As a person who has an expensive phone and a professional camera, let me retort by saying that the difference is larger than you think. On some level, it's basic physics. You get fewer photons, etc. Apple hasn't unlocked the secrets of optics or semiconductor manufacturing that are out of reach for Canon or Nikon. So if they keep making sensors and optics that are many times larger and bulkier than in a phone, there's probably a reason for it.
I like to think I have some experience in this area. I have an app on Android that records RAW video (MotionCam Pro). We've compared large expensive cameras to phone sensors many times (you can see it on our YouTube channel if you like).
Really depends on the environment. Low light and nighttime are much worse than you might think, anything else isn't so bad.
(Try taking a photo of the moon with an iPhone. You can't do it, not even with Halide.)
The lenses are also different and direct lighting can cause annoying internal reflections. I don't know this area as well, but lenses are more important than sensors for photos.
(taken with BayerCam.app, not Halide, but Halide can capture the same raw Bayer data)
It's not an amazing photo by any means. But it is a photograph of the moon - the seas are all well delineated, Copernicus/Kepler/Aristarchus/Grimaldi are visible/recognizable.
A test that smartphones did not pass a few years ago.
lich_king|13 days ago
mirsadm|13 days ago
astrange|13 days ago
(Try taking a photo of the moon with an iPhone. You can't do it, not even with Halide.)
The lenses are also different and direct lighting can cause annoying internal reflections. I don't know this area as well, but lenses are more important than sensors for photos.
heliographe|13 days ago
https://mastodon.social/@heliographe_studio/1156653713048409...
(taken with BayerCam.app, not Halide, but Halide can capture the same raw Bayer data)
It's not an amazing photo by any means. But it is a photograph of the moon - the seas are all well delineated, Copernicus/Kepler/Aristarchus/Grimaldi are visible/recognizable.
A test that smartphones did not pass a few years ago.