topic Re: iPhone camera better than R7??? in EOS DSLR & Mirrorless Cameras

EOS R7 Unhappy With Photo Quality

Sabrena00 — Wed, 19 Apr 2023 14:31:20 GMT

Purchased the canon R7 and I don’t know if I’m happy with the quality of the photos. Tonight my friend and I took the same photos, she used an iPhone and her photos were 100% better than the R7. Am I doing something wrong?

Re: iPhone camera better than R7???

shadowsports — Sun, 16 Apr 2023 02:37:51 GMT

Greetings,

Is this your first mirrorless camera? What lens were you using and what were you shooting? Conditions, etc? Are you shooting in RAW or JPEG? You want to shoot in RAW or RAW+JPEG. If you like, please post a RAW photo for us to look at. Due to size 33MP, you'll need to upload to box, drive, dropbox, etc and share the link with us.

I'll take a good body and lens over an iPhone or Pixel any day. I think your friend got lucky, and a month or two from now after you've had a chance to learn your camera it will be you with a first place photo.

Re: iPhone camera better than R7???

deebatman316 — Sun, 16 Apr 2023 01:14:58 GMT

What settings are you using exactly. What are the lighting conditions like. What lens are you using with your camera. Are you using the kit lens.

Re: iPhone camera better than R7???

Tronhard — Sun, 16 Apr 2023 02:09:43 GMT

My first thought is what subjects are you trying to photograph and what are you trying to produce? For a lot of social photography, I think that a cell phone is eminently appropriate for producing images for digital publication and smaller prints. Cell phones inherently have less effective sensors, simply because of their size, but they overcome this with highly-capable firmware and software that can work miracles on the resultant images.

However, for other types of photography and output, a cell phone is not suitable. For anything requiring a long focal length for example: sports and wildlife photography, a large sensor and good optic will produce much better results, especially if one is wanting to output larger files for display or printing.

So, you may be better to use a cell phone or you may not be realizing the potential from your camera - they take a lot more getting used to compared to cell phones that do most of the thinking for you. Understanding the physics of photography, and how to use a dedicated camera takes time and practice. The famous photographer Henri Cartier-Bressan said "your first 10,000 images are your worst", there is some truth in that in that you have to put your time in and get to know your gear.

The potential is greater and so is the learning curve.

Re: iPhone camera better than R7???

johnrmoyer — Sun, 16 Apr 2023 10:00:27 GMT

I hope some of this might be helpful. For social media, the iPhone might sometimes be superior if the images are intended to be displayed on a small low resolution screen, but your EOS R7 is capable of producing images that are impossible on the iPhone. Comparing your camera to an iPhone might not be fair if you are new to the camera and the iPhone user has had more practice.

If you were to show one of your photos, several here could make specific suggestions for improving future photos.

If you have access to a computer, then telling the camera to save RAW or CRAW plus JPEG is a good idea. Much can be done using the free Canon DPP program when processing the RAW or CRAW CR3 file on a computer. For example white balance can be changed after the photo is made. Even if you do not use a computer, much can be done with the RAW or CRAW CR3 file on the camera using the camera menus.

Here are some links to information that I have found helpful:

https://www.canon-europe.com/pro/stories/dpp-editing-tips/

https://www.usa.canon.com/learning/training-articles/training-articles-list

https://www.usa.canon.com/learning/inspiration/inspirational-stories-list/explorers-of-light

https://www.cambridgeincolour.com/tutorials.htm

Re: iPhone camera better than R7???

ebiggs1 — Sun, 16 Apr 2023 14:43:56 GMT

Sabrena00,

The camera in the iphone 13 and 14 or whatever is darn good. So, for general photos it is a good choice and that is why most of the lesser digital camera market has suffered. There is no denying that. Excluding all the fluff above, it does come down to how you want to and how you use your photos. For instance all you want is to display them on an iphone or tablet or u/l to social media like Facebook or Instagram, etc. the iphone is king. However if you want to be able to change lenses, crop and edit your photos and make nice prints your R7 is king. The ability to have tons more camera setting options isn't even comparable. The iphone makes nice photos for sure but fails miserably when things aren't great. Good for that quick shot and selfie of you and your gal friends on that special outing for sure.

Consider this, the photo sensor in your iphone is about the size of your pinky fingernail. On the other hand, pun intended, the sensor in your R7 is about one inch square. Many times bigger and many times better if the above editing, cropping and printing is wanted. And that all important lens changeability. There is room for both, so use your iphone where it shines and use your R7 where it shines.

Re: iPhone camera better than R7???

wq9nsc — Sun, 16 Apr 2023 17:24:24 GMT

Phone cameras are primarily aimed at people with little/no experience with photography and they often do a better job than a dedicated carmera of getting a good photo in their "fully automatic" mode. Your R7 is considerably more capable IF you take advantage of its versatility and capabilities which will require a little learning and a little more user input/control but the results will be better.

Most of my photography is sports and although I have an iPhone 14, I hate the camera because I am used to the very responsive Canon 1DX series bodies. They are a little too cumbersome for pleasure travel and I bought a tiny Canon M6 Mark II mirrorless purely for airline travel.

