Cheap Camera vs. Pro Camera: Which One’s Which?

How many times have you heard the proverbial quote, “the best part of a camera is the 12 inches behind it”? I bet not enough. If you’ve been complaining that your APS-C camera doesn’t shoot that well and you might need to upgrade to a full-frame, or that your smart phone isn’t a serious camera and you should at least purchase a DSLR, think again. Your complaints are misguided; your camera is not to be blamed:

Yes, a professional camera and a great lens make it a lot easier to capture your vision. But you should remember that your camera or your lens is not going to make the photo for you. As Pye puts it,

“The camera is simply a tool.”

To prove the point, here is a collage of images that were shot using an iPhone. Stunning, no?

iPhoneography

Images Shot with an iPhone

To further drive home the point, Pye sets up a sort of challenge. He pitted the Canon 5D Mark III against the Canon Rebel T5i. The full-frame DSLR was paired with an 85mm f/1.2 L II lens against an 85mm f/1.8 lens mounted on the crop DSLR. That’s $5,400 worth of sheer brawn against a humble $800 entry level kit. Which one do you think makes better images?

Both the cameras shot the exact same composition, same lighting, same model, and with the same silver reflector working as the main-light. With the full-frame camera the position of the photographer was closer to the subject to compensate for the wider angle of view. Check out the images below:

5D Mark iii vs. Rebel T5i

One of the shots taken during the test

cheap vs pro camera

The other shot from the same shoot.

Can you tell which is which?

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