I recently bought a Panasonic Lumix LX-50, and I absolutely love it. It isn’t nearly as bulky as a DSLR, but has a high quality Leica lens, and all of the modes and settings you expect on bigger camera. It’s those settings that help me get better shots. It’s the reason I ditched a perfectly good Sony WX-9 that took good pics, but no manual modes as all.

For me, the main thing that the iPhone can’t replace is the customization you need to get better low light shots, especially without the flash. If Apple wants to make their Camera app dead simple, that’s fine. I just wish they would give devs access to settings like shutter speed, F Stop, and ISO. I would part with an optical zoom for casual use if I could manipulate these on my iPhone.

I know that Symbian is a dead end OS, and can’t for the life of my understand why Nokia would choose it to roll out a revolutionary new mobile camera module, but I am intrigued by the possibilities of the 808 PureView phone. Nokia has found a creative solution to bring zoom capability to a good camera phone, without additional mechanical systems that can fail. If the PureView is a success when it comes to Nokia’s Windows Phones, it could change the way manufacturers and consumers think about cameras on smartphones.

I totally agree, and that is what makes this a convenience and not really a pro tool. Granted, excellent photos can be taken with the iPhone, but as of right now, it certainly cannot replace a DSLR.