PHONECAM Problems

can you help me (us)?
I have this gorgeous, though not expensive phone (£220). It has a good camera on board. I cannot make it work well enough to match my pride, nor my pocket camera.

WHO then, is being successful with a Phone cam and dare point us (this is for us all) to a decent Observation that relies on Phone cam pix?
Who has good tips tips about camera stability, depth of focus and a quality that stands up to iSpot’s full size view?
Here’s mine https://www.ispotnature.org/communities/uk-and-ireland/view/observation/805280/phonecam.
Some of those pictures are taken at 2043/25000th of a second at f2 - meaningless?

Thinking back a few years these are mostly very good photos compared to compact cameras of that time. The problems are mainly from the phone camera trying to be too clever and mushing up things rather than producing digital noise. I think there may be a way to get the real image out without the processing but I may be wrong about that (very few do raw images but some may allow you to reduce or almost stop the amount of automatic processing).

Another issue is that most don’t allow you to use longer exposure rather than increasing ISO so need good light.

If you want closeups then some of the clip on lenses can be not that bad and the phone might be pursuaded to do several images in a burst and select the sharpest one or the one with best focus or even do a focus stack automatically. Suspect none of these will be as good as the compact camera and may be more hit or miss.

Thanks, I know you use the Phonecam effectively
I set-to today to get some better images - (I’ll link the Ob here). It is not difficult but a true photographer will delete far more Phone-cam pictures as unsuitable. personally, I suspect it is a huge time waster, better with a cheap, but good-lensed, dedicated pocket cam.
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I did this year’s ago https://www.ispotnature.org/communities/uk-and-ireland/view/observation/768755/the-phone-and-the-campion
and this is in the Help Crousel just now https://www.ispotnature.org/communities/global/view/observation/805298/calopteryx-maculata-beauvois-the-ebony-jewelwing-at-the-mississippi I think it illustrates how everyone thinks they are a photographer because they have a camera in their Communication device!.

Well this was a phone camera (strictly an iPad camera but it’s the same camera as in an iPhone of the same generation)

https://www.ispotnature.org/communities/uk-and-ireland/view/observation/768388/

However the ID using the photos came from another system not iSpot.

Is it time to develop this thread a bit more?
See Mike’s latest phoneCam Post
https://www.ispotnature.org/communities/uk-and-ireland/view/observation/856831/
And my own, looking at macro use https://www.ispotnature.org/communities/uk-and-ireland/view/observation/856618/
And there is more to a phone than photos here
https://www.ispotnature.org/communities/uk-and-ireland/view/observation/856823/
Does anyone have experience worth sharing?

I don’t necessarily have the smartest smart phone and I am often disappointed by the results of my photography with it. It doesn’t always seem to focus on the bit I’ve highlighted. And the zoom is a digital one so you rapidly lose definition.
Look how poor this one is, for example Odd jackdaw | Observation | UK and Ireland | iSpot Nature
I usually carry my TG-6 with me if I’m expecting to need to take photos. It is brilliant at finding the thing it wants to focus on (which is usually the thing I want it to focus on). For example, Wintering ladybirds | Observation | UK and Ireland | iSpot Nature
although it doesn’t have enough depth of field to get both beetles in focus. (It would be OK in better light, probably.)

Comes from good lighting and careful use of A on the TG dial

Must try your ‘fish’ tip!