I had an S6 (now S7) and there was no way I ever found to quick launch the camera in a mode which takes RAW. Asked all over the internet… How did you do it?
I know it can be done on a rooted phone, by editing some system (XML) config files.
The Huawei phones take great photos but the ones which have wireless charging are all huge, otherwise I would have got one by now.
IMO most people take photographs to share with family and friends, not for commercial use. For this purpose the phone, especially the modern variety are perfect, far better than the DSLR, simply because you are more likely to be carrying one when you want it which is not the case with a DSLR and heavy lenses whichs can’t easily be used in small spaces like an aircraft.
@Archie most of the things you list in your post #29 are just gimmicks or marketing speak. 2 x optical zoom, most optical zoom lenses start at 10 x optical zoom. Image stabilisation handy for video but for still photography just use ie a faster shutter speed.Shallow depth of field? Open the lens wide. RAW photography, uncompressed but in a file format that is not shared with other manufacturers, a bit like the difference between betamax and vhs.4k video good but 8k is already here. 13mm lens, depends on the size of the sensor array, in normal terms its you a wide angle lens. HDR is really a distribution thing and again differs from manufacturer to manufacturer.ISO how many people really know what this means? On a roll of film the ISO was always printed on the box so you could decide what speed/how sensitive the film was.If that figure for ISO is not shown on digital cameras and phones why worry about ISO, you will know you are outside the sensor speed range as soon as you start getting noise.
Earlier in this thread I think, someone shot some photos on a 35mm Russian film camera (apologies for not being able to find the post) . They were photos of a harbour scene. If you were to enlarge those photos, even through a digital system to 20 ins x 16ins you would be hard pressed to get the same quality of resolution and aesthetically pleasing image from even a very expensive phone or dslr. BTW I am not judging the photography itself.So as I said in a previous post its horses for courses.
Peter wrote:
I had an S6 (now S7) and there was no way I ever found to quick launch the camera in a mode which takes RAW. Asked all over the internet… How did you do it?
There is a small camera icon to the bottom right of the screen when the screen is locked. Swipe the icon and the camera starts. It might be that this came with a software update – I don’t remember.
I haven’t checked specifically that it gives you RAW, but it does remember settings.
Yes; it remembers some settings, but RAW requires the Pro mode and that doesn’t get saved. Unless there is a later OS update…
The Mate 20 Pro is 15mm taller than the S7 and basically the same width, but with a much bigger useable display: https://phonesized.com/compare/#621,1112
The quick open feature does eventually (not sure how long, maybe hours) take you out of Pro mode back to normal, but one more click gets you back to Pro mode in which RAW is preselected.
Peter wrote:
Yes; it remembers some settings, but RAW requires the Pro mode and that doesn’t get saved.
You’re right that Pro mode doesn’t get saved, but the Pro mode settings are saved, as far as I can see.
This kind of stuff was traditionally solved with 3rd party camera apps. For years I used a thing called Footej Camera, but it stopped working with some version of android (quite a while ago) because the API no longer allowed access to a lot of camera features. For example focusing didn’t work properly anymore. I had some dialogue with the programmer who wrote it and he told me very interesting stuff e.g. all camera apps are nothing more than a “control panel” onto the camera API. The app doesn’t get access to the image data – other than indirectly, after the OS has produced the image and saved it to the filesystem. This is done for “best user experience” – same reason why the blocked apps accessing SD cards except for some types of data (SD cards are much slower than internal flash) although this issue is going away with 128GB-512GB phones. Also 3rd party camera apps cannot be quick-launched, unless again the phone is rooted and tweaked. In the end life gets too short to waste on this stuff.
On Gallois’ post above, yeah, phones are still way behind pocket cameras, let alone DSLRs. But a 3x optical zoom (on the new Samsungs) is nice and will take yet another bite out of the standalone camera market. Other phones address this with multiple cameras, which should be optically better. Stabilisation is helpful because you can use a much slower shutter which improves noise and thus low light performance. Phone images are really noisy even in good light, if you look at the detail.
@gallois Archie most of the things you list in your post #29 are just gimmicks or marketing speak
No they are all real, tangible improvements to hardware or software, significantly. (Expect for aperture- I wrote that incorrectly)
I don’t give much for her music, but thought this was interesting
Lady Gaga’s ‘Stupid Love’ Video Was Shot on a Smartphone — And So Were These 5 Others
Do any phones have a “real aperture”? I know action cams don’t and only “semi pro” camcorders do. I mean a proper iris.
This means any F number you set in the camera app is a fake. Apple create the effect computationally for the purpose of modifying the depth of focus, but that needs software to identify the outlines of common objects, which is hard with people, hair, etc.
Phones can do very good movies if not thrown around too much, and the lighting is favourable. They have the CPU power nowadays to do 4k/60fps without losing any frames. 8k, I suspect, is not done at 200mbps 
Peter wrote:
Do any phones have a “real aperture”
Dual aperture, Yes
The fact that Apple hasn’t copied it says to me that it’s currently not really adding any value.
Fastest bitrate in an app I believe is the Filmic Pro extreme setting 100mpbs at 4K
