Can a budget DSLR beat a smartphone for simple point-and-shoot photography?

Question

I mostly enjoy photography for composition, light, and viewpoint rather than learning manual settings, changing lenses, or doing much editing. I usually view my photos on a modest monitor and share them through Google Photos.

I currently use an older iPhone, but replacing it with a flagship phone seems expensive for my needs. I'm considering buying a budget phone plus a separate camera in the roughly entry-level DSLR range, such as a Canon T6, and just using the camera in auto mode.

My question is: if I want good image quality without much manual control or post-processing, will an entry-level DSLR or similar dedicated camera in auto mode generally produce better results than a smartphone? Or do modern phones still have the advantage for casual point-and-shoot use because of their processing?

user15871 · Accepted Answer

The sensors and lenses of even the most humble DSLR or mirrorless interchangeable lens cameras (ILCs) currently on the market are far better than those found in the best phone cameras.

Sensors and glass can only take one so far, though. The current crop of top smartphones have leveraged the power of computational photography¹ in a way that most ILCs don't. On the other hand, most bargain basement phones don't give the same amount of resources, hardware or firmware, to their cameras that the top phones do. Some of the most advanced (and very expensive) cameras do a bit more in that department than the base models do, but they also cost a lot more than the latest top iPhone does. (Compare a Canon 1D X Mark II with an EF 24-70mm f/2.8 L II at $7K or a Nikon D5 with AF-S 24-70mm f/2.8E VR at about $8K to the iPhone X at $1K.)

I'm a fairly experienced photographer who uses professional level cameras and lenses. Under some shooting conditions, particularly those with crappy limited spectrum lighting, I have to work really hard in post to beat, in terms of color and contrast, what my friends get with little to no photographic knowledge using their fancy phones. Most of them still don't know how to frame a photo before they take it, though.

Advantages of a good phone camera (including the computational horsepower that requires a higher end phone) vs. an entry level ILC:

Better "Auto" color/white balance, contrast, and automatic post-processing of the raw data captured by the sensor.
Near instant ability to share photos using various social media and other web-based imaging sites.
Convenience of always having it with you in a pocketable lightweight package.

Advantages of a good entry level ILC (and all of the current models on the market are pretty good in terms of image quality) over a good phone camera:

Better raw image capture using larger sensors and better lenses
Ability to interface with and trigger off camera flash
Cheaper than the difference between a $50 budget phone and the price of a top end smartphone with one of the best cameras.

If you have no real interest in learning about how to use different focal lengths, apertures, and shutter times to better control how your images look or how to post process them to get the most out of your camera and lens, you're honestly probably better off with a good smartphone.

_{¹ computational photography at Wikipedia}

Can a budget DSLR beat a smartphone for simple point-and-shoot photography?

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