Crazy Pricing With The New Pixel Fold

[Saracen999]

I've always said; the best camera is the camera you have with you. Which more often then not is my phone, so I always prioritise camera performance

Very true. Up to a point.

I cerainly don't want to carry an SLR, a selection of lenses etc, when I pop to the shops. But having a camera of some sort always with you can be very useful. Such as, when some idiot drives into your parked car. Having photos of cars, damage, positioning, and people involved, etc prevents many arguments later as to do did what, where. I've carried a small, cheapish camera in the xar, since the 70s, for that exact reason.

However, if I have some specific photographic purpose in mind, then the best camera is the one best suited for that purpoe. Phone cameras, for instance, aren't going to match an SLR with a damn great telephoto for photograping lions in the wild. I want to be further away than a phone camera allows

Similarly, though the macro mode on many phones, even mid-range ones, is good enough for most peole most of the time, it's not going to touch a proper macro lens, and/or proper flash.

Etc.

That, really, is my concern over having a high-end phone for the camera facility. The notion appeals, they're very light, and I have it with me anyway. However, it's not going to touch a 'proper' camera (and lens) for macro, for built-in image stabilisation, even for video (though they're pretty good at that).

Half of me wants to cheap out with the phone. The other half says don't faff about with silly-priced phones, just do the job properly with the right tool for the job .... or I end up being the one that looks like a right tool.


Back to that Pixel, though.

Nope, not for me. It's not the price, though. Or not only that.

First, it's Google. I'm not putting that much (or indeed, any) cash in their pockets if a useable alternative exists.

Second, I don't need a folding screen. Nor, yet, do I trust it not to delaminate fairly quickly. THe folding screen tech is too new for me to trust.

[Hoonigan]

I can't understand the want, or need, for foldable phones. The screen format isn't good for watching videos, the size isn't good for holding, the screen isn't good for longevity, I just don't get it.

Get an iPhone 14 Pro, stop messing around with inferior tech.

[Saracen999]

For my needs. I don't either. But I imagine for those were screen 'real estate' matters, they're a boon. Typically, I'd think that'll be business users a lot of the time, for easier reading of emails, diarising calendar events and so on. Not that they can't be done on phones but that the squarer aspect ratio makes it easier, and this faster. I don't give a hoot, personally though.

iPhone? Um, no?

[Jonj1611]

I have the Galaxy S23. Camera is extremely good on it. I believe the higher models have better cameras but of course higher prices

[Saracen999]

I only looked once and briefly, but it started the idea percolating. I think it was the Ultra version of the S23. My reservation is that because it's (for me) mainly about the camera, and my needs in the rest of it are very modest, it seems like a silly route to go. But yeah, the camera appears to be very impressive.

[Rob_B]

Get an older model,the genuine differences year to year are mostly minimal.

I grabbed a refurb S21 Ultra for cheap a bit ago (camera is great and the 10X zoom is so handy) , chucked in a prepay SIM. For some reason many 30day rolling contracts are more expensive then my £10 Bundle... Weird.

[Saracen999]

IIRC, it was the MrWhosethebess look at the S23 Ultra that made me think, when he concluded that in many (but not quite all) respects it's makedly better than the S22 Ultra, and sufficiently so to mean he won't necessarily keep an iPhone around for video.

For a start, they've finally gone Snapgragon for Euro models, not Exynos. Also, much improved image stabilisation, "usable 8k @30fps" (not that I'm likely to use 8k), and, well, take a look at the video if you care enough. It's only one opinion, but it's, let us say, an interesting one.

In reality, what I should do is just upgrade my SLR and be done with it. For my purposes (and I stress that bit) it's probably a better solution, if markedly more expensive. Of course, Canon had to muddy the waters by releasing several new R-series models since I last looked, so now I have to try to work out which have the features I need. Damn. Still, I might end up being less high-end than the fairly but not totally high-end model I had settled on, which is good because cost what mainly what was holding me back.

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

The tech space has dined too long on the altar of cheap credit. So too many companies borrowed too much,and too many people use credit,so companies started jacking up pricing. They have promised "investors" record margins and profits YoY and the tech industry is rife with speculative trading based on speculative margin improvements. But this has been driven by debt.

So now the wheels are falling off the bus,they can't reduce margins or pricing so have to dig deeper.

Get an older model,the genuine differences year to year are mostly minimal.

I grabbed a refurb S21 Ultra for cheap a bit ago (camera is great and the 10X zoom is so handy) , chucked in a prepay SIM. For some reason many 30day rolling contracts are more expensive then my £10 Bundle... Weird.

