In my previous article 'Camera in a Smartphone' I talked about the fact that when choosing a new device, if you want a device with the best camera, there is practically no choice. There is Samsung, Apple and LG, as well as other manufacturers in the role of very lagging behind and, most importantly, not at all catching up with these three. Surprisingly, the material gathered a heated discussion in the comments: they discussed everything, from the need for a good camera in a smartphone and a camera in general to different bundles of 'camera plus smartphone' and so on. Therefore, I decided that it would not be superfluous to make one more material in which I will tell you why I personally need a good camera in a smartphone, while most of the time I spend at home (work) and I am on the street extremely rarely, except when traveling or take a walk. That is, there is nothing special for me to photograph, but a cool camera is needed. How so?
First of all, I will describe my situation. I have a smartphone that I use most often (now it's LG G4). Of course, from time to time I change the main device to the one for which I am writing a review, but nevertheless it usually takes no more than two or three weeks, the rest of the time I try to use one familiar and detailed device. For photography, I have a Fujifilm X-E2 camera with two lenses: a kit zoom (very high quality) Fujifilm XF 18-55mm F2.8-4 R LM OIS and a Fujifilm XF 35mm f / 1.4 'prime'. The first I use less and less, and the second – almost constantly. I am satisfied with this focal length, I am already used to it and even take photos for reviews with this 'fix', oddly enough. There is no optical stabilization, but a good aperture and a tripod work wonders. On business trips, I used to use both lenses, but now more and more I leave the zoom at home in my nightstand and take only my favorite '35 mm 'with me. It would seem that a reasonable question to me is 'why the hell do you need the best possible camera in your smartphone then?'. The answer is simple.
When I go on a business trip or on vacation, I always take a camera with me and take some of the pictures with it. On vacation (especially if I went to Japan) I try to take a lot of photos for myself, then it is pleasant for me to sit down in the evening and see these albums with hundreds of pictures with those things that are of interest to me laid out in cities and places, or show the photos to friends and family. That is, this is not a scenario I made up in my head, I really do it. And so, when I once again look through pictures from some trip, I certainly find two more folders in the folder with the city name: / fujifilm-x-e2 and / photo_so_smartphone. Usually there is the name of the smartphone, but not the essence. It is worth looking into such a folder, and I see hundreds of other pictures there, with different plots, different places, angles and, in general, completely different. And they are also interesting and pleasant to me. Then I understand that no matter how convenient and cool camera I carry with me and no matter how much I force myself to take pictures with it all the time, there will still be many moments that were captured on the smartphone camera. In my case, this is exactly the case.
An example from my life – just one of my trips to Japan. I took photos with the camera, and as the main smartphone I used the Sony Xperia Z3 Plus for a week. Then, when I began to analyze the pictures, I realized that half of the photos taken with the Xperia would simply have to be removed: smears, low detail, terrible noises and mess in evening, night and indoor pictures. Frankly, I was upset and thought then only that I had to carry my LG G4 with me and use it.
The second reason for the need for the best camera is much more prosaic – you always want everything to be as good and high quality as possible. Naturally, this does not apply to everyone, different people have different characters and, as a result, requirements for certain aspects of life, but for me personally this is how it is. Why choose a smartphone with a bad or average camera if there is a device with objectively one of the best modules in all respects?