Digital Cameras Are Popular Again: Do You Really Need another Camera

“Huh?" a lot of everyday photographers are asking. After all, the cameras shipped with our cell phones can render almost anything without issue, and the photos can also immediately upload them to social media.

To help you determine whether you should become a card carrying representative of the second camera movement—or not—we reached out to advocates from both camps. Here, they argue both sides.

Yes, secondary cameras are fun to use, and produce singular snaps

The cameras on our phones are obviously capable, but dedicated clickers offer quality they can’t. In a recent viral TikTok video, influencer Lauren Wolfe compared side-by-side pictures taken on a beach during sunset with, respectively, her iPhone and a Canon Powershot G7 X, a $500 compact model released in 2014. Most commenters considered the point-and-shoot the clear winner and the post amassed 4.1 million views. “Went from the worst to the best pics of my life," captioned Ms. Wolfe.

Cameras with an interchangeable lens are even more technically astute, argues PJ Patella-Rey. The 39-year-old event and portrait photographer, also a visiting professor at the University of Pittsburgh, says their powerful imaging sensors produce sharper photos than smartphones can.

The classic camera in this category, the DSLR, is certainly bulkier than the average phone. But Prof. Patella-Rey’s favored camera, the $2,000 “mirrorless" Sony A7 III, dispenses with an analog viewfinder, delivering the pictorial capability of DSLR, but in a svelter package. Though pricey, such mirrorless cameras are popular. The Camera and Imaging Products Association, an industry group based in Japan, says sales of cameras with interchangeable lenses, including mirrorless models, increased by over 110% year-over-year between 2021 and 2022.

The push isn’t just about posting better pictures. The consumer imaging division of Fujifilm announced it earned over $1.6 billion in the first three quarters of the 2022 fiscal year, a year-over-year increase of 23.4% that it attributed to better sales of its Instax instant cameras. These cameras, which function like the Polaroids of old, rarely produce images as in-focus or balanced as those you’d get on your phone or DSLR. But that’s kind of the point. “I mostly use Instax cameras on trips," said Sandy Noto, 35, a professional photographer in Chicago. “They’re great at capturing a moment."

For similar reasons, some young people say they’re shooting more frequently with more traditional film cameras—purchased new, found on eBay or even rescued from a parent’s junk drawer. “The feeling of little fiddly buttons, the plastic snapping of the back case after loading in film—all of that just satisfies something in me that desires clicky haptic feedback," said Boston-based writer Alex Weliever, 24, who has acquired old film cameras, like an Ansco box camera, over the past few months. She still uses her phone on occasion, but says she’s finding more reason to use other cameras. “For photos of my friends, pretty landscapes and weird moments in my neighborhood, film [captures] the feeling a lot more," she said.

No, new phones take amazing images, plus you already have one in your pocket

Plenty of people say that the fun of shooting with film and the fidelity a digital point-and-shoot or mirrorless camera achieves are simply not worth the extra expense and the lug-it-around burden.

For most Americans, using one’s phone as an all-purpose camera is the rule, not the exception. According to 2022 data from polling company Gallup, 97% of U.S. adults have a smartphone. And the cameras on these phones keep getting better. The new iPhone 14 Pro, released last fall, uses a beefy 48-megapixel sensor to take much more detailed photos than its predecessor. The Google Pixel 7, which debuted about the same time, has new capabilities like macro focus, which lets you take detailed pictures from as close as three centimeters from a subject.

Even without any understanding of aperture, focal length or “bokeh" (a blurred background), anyone can take impressive shots with these phones. That’s why Julie Rae Powers, 33, a Columbus, Ohio-based photographer, believes that a secondary camera is “not necessary at all" for most people.

Mx. Powers, who uses the gender-neutral honorific, argues that some of these secondary cameras, particularly mirrorless and film options, just cost too much to justify their advantages. While acknowledging that Istax and Polaroid cameras offer a fun tactility, Mx. Powers considers that far from essential.

Then there’s the fear of wasting film. While camera phones let you shoot basically endlessly (at least until you run out of cloud storage), Mx. Powers pointed out, “the stakes…are higher with slower forms of photography."

As many noted, a phone can do so much more than take photos. Longtime shutterbug Natalie Koch, 34, grew up using a Kodak Star 110 and a Polaroid. When she began working as the social-media manager for a celebrity, the Los Angeles resident found herself almost exclusively capturing photos and videos with her Google Pixel, editing them quickly and then posting them to social media soon after.

“I started relying solely on my phone for all my photography needs," explained Ms. Koch, who is now a content strategist for a large business-to-business software company. “The ongoing costs of film photography—buying the film, processing, printing, etc.—can certainly become an issue for folks who don’t have the means…and it can be expensive to participate in as a hobbyist," she said. “I believe there’s an art in itself to using both free and paid tools and apps available for phone photography to create something beautiful and interesting."