Photo shooting with iPhone SE Ⅱ
I bought a new gadget: iPhone SE Ⅱ.
Well, technically speaking, it’s a phone, not a camera. But I regard it as a sub-camera because I wanted to have a new one instead of my Fujifilm X-E1, a mirrorless camera I’ve been using since 2017. This mirrorless camera is a little heavy to bring out, especially when I hike or walk. And for me, it hasn’t been the best in terms of its quality of a picture.
That’s why I’ve been using the iPhone 6s Plus as a sub camera since 2016 when I bought it from my friend. Its quality has been quite good, however, a battery becomes low very soon lately. And I notice that its quality is also getting worse than before.
At first, I considered buying another compact camera. (In this option, I will keep using iPhone 6s Plus as a phone.) I searched for several small cameras and the last option was Sony’s RX100, which was much cheaper and offers a better quality of photo than Fujifilm X-E1. However, after I read about the comparison of Sony RX100 and iPhone SE, I realized that iPhone SE was just enough for me. It’s water-proof and more than anything, it’s lighter than both RX-100 and iPhone 6s Plus. Finally, I decided to have iPhone SE as both a phone and the main camera.
However, soon after I’ve got a new iPhone, I realized it didn’t satisfy me who wants to take a photo easily but at the same time clearly and beautifully.
First, the iPhone isn’t good at bokeh. Well, I love bokeh very much, and that was the only reason I got a mirrorless camera back in 2017. Second, it’s obviously not good at zoom. Though most digital cameras offer optical zoom, smartphones including iPhones only have digital zoom. For me, who loves street snapshots, it’s not enough to capture things far away.
After using it just for one day, I clearly understood what other blogs and videos are saying – iPhones’ cameras are as great as expensive cameras – are maybe true only if photos are taken under the best conditions: outside one a sunny day, and without zoom.
OK, anyway I’ve got a new sub-camera and phone instead of a mirrorless camera and an old phone. And I want to have a new main camera (RX-100) very soon!