I remembered arguing with many here why the high end smartphones were a waste of money years ago,because they were not innovating on the camera side.I pointed out the lack of telephoto lenses and why they were not using folded optics. Or the fact they used tiny sensors,smaller than many prosumer compacts.

It only took Huawei and other Chinese companies to force the point,as I predicted. They started using larger sensors in a huge number of companies and folded optics.Now the camera setups on medium level and higher ends smartphones are actually decent. Now people can see what I was talking about,all those years ago.

I managed to get my S20FE two years for £300,and the picture quality is good enough to do the job for most of my casual photography. Plus I get a few different focal lengths too.

IIRC, it was the MrWhosethebess look at the S23 Ultra that made me think, when he concluded that in many (but not quite all) respects it's makedly better than the S22 Ultra, and sufficiently so to mean he won't necessarily keep an iPhone around for video.

For a start, they've finally gone Snapgragon for Euro models, not Exynos. Also, much improved image stabilisation, "usable 8k @30fps" (not that I'm likely to use 8k), and, well, tke a look at the video if you care enough. It's only one opinion, but it's, let us say, an interesting one.

In reality, what I should do is just upgrade my SLR and be done with it. For my puroses (sand I stress that bit) it's probably a better solution, if markedly more expensive. Of course, Canon had to muddy the waters by releasing several new R-series models since I last looked, so now I have to try to work out which have the features I need. Damn. Still, I might end up being less high-end than the fairly not not totally high-end model I had settled on, which is good because cost what mainly what was holding me back.

RDNA2 is being incorporated into newer Samsung SOCs so we might see them shift back to Exynos designs soon enough. But also remember,the advantage a full sized camera is the sensor size and the flexibility of the types of lenses you can use. But I essentially have moved over to Fuji now - the old Nikon FX based setup is only use for the odd airshow now. The Nikon is still excellent but it weighs a lot.

Think of a high end smartphone as a phone with a prosumer camera in it.

But the only issue of buying a higher end phone,is that it's only as good as the amount of software updates you get(or the battery not wearing out). The camera then gets thrown away when you upgrade again.

It's a shame that modular smartphones really didn't catch on.

[Saracen999]

...

Think of a high end smartphone as a phone with a prosumer camera in it.

....

That's what worries me. But it's a balancing act. Obviously, however good they get they're never going to match a 'proper' camera (and lenses, etc) for either image quality or versatility in demanding situations. But, balancing that, it's already been pointed out that the best camera is the one you have with you. (see note). And while true, and that the world's best SLR setup isn't going to do me much good if I leave it at home, and need a cameera while I'm not there. Also, my personal situation weihs against full SLR setups these days, whatever I mught want to be the case.

There are compromises in using a high-end phone as a camera, for sure, and the duration of on-going support is certainly a big one. But there are with the SLR route, too. The first is that for all of the high cost of the phone, it's nowhere near the cost of the camera (and bits). Also, nowhere near the weight, either to lug from A to B (and C, D, etc) or in use.




NOTE - Yes, there are options that are 'pure camera', would do most/all of what I need, and yet aren't SLR. I'm deliberately avoiding (except in this remark) that can of worms. But I'm not unaware of that route.

[jimborae]

@Saracen sound to me like you need to jump on the Sony Xperia 1 or 5 bandwagon. A camera phone built for the DSLR user, only trouble for you is that it's all based off the Sony Alpha DSLR interface. There's none of the Google or Samsung computational photography going on here, just optical hardware physics and you get the ulitimate control of the camera itself. The downside of this though is that it makes it a relatively poor point & shoot camera phone unlike the Pixel or Samsungs.

[Saracen999]

Not really. For the Pixel, hell, no. Google, innit. Say no more. The point of even half-considering the Samsung was decent video, out of the box. Quick, simple, etc, and not having to faff, most of the time, with post-production stuff (or more accurately, except the clipping of beginning and end and getting sound sync right).

The halfway house would be more modest (non-R series) Canon mirrorless that, nonetheless, let me use existing lenses, etc.

Dunno. I'll probably end up doing nothing. It's not my highest priority, for sure. It's just that that S23 Ultra review got me thinking the unthinkable - that, for me, maybe a high-end phone was an option. My current one, well on the way to end-of-support I'd think, isn't even S-series Sammy, It's an A. I never thought anything would get me even considering high-end .... though the irony is, wgat did was the camera capability, not the phone spec (which I hugely neither need nor care about). In therms of the phone part, an old analog phone with 10 (or maybe, 25) memories would do .... if analog cellular still existed.