"SLR" IS SO 50'S

I just finished reading an article in the San Francisco Chronicle entitled "You don't need a separate camera with these phones". The author Anick Jesdanun compared the cameras on three brands of new smart phones. The author acknowledges that "a phone is never going to replace a full-bodied, single-lens reflex camera, otherwise known as an SLR".

What the author of this article did not mention is that in addition to "full-bodied" SLR cameras, there are also small bodied SLR's, and even smaller "mirrorless" cameras. If you don't want to bother with interchangeable lenses, there are some wonderful fixed lens zoom cameras that are extremely compact. 

The first commercially available interchangeable lens 35mm SLR camera the Contax S was introduced in 1949. Asahi improved the SLR design by adding the instant return mirror in 1954 with model Pentax IIB. 

Nikon, Canon, and Pentax are using this same SLR design today. For example, the latest Nikon entry-level DSLR is the D3300. When the lens is removed, you will see the mirror (which reflects a nice, clear image on to the focusing screen). Nothing wrong with that, but so 1950's.

Check out the new interchangeable mirrorless cameras which also go by the acronym MILC, ILC, and CSC.  (Sounds confusing, but your local camera retailer will help you simplify the choices.)

If you enjoy taking photos, these are some of the features lacking on a smart phone, but available on a dedicated camera:

1. Larger sensor size
2. Ability to use longer lenses
3. Ability to use wider angle lenses
4. Ability to use RAW capture

Larger sensor size

This is a big deal. The sensor size on an Apple iPhone 6 smart phone camera is 4.89 x 3.67mm.

The smallest sensor size on an interchangeable lens mirrorless camera is 13.2 x 8.8mm. Here is a visual comparison of the sensor sizes. For web use or email the smart phone camera sensor is large enough, but if you plan on making prints, anything larger than 4"x6" shows "grain", lack of detail, and excessive contrast.

full image (from iPhone) 

I made full image 5x7 prints from both the iphone file and a Panasonic GX1 mirrorless camera which has a 17.3 x 13mm sensor. These are scanned images of a cropped portion of the 5x7 prints. The difference is obvious in the sky.

Panasonic GX1 with 17mm lens (34mm equiv.) - cropped from a 5X7 print

Apple iPhone 4 - cropped portion of a 5X7 print

Longer lenses and wide angle lenses
Smart phone cameras generally come equipped with semi-wide angle lenses. The angle of view is great for taking a variety of photos. It is the Instamatic camera of this generation. The lens is equivalent to having a 30mm lens on a full frame camera. However, a DSLR offers lenses from 8mm to 800mm (equivalent to full frame). An interchangeable lens mirrorless camera offers lenses from 14mm to 600mm (equivalent). Even a fairly large sensor, compact fixed lens camera like the pocketable Panasonic LF1 and Canon G7 X has a 28-200mm and 24-100mm focal length lens, respectively.
Mirrorless interchangeable lens cameras are available from most of the camera manufacturers, but Sony, Panasonic, Olympus, and Leica offer the most choices of lenses at this time. The Sony and Leica MILC are available with a full frame 24x36mm sensor, and are about 1/2 the weight of their SLR competition.

RAW capture
Most DSLR and mirrorless cameras have a feature that allows you to photograph in RAW or Jpeg or both. The smart phone cameras do not have a RAW option, only Jpeg. The RAW file is great for printing your images because with RAW you can change the white balance, exposure, highlights, shadows, and more with no loss in image quality. This editing is possible to a degree with a Jpeg, but the final results will not be as satisfactory.

The title of the Chronicle article is misleading. A better title would have been "Do you need a separate camera with these phones?" The answer is... absolutely.