low.

 

[BlueFireZ]

i know this much, if i am paying $1000+ for professional pictures to be taken of my event and the guy showed up with nothing but a phone, i'd be a very unhappy person and be canceling a check post haste.

when i hear "professional photos or videos" my first thought is not a phone camera as a solution. that's just how i feel about it. camera phones have come a long way, i agree, but i don't think they are a replacement for quality cameras for pro level shoots. you can see thousands of videos a day taken from phones and i have never once thought, my that's fine video quality there. it's always shaky, poor light quality and leaving a lot to be desired. even a go pro is a better choice for video if the budget is low.

I totally understand that, my point is that if you have a phone with a good camera you don't really need to go and invest $500 into a camera if you're doing something simple like vlogging or some other basic YouTubing.

 

[Michael Trenton]

i know this much, if i am paying $1000+ for professional pictures to be taken of my event and the guy showed up with nothing but a phone, i'd be a very unhappy person and be canceling a check post haste.

when i hear "professional photos or videos" my first thought is not a phone camera as a solution. that's just how i feel about it. camera phones have come a long way, i agree, but i don't think they are a replacement for quality cameras for pro level shoots. you can see thousands of videos a day taken from phones and i have never once thought, my that's fine video quality there. it's always shaky, poor light quality and leaving a lot to be desired. even a go pro is a better choice for video if the budget is low.

Definitely. There is no way a phone camera can even begin to compete with a professional camera. Even enthusiast level point and shoots completely blows the best phone cameras out of the water.
So I agree with you that if you pay someone to do a photo or video job it would definitely be something seriously wrong if the individual turned up with nothing but a phone.
That being said for someone just looking to start their own youtube channel, Vlogging or similar I'd say it's definitely okay to use a phone as long as you are able to pair that phone with good enough audio. Of course it would be preferable to use a better camera too, but a phone will get the job done. Content is king after all.

 

[Suzuki@1473780084@1473780163]

It's the person behind the camera... Higher specs and higher quality video, doesn't mean anything, if the person operating it is a beginner.

What really sets the two apart, is being able to shoot in a flat profile, increasing detail you can bring out in post. And being able to expose properly in camera, which is a time saver, not something that's impossible to achieve with a phone. If you do it with a phone then you'll have to track masks, which takes a long time.

If you expose correctly with a DSLR, you remove that step, unless you're correcting a mistake, or going for a VFX shot. You only have to color correct, then color grade, which speeds up workflow.

It's a convenience thing, phone video can't compete when it comes to a fast workflow. But in editing programs, you can change alot of things, even make it look like a professional video, it just takes longer to achieve the same result.

 

[BlueFireZ]

It's the person behind the camera... Higher specs and higher quality video, doesn't mean anything, if the person operating it is a beginner.

What really sets the two apart, is being able to shoot in a flat profile, increasing detail you can bring out in post. And being able to expose properly in camera, which is a time saver, not something that's impossible to achieve with a phone. If you do it with a phone then you'll have to track masks, which takes a long time.

If you expose correctly with a DSLR, you remove that step, unless you're correcting a mistake, or going for a VFX shot. You only have to color correct, then color grade, which speeds up workflow.

It's a convenience thing, phone video can't compete when it comes to a fast workflow. But in editing programs, you can change alot of things, even make it look like a professional video, it just takes longer to achieve the same result.

As for flat profile video on phones, a few days back I was searching for manual video recording apps and I found an app for Android called "Cinema 4K" which let me shoot flat video on my Oneplus 2, which actually came out quite well with some editing.

 

[Suzuki@1473780084@1473780163]

That's cool. Thanks for sharing, BlueFireZ!

I would shoot a quick video on my phone, with camera shake, and stabilize it in post, to show you the difference between it and my DSLR, without a slider of course. Unfortunately I got a Microsoft 535, but I may get around doing it. Though it's going to be obvious which is the phone, so it kind of defeats the point!