Smartphone vs DSLR/Mirrorless kit – Price Comparison
Smartphone photography and filmmaking has become more and more popular. However, some skeptics say you could spend the money better on a cheap DSLR or mirrorless camera + lenses. The claim goes that once you spend $1000 or more on the latest iPhone or top range smartphone, you may as well just spend that on a DSLR instead.
But is the claim true? In this article I look into the actual real world costs of a smartphone photography set up vs DSLR/mirrorless camera set up.
Cost of the smartphone
I’ve actually never spent more than $300 on a smartphone (a OnePlus One). The only reason I now have a Samsung S9 (and previously had a S8) was down to once having a sponsorship deal with Samsung.
I have to say that, even though I’ll be buying my own smartphone from now on, I would find it hard to downgrade my phone to something less functional.
But what is the real value of my smartphone?
Well, I use my smartphone for all kind of things non-filmmaking related. I need to use it for social media, so it needs to be powerful enough to run video and share. I use it for banking, for email, for messaging. I use it for editing photos, so I like to have a good quality screen.
Although I rarely do this, many people edit videos on their smartphones (especially mobile journalists). You can’t do that on your DSLR or mirrorless.
So the smartphone adds much more value than just the camera. Pretty much all of us already have smartphones, so we don’t need to go out and buy one. When we upgrade, if we are intending to do filmmaking or photography a lot, we look for a phone that has good specs for those purposes.
But is it really adding a cost that we wouldn’t otherwise spend anyway? It’s difficult to quantify. Of course, it depends on the user – some people buy top range phones regardless. Some buy them to get the extra camera specs.
Even so, if you look at the DxOMark league table as rated for video shooting, you’ll see the old Pixel 2 is still 3rd best and only 1 point below the best (Samsung S9+). A refurbished, unlocked Pixel 2 can be bought for under $350. Would you really have spent less than that on a smartphone, just for general use?
OK, for the sake of the comparison, let’s be generous and say we could have spent $200. So we’ll make the cost of a top range smartphone camera $150.
Cost of a DSLR or Mirrorless camera
Checking the lists of Best DSLRs for video, there are cameras named such as the Canon 5D Mark III. This camera costs about $2200+. And that’s just the body.
Much more affordable is the Sony Alpha a7S II at under $900. A Nikon D810 is almost $3000.
There are certainly more affordable cameras such as the Panasonic Lumix FZ300 / FZ330 for about $340. This one shoots 4k but many of the budget DSLRs only shoot up to 1080p. The (about $600) Sony Cyber-shot RX100 III has no 4K video output. These cameras don’t allow you to change lenses, however.
A quick online hunt turned up a Sony Alpha a7S II body listed for clearance for $500.
Because DSLRs and mirrorless cameras are not as numerous as popular smartphones, they are harder to find 2nd hand. You might argue they probably stand up to aging better than smartphones, which is probably true.
But let’s says we got a good mirrorless body for $500.
And now a lens…
Let’s say we need just one lens to match our smartphone, which comes with one (or more) included. A good budget lens will cost upwards of $250.
That makes the total cost of the budget mirrorless camera $750.
What about extras?
Let’s say we want 2 extra lenses, a gimbal.
You can buy the best smartphone conversion lenses for $100-175. You will need a mounting case for Moment lenses, so say $130. If you want a Moondog Labs anamorphic, that will cost you $175 just for the lens. But a 37mm mounting clip can be got for under $10.
To be fair, smartphones do far better when it comes to wide angle than telephoto. A DSLR or mirrorless camera with a good telephoto lens will give you a much shallower depth of field. A smartphone is going to struggle to match it, even with a telephoto lens added.
A good gimbal for a smartphone costs as little as $80 and up to $150. Let’s say we spend $100 on one.
A good DSLR gimbal costs more, because they need to carry more weight. The Zhiyun Crane V2, for example, costs about $250.
So our costs are:
2 x smartphone lenses = $300. 1 x gimbal = $100. Total = $400
2 x DSLR lenses = $500. 1 x gimbal = $250. Total = $750
So what’s the cost difference?
Smartphone photography kit = $550
DSLR mirrorless kit = $1500
So the basic DSLR kit costs almost 3 times as much as the smartphone kit (all things considered).
Money isn’t everything
It’s true that the extra cost might be minimal to some. But for others, an extra $1000 might be something they simply can’t budget for yet. In which case, for $550 they can get started.
In fact, with just the smartphone in our pocket we can get started. You can actually start shooting great quality 4k video right away, without the need for extras.
For me, both formats have pros and cons.
A smartphone filmmaking kit is lighter and more anonymous than a DSLR kit (hence BBC and other news outlets now see mobile journalism as a serious professional skill). But when it comes to high quality images and a shallow DoF, DSLR still wins. Having said that, quality still comes down to the skill of the photographer, in most cases.
Tangerine, a film which grossed over $700k at the box office, was shot with 2 iPhone 5 phones, plus a Moondog Labs anamorphic. Even current mid-range budget smartphones will probably shoot higher quality images than an old iPhone 5.
So, in conclusion, there is a significant extra cost to using a DSLR/mirrorless camera. How significant that extra cost is depends entirely on your budget and how much extra cash you have available.
What smartphone filmmaking and photography does it open it up to those who wouldn’t normally have access to good quality cameras. And it also allows for more discreet, more spontaneous and more mobile filming.
So, aside from being more available and affordable, there’s plenty of other reasons to shoot your film – be it short, feature, documentary, travel video or music video. Happy shooting!
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