You could say I took a break from photography as a hobby for more than a decade. Life happened, and it was no longer practical to carry around big, heavy, and expensive DSLRs (at the time). However, it was the iPhone that slowly reignited my interest. With almost predictable annual updates, the devices allowed me get better and better photos and enjoy the art of photography more and more, up to the point where I acquired a "proper" camera again. Why, you might be asking.
The trouble with iPhonography (that's how I call it) is real. The pictures it takes are really very good—visually pleasing and catchy, with auto enhancements being almost magical. And it makes all this incredibly easy. With every update of the hardware and software, it gets better, giving people photographic abilities that were for a long time protected by the craft and experience of enthusiasts and professional photographers, reducing the amount of equipment needed (think tripods and low-light snaps as a good example).
Unfortunately, it's not the magical way to acquire those skills, but rather what the device thinks the photo should be. When you take photographs within the recognised scenes (or modes, if you prefer), it's all good, but when the software can't properly recognise what it sees, that's where the problem starts. The colours are wrong, HDR gets in the way, and portrait mode produces amazing results when viewed on social media, but have you ever zoomed in to get details around edges or discovered strange artefacts in less than ideal situations?
The other problems are the different lenses. With a regular camera, you have one sensor and different lenses. iPhone's results vary when switching the lenses. The specifications change. Forget about 48 Megapixels on anything other than a 24mm shot. And I could continue. Obviously, there's a way to avoid most of those issues, and that's to shoot in RAW and skip most of the edits. But that's where the benefits ended for me.
After one month with a Fujifilm X-series camera, I can say there's no way back. The iPhone is still going to be my go-to device for casual snaps. But I'm really glad to have a "proper" camera again. It allows me to stay in control. It has physical controls. It responds the way I want it to, not the way it thinks it should.
But it's not all just rosy. A decade with the iPhone as my main device for taking pictures made me lazy. You get used to all the magic iPhones (and probably other mobile phones too) provide. The first noticeable difference was the amount of individuals with their eyes closed. Sure, it happens on mobile too, but somehow the increase is noticeable. And the other problem is the workflow. Despite the Photos app being less than ideal, it provides an amazing—non-destructive—experience. Paired with top-notch software like Photomator and/or Pixelmator Pro, you can quite easily achieve amazing results using an iPhone only. Once you leave that world, the pain of many (often sub-optimal) decisions is present. I still miss the simplicity in a way.
But it's not all just rosy. Decade with iPhone as main device for taking pictures made me lazy. You get used to all the magic iPhones (and probably other mobile phones too) provide. First noticeable difference was amount of individual with their eyes closed. Sure it happens on mobile too, but somehow the increase is noticeable. And the other problem is the workflow. Despite Photos app being less than ideal, it provides amazing - non-destructive - experience. Paired with a top notch Photomator and/or Pixelmator Pro you get quite easily amazing results using iPhone only. Once you leave that world, the pain of many (often sub-optimal) decisions is present. I still miss the simplicity in a way.
Maybe for this reason (and me having trouble in general getting colours right), I chose a Fujifilm camera. Their film simulations are just amazing. The photos have a very different feel. They might not be "in-your-face amazing" like the ones from iPhones, but they are better. Sensor size, lens quality, and other factors are hard to beat. For now. I have no false assumptions about the gap narrowing every year. It will get very close. You can see how smartphones have already decimated the "cheap" camera market. They will get more. And it's not like I will completely stop using them. Quite the opposite.
Should I have gone the analogue way? As somebody who was there before, I politely declined. While I love the film look, I still prefer the comfort of having at least some things easy...