Performance wise, it isn't even in the same time zone as my 1DX series DSLR bodies but it is so much more responsive than my iPhone and it captures what I want when I tell it to do so. But like my 1DX series bodies, it is set to save images in RAW files and it runs with manual aperture and shutter speed setting with ISO set to auto.

Spend the short amount of time to learn how to get the most out of your R7, it will be well worth your time.

Rodger

Re: iPhone camera better than R7???

Sabrena00 — Tue, 25 Apr 2023 20:12:24 GMT

First of all thank you. I did realize one big mistake I was doing so that helped. Does canon have a computer program to view the photos?

Re: iPhone camera better than R7???

Sabrena00 — Tue, 25 Apr 2023 20:14:49 GMT

Do you have a suggestion on how best to learn? YouTube videos? Suggestions for the best ones? I wish classes were available in my area.

Re: iPhone camera better than R7???

deebatman316 — Tue, 25 Apr 2023 21:45:20 GMT

It would be best to learn the features and controls of your camera first. Then learn the exposure triangle next. Do NOT try to learn it all at once by using Manual Mode. Start off with one of the semi automatic modes first. Such as using Av (Aperture Priority) or Tv (Time Value or Shutter Priority). To see how the camera makes the correct exposure for the shutter speed or aperture chosen by you. I would also follow along in the video to see if you can get a correct exposure.

Re: iPhone camera better than R7???

johnrmoyer — Tue, 25 Apr 2023 22:29:53 GMT

Canon Digital Photo Professional. Free download to run on Mac or PC. Also, Apple photos.app can process the Canon Camera raw files. I have used Apple photos.app on an iMac, but I do not have an iPhone. I usually use Canon Digital Photo Professional.

https://cam.start.canon/en/S002/manual/html/index.html

https://www.usa.canon.com/support/p/eos-r7 has the free Canon software downloads.

Re: iPhone camera better than R7???

Tronhard — Wed, 26 Apr 2023 20:18:54 GMT

The principles are universal. Photography encompasses both technical and artistic components, that's what makes it a great activity: it uses left and right brain.

Sabrena, there are several options for you:
* See if the local community college has courses on photography.
* check with your local library on-line catalogue and see if they have an item for Linked Learning. If so, it gives you free access to (an otherwise pay) account full of professional educational courses on a wide variety of photography topics. From first principles to advanced topics. You need your library ID to log on and go via the library site.
* Join a local photographic society and ask for help from the members you meet. Usually, they will be very happy to help.

For a free, general-purpose intro to photography with a dedicated camera, see this video by Nat Geo photographer Chris Bray:

For specific training on using the R7 check out this video by Michael Maven:

and

Re: EOS R7 Unhappy With Photo Quality

ebiggs1 — Wed, 26 Apr 2023 16:37:50 GMT

Sabrena00,

All that is well and good and I don't say to not avail yourself to all the info on the ole inner web but I see new folks get mostly even more confused and frustrated by it. Next off they start to over think simple situations. The very best solution is to take a course at your local community college or perhaps a local camera shop has lessons. Photography clubs in the area or like I used to teach DSLR 101 classes put on by the city Park and Recs in the summertime.

The bottom line here is how do you want to use the photos. It is more about that than it is how to use the new R7 camera. If you reread my first reply I think that point may well be heeded. Use what works. Use what gets the job done. When the iphone works best use it. Wen the R7 works best use it. You do need to d/l the free from Canon photo editor called DPP4. You do need to spend some time learning how it works. Your iphone makes snapshots. Snapshots and selfies with silly poses are what they are and they don't require editing. You either look at them on your iphone or u/l to social media. However if you want something like this, you need a real camera like your R7.

You can make a nice print or you can put it on social media too.

Try this one with an iphone

When the iphone works best use it. Wen the R7 works best use it.

Re: EOS R7 Unhappy With Photo Quality

Tronhard — Wed, 26 Apr 2023 21:38:27 GMT

There are several aspects to improving your photography:
1. General principles of the control of a camera to get the correct exposure, but also control it to achieve the desired results in terms of movement, or subject isolation.
2. The creative side, understanding the principles of composition. For this exposure to great images from painters and photographers is a great source of learning.

Both of these may be addressed via a community college course, something Ernie and I both agree on. More experience will come with hands-on exposure to taking photos in the company of other, experienced photographers: hence the idea of joining a camera club.

One aspect that is important to master is an understanding of your camera equipment to get the most out of it and not let the controls stand in your may of getting a great shot. Ideally, you should be able to find a control without thinking, much as people do with the keys on a keyboard when touch-typing. This requires two things: a clear understanding of the features and controls of your camera, and then practice. That is why I suggest specifically the videos on using your camera for which I provided a link - they provide a very specific type of education. While people have different learning styles, it is generally acknowledged that a video is the next best solution to getting the introduction to your camera after a personal 1-on-1 experience. The advantage is you can replay the videos as required.