True, but digiscoping is also possible with your phone (admittedly with varying results), but I have gotten some “proof I saw it” photos on birds shooting through a spotting scope or binocular. However, I don’t show those off except to say look what I saw.
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i think the newer iphone models take pretty good photos (I say this as an android user)
My camera is a Canon point and shoot with a 40x zoom. My phone takes much better, crisper landscape photos and is also much better in darker indoor spaces. The camera is only better at anything that needs a zoom. I also replace my phone every couple of years while keeping the camera for several years so the technology in the phone is far outpacing the camera. I really like taking photos while hiking and traveling and have debated getting a DSLR or mirrorless camera but I just can’t bring myself to switch to something so much bigger/bulkier. My sister has a DSLR and I noticed the other day when we were both taking photos of the same thing, my phone had a much wider lens than her camera.
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I have little experience with iNat, but even so I can say that it depends on the object. With a smartphone you can take high-quality photos of everything, except birds and fast (sensitive to movements) insects like dragonflies, ants, etc.
You actually can, much harder in flight, but possible too. https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/129209200
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/124695869
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Any modern phone with a decent macro lens (which should only cost ~$25 USD) is able to get more than good enough results on most plants/insects/mushrooms for most purposes; really the only thing you need other than that is a camera app with manual focus. Consider this Centaurea as a general baseline for the results you can get; however, most phones should be able to get good shots of moving targets such as this spider that was crawling along an airborne silk line. Digital zoom and use of a tripod can even allow for surprisingly in-focus shots of tiny details, such as this shot of a Polygonum flower that, for reference, is about the size of a pinhead.
However, something that will step up your photography game regardless of what you use is a technique called focus stacking that allows you to essentially break the rules of depth of field. Something that I think is little known is that it is actually possible to do focus stacking with an Android phone using an open source camera app called Open Camera. (It may also be possible to do focus stacking with Apple phones but I don’t know bc I don’t use them). You do have to use computer software (I use helicon focus) to actually produce the final image, but I’ve used by phone to take the stacks of several focused stacked photographs and gotten really good results, for example, look at these Hericium, Selaginella, and Ericameria observations that all contain multiple focus stacked photos. It’s certainly difficult to set these up in the field due to factors such as wind, but given that all of those photos were taken with a phone camera plus a $25 dollar lens I’d say that it’s worth it. Really the only substantial difference between these and what you would get in a camera is how much you can zoom in; camera pics look crisp even when zoomed significantly, whereas my phone pics look nice normally but definitely lack quality when you zoom too close.
The only issue with phones is that they are really bad at taking photos of things that aren’t quite close. Look at my photos of this Ambrosia and this Bird, for instance – both of these things were less than 15 feet away (I could clearly tell what they were), but pretty much any phone is going to be incapable of getting better than crude pictures of things that you can’t get close to. I hear that there are telephoto lenses for phones, but I haven’t used them and they look pretty clunky TBH. Despite this, I’m still planning on splurging on one of those expensive Nikon mirrorlesses with a good macro lens anyways, mostly because I’m really particular about my photo quality, but most people should be able to get by with a phone lens combined with the phone they already have.
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People, not phones, take good/bad pictures.
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For sure. It’s all about knowing what to photo to how to do it. Understanding your camera is what’s important. A creative mind can find interesting ways to get around technical limitations to get the desired shot. Even an observation using photos taken with a high-end camera can be unidentifiable if the field marks aren’t in view.
My early iNat observation were all made on an iPod Touch which was bought in 2017! Take a look.
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations?order=asc&place_id=any&user_id=that_bug_guy&verifiable=any
My first observation made with a camera was of a chipmunk.
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So you’re saying there are no bad cameras just bad photographers … but we know that’s not always true.
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Many photographers often hear their most hated phrase, “that’s a beautiful photo, you must have a great camera”. Yep, and Picasso owned the best brushes.
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People also say any camera can make great photos, often it’s accomplished by mediocore shots as a proof. You need both good eye and good gear.
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any ideas for a good clip on macro and software for an iPhone SE? I keep a telephoto for birds and lizards and such but for a lot of insects or plants it’s not really the best choice
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People, not phones, take good/bad pictures.
True enough but you’re not getting an identifiable photo of a bird 100’ away in the top of a pine tree with a phone. At least not consistently
You’d be surprised by the zoom that some phone cameras have today.
Honestly it doesn’t matter if I take the pic with a phone or a camera–the result will be, at best, average. In this case, the problem is the photographer. However, phones are portable, easy to use, and can get you the ID in many cases. I can’t get decent photos of birds, but I’ve gotten good at sneaking up on butterflies (it’s a game at this point). I always travel with a phone, rarely with a camera, so a phone is my go-to.
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What kind of tripod did you use with these? My macro lens came with a cheap tripod but it can barely support my phone unless it’s completely vertical. And the few times I tried to use Open Camera with focus bracketing mode moving my hand just a millimeter would move the focus out of the entire bracket - so it basically only works with a tripod for me (or I may just have very shaky hands…)
I have an iPhone 13 and was wondering if a clip-on macro was even worth it given that it already takes really good close-ups. Anyone use both?
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I had an S21 Ultra with me that day and tried its “moon mode” (“100x zoom”). The picture is really bad, but I was somewhat impressed for being just a phone. Second picture is another phone and just to see how far away it was.
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I’m very wary of phone makers’ claims about camera performance given how much they’ve been caught lying/presenting pro-grade camera pictures as their own, but it is absolutely impressive. I doubt you’d be able to get that result with a budget/entry-level telephoto lens.
I use the Joby GorillaPod (you can get one designed for a phone for pretty cheap) that’s great for macro with phones because it’s small enough for the distances required in phone macro and very versatile, being able to handle many different angles/situations. Also it’s not your hands, focus bracketing is virtually impossible without a tripod because no human’s arms are stable enough for it.
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Define ‘good’ picture.
Is it an exquisitely sharp, contrasted against a simple background, beautifully lit and composed shot of a common housefly?
Or is it a blurry, poorly lit and noisy shot of a bee most suspected to be extinct, but a shot that still contains enough positive key clues to confirm?
A good camera is one that is there and gets the ID. Otherwise we’d all be wildlife photographers shooting for art, not naturalist photographers shooting for identification.
You can be both, sure. But I’m guessing much more (and hence, more useful) research data comes from the larger mass of ID-first photographers.
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