<p>The <em>biggest</em> differences between using your phone and a camera to record video are lens selection and control. A modern phone can absolutely be used to take incredible video, especially if you use an app like Blackmagic Camera (<a href="https://apps.apple.com/us/app/blackmagic-camera/id6449580241" rel="nofollow noreferrer">iOS</a>/<a href="https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.blackmagicdesign.android.blackmagiccam&amp;hl=en_US" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Android</a>) to give yourself additional control.</p>
<p>With that said, by using a phone you sacrifice the additional benefits that come from being able to use a standalone lens. The most obvious one is the fact that lenses often support zoom, and if you use prime (non-zoom) lenses you can select lenses of different focal lengths for different zoom levels. The other major, less-obvious benefit of external lenses is depth of field. If you're unfamiliar, using a lens with a wide aperture and long focal length is how you get a soft background, something that can't really be achieved in a phone camera.</p>
<p>When it comes to price differences, cameras and phones are just fundamentally different things. Large sensors are <em>really expensive</em> to make, and the processing required to work with higher resolutions and RAW-like formats is pretty extensive. Also, modern cameras have tons of useful features that phone cameras don't include, such as focus assist and various graphs and tools to compose your shot. To address your question about sensor size, at your level it doesn't really matter much. A smaller sensor will get you a more zoomed-in image using the same lens as a camera with a larger sensor, and larger sensors with cheap lenses can often experience blurring, dimming, or chromatic aberration around the edges. Generally, a &quot;full-frame&quot; sensor is considered better, but not at all mandatory especially if you're just getting into film/photography.</p>
<p>Also, I just want to throw this out there, is 4K/60 FPS really mandatory for you? Cameras that support that can be expensive, and you'll probably find in most cases that's not really necessary, especially higher frame rates. Unless you're shooting action shots or slow-motion, it often looks more natural to use lower frame rates, because they capture the motion blur we've learned to expect, and create smaller files that are easier to work with. Contrary to popular belief, higher frame rates and higher resolutions don't inherently mean you get a better image. In fact, you'll probably find that you notice differences in bitrate more than you do in resolution. But that's just a side tangent, giving you something to think about.</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2024-07-24T07:46:50.393Z
Wow. Suppose I've got a pic of homework to do. Cheers for that much help.
Marcus
CC BY-SA 4.0
2024-08-01T04:15:25.790Z
Happy to help, and welcome to stack exchange! If I was able to answer your question, please make sure to mark it as accepted so that others can find this answer as well.
Cam
CC BY-SA 4.0
2024-07-24T03:33:32.053Z
2024-07-24T03:33:32.053Z
Cam
<p>So I am a new at photography, and videography, and wanted to know specifically why the price and spec range is so different when comparing proper cameras and phones, mainly when comparing video.</p>
<p>I was looking for a mirrorless or DSLR camera with 4k video and about 60fps, and they were so expensive and hard to find, but my like 5 year old phone can do this and costs way cheaper. Is it primarily to do with sensor size ? Does the sensor size really matter ?</p>
<p>Thanks</p>

<video>
Comparison of proper cameras and phones
Marcus
# Comparison of proper cameras and phones

(Asked by: username_0 on 2024-07-23)

So I am a new at photography, and videography, and wanted to know specifically why the price and spec range is so different when comparing proper cameras and phones, mainly when comparing video.

I was looking for a mirrorless or DSLR camera with 4k video and about 60fps, and they were so expensive and hard to find, but my like 5 year old phone can do this and costs way cheaper. Is it primarily to do with sensor size ? Does the sensor size really matter ?

Thanks

**Tags:** video


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## 1 answers

### Answer by username_1 on 2024-07-24. Score: 1

The *biggest* differences between using your phone and a camera to record video are lens selection and control. A modern phone can absolutely be used to take incredible video, especially if you use an app like Blackmagic username_1era ([iOS](https://apps.apple.com/us/app/blackmagic-camera/id6449580241)/[Android](https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.blackmagicdesign.android.blackmagiccam&hl=en_US)) to give yourself additional control.

With that said, by using a phone you sacrifice the additional benefits that come from being able to use a standalone lens. The most obvious one is the fact that lenses often support zoom, and if you use prime (non-zoom) lenses you can select lenses of different focal lengths for different zoom levels. The other major, less-obvious benefit of external lenses is depth of field. If you're unfamiliar, using a lens with a wide aperture and long focal length is how you get a soft background, something that can't really be achieved in a phone camera.

When it comes to price differences, cameras and phones are just fundamentally different things. Large sensors are *really expensive* to make, and the processing required to work with higher resolutions and RAW-like formats is pretty extensive. Also, modern cameras have tons of useful features that phone cameras don't include, such as focus assist and various graphs and tools to compose your shot. To address your question about sensor size, at your level it doesn't really matter much. A smaller sensor will get you a more zoomed-in image using the same lens as a camera with a larger sensor, and larger sensors with cheap lenses can often experience blurring, dimming, or chromatic aberration around the edges. Generally, a "full-frame" sensor is considered better, but not at all mandatory especially if you're just getting into film/photography.

Also, I just want to throw this out there, is 4K/60 FPS really mandatory for you? username_1eras that support that can be expensive, and you'll probably find in most cases that's not really necessary, especially higher frame rates. Unless you're shooting action shots or slow-motion, it often looks more natural to use lower frame rates, because they capture the motion blur we've learned to expect, and create smaller files that are easier to work with. Contrary to popular belief, higher frame rates and higher resolutions don't inherently mean you get a better image. In fact, you'll probably find that you notice differences in bitrate more than you do in resolution. But that's just a side tangent, giving you something to think about.

> **Comments:**
> **username_0**: Wow. Suppose I've got a pic of homework to do. Cheers for that much help.  
> **username_1**: Happy to help, and welcome to stack exchange! If I was able to answer your question, please make sure to mark it as accepted so that others can find this answer as well.  

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