[Frost1x]

With DSLRs my main complaint to this day is still the lack of a good modular lens system for phones (I understand some of the challenges and tradeoffs). For most people's camera habits (selfies, food shots, group pictures...) the lenses your modern flagship phone provides are mostly great.

What's seriously lacking though is in the say 50-70+mm focal length range. I have an old Canon DSLR in my office storage collecting dust I had to quickly dust off and throw some batteries in to get some shots at the edge of my yard a few weeks back to capture some unique wildlife that was hanging out. With my flagship premiere phone I simply couldn't capture the moment, no matter the hope of digital zoom techniques and a built in "zoom" lens. Stepping closer would have killed the opportunity.

My 10+ year old DSLR was there to save the day. Quickly rummaged out my 400 mm lens and simply stabilized on a table and got mostly the shots I wanted. My smartphone cameras have been good enough and convient enough to capture most things I want but I really wish there was a mount system for small portable optics

[pmoriarty]

Another huge problem I've experienced with phone cameras is that they seem to all need to autofocus before taking a shot. This is horrible for, say, trying to take a picture out of a car's window as the car is moving, as the phone camera keeps refocusing on different parts of the scene, so I often miss the shot I need to take.

Any DSLR (and even many non-phone point-and-shoot cameras) have manual focus, so this is just not an issue with them.

Other problems with phone cameras are relatively slow shutter speeds and poor low light performance compared to DSLRs.

Phones can also only do digital zoom, which is horrible compared to a DSLR with a zoom lens. There's no way to put lens filters on phones either. They can't do infrared photography, etc, etc.

Lots and lots of ways that phones simply haven't caught up to DSLRs yet.

[ascagnel_]

> With DSLRs my main complaint to this day is still the lack of a good modular lens system for phones (I understand some of the challenges and tradeoffs). For most people's camera habits (selfies, food shots, group pictures...) the lenses your modern flagship phone provides are mostly great.

Point-and-shoot cameras have been replaced by phones; DSLRs, on the other hand, are rapidly being replaced by mirrorless cameras. Mirrorless cameras, at least on the surface, seem to be an improvement on DSLRs -- they don't require a mirror, so they're both easier and cheaper to manufacture, they allow for modular lens systems, and even allow for more features (like shooting video as well as stills) than a traditional DSLR.