BUY A REAL CAMERA!!

[dickbaker]

OK!  When your on the ice,  your Iphone is useful to call home or help.  But, depending on it as your primary photo captures is a poor choice.  I carry Minolta SLR because it stores lots of high quality pictures  or videos on an SD card that down loads to my computer ever evening.   I'm amazed at the quality small cameras available at low prices.   If you can afford you're Iphone minutes and dozens of apps I'm sure you can afford a good camera that will allow you to post great pictures during the coming ice season.  Might be a great thing to put on your Christmas list?
Dick

[Agronomist_at_IA]

OK!  When your on the ice,  your Iphone is useful to call home or help.  But, depending on it as your primary photo captures is a poor choice.  I carry Minolta SLR because it stores lots of high quality pictures  or videos on an SD card that down loads to my computer ever evening.   I'm amazed at the quality small cameras available at low prices.   If you can afford you're Iphone minutes and dozens of apps I'm sure you can afford a good camera that will allow you to post great pictures during the coming ice season.  Might be a great thing to put on your Christmas list?
Dick

What IPhone are you using? My 7+ takes photos that are great, and even show up great on a 1080 55in tv. I don't understand why you would want a camera? Cameras have gone the way of a pager, corded home phone, and the way sat. cable tv is going.

[dickbaker]

  Phones take OK pictures,  but I have yet to see a phone photo used as magazine cover or story leading page?    I'm afraid the time has come when many people feel naked in the wilderness without an Iphone to lead them, and entertain them while on the ice?
Why do I picture you at the dinner table with phone in hand sliding your thumbs as fast as they will move?  Kind of sad compared to years past when we would sip beer and tell old fishing stories?
Dick

[missoulafish]

are we talking about picture capability or the cell phone generation? A good camera is awesome but it will never have the convenience of a smart phone...

[jethro]

When my friends and family ask me advice on cameras, which they do since I make money with my camera, I always start the conversation the same way... The first thing to determine is not the physical act of taking the photo at all, rather the 1st question should be- "How do you want to display your photos?" If all you are ever going to do with your images is post on Facebook or internet chat rooms/forums, where your viewers are generally going to be viewing at best 1080p, then your iPhone or Samsung is going to be ok. Yes, you will lack a great deal of dynamic range and any control over depth of field will be more or less artificially generated, but your viewers will not usually criticize a good image because of it. But if you have any plans of printing your images and displaying in a physical album or of course enlarging to 10x20 you need to consider a more capable imaging device.

Any discussion of imaging technology needs to being with that question, period. From there the next answer is either very easy or somewhat more complicated!

[dickbaker]

  Hard to argue with Doc?   Its been a long time since I sold stories and pictures to outdoor magazines.   OK!  I've moved beyond my 35MM camera and even gave up on my old flip phone.   But when I got my new Nikon Coolpix digital I found how much I missed my
DSLR camera.  Just as with the TV screen viewer of an Iphone  I find it hard to quickly zoom, frame and stop photos that I hope might provide memories worth keeping!  I once did a Conn. River trout fishing story.  A good friend who was a professional drift guide gave me some of his best rainbow trout pictures.  I provided them with some that I had taken with my old Instamatic?   They used his photos as the glossy front page as well as the header for the story page.  He got $500 for the front page and $200 for the header photos!!
I've reviewed the Iphone 7 plus and it would be a great purchase if didn't always carry both a phone and a camera.   My phone is always in an inside jacket pocket and my camera is stowed in my pack basket.  Not much extra weight?
Dick

[Chris338378]

I'm sure there's a lot of guys who will agree with me in saying, we're ice fishermen not professional photographers and the odds of the vast majority of us selling a picture to some magazine are pretty much slim and none with none being the truth.  Yeah a camera is nice but I'd rather spend my time fishing and snapping a quick picture with my phone rather than setting up some photo shoot on the ice when I can be catching more fish.  Considering the number of members here compared to the number of members who actually post pictures there's not a lot that even post pictures and if they "have to" use a camera there'll be even less posting pictures.  Sure it's nice advice but I don't see the members here running out the buy a camera just to post pictures on this or any other site.  I know I'd buy more jigs and gear long before I did that and I'm pretty sure it's safe to say there's a lot of others who'd say and do the same thing.

[missoulafish]

i do agree about the abilities of a real camera far outweighing a phone/camera. Every once in a while I get a great picture on my phone only to realize if I ever wanted to use that picture somehow, I will be unable to blow it up to a suitable size. I keep saying I need to go back to carrying my camera....

[dickbaker]

Wow! If I lived in Montana I would probably have my camera with all the time!  Wonderful place.
Dick

[Agronomist_at_IA]

Technology moves right along. A computer use to be the size of a room. Now it is the size of a phone. Reality is the camera phone has improved a lot and will continue to. The digital platform is way to easy and handy to use. I doubt anyone under the age of 25 actually owns a stand alone camera.

[dickbaker]

  OK!  I admit that my first experience with a computer was feeding punch cards into a room size, glass enclosed main frame.   Still something sad about watching a group of people standing side by side while sliding fingers up and down an Iphone?   
Auto focus is still faster for digital cameras.  8 megapixel Iphones are wonderfull as long as I  can see the screen without my reading glasses and hold still with my shaky hands and compensate for the lack of optical zoom?   
I'm talking about ice fishing with no net reception and minimal Cell phone reception?
What is it that Iphone/icefishermen attain other than games and home connection?
Dick

[OldSailor]

You don't need net reception to take pictures, and for the vast majority of people on here, the quality of those pictures are just fine! There are other things for ice fishing that you would be better off spending money on! I think we're riding a dead horse here!!!

[Hottuna5150]

I use my phone for navionics, camera and to crank the allman bros on the ice.

[dickbaker]

  Ok.  If not for a camera ??  How do I get Navionics for my Samsung android?   Not an app that I see available?
Dick

[Coffin Dodger]

I agree with Chris and Old Sailor!
One thing I haven't seen mentioned....while Ol' Dick is fumbling around for his fancy camera, how's that fish's survival chances?
 
If it's a pile of fish destined for the pan or not, I have no issues with the pic quality I've seen here.

[missoulafish]

https://play.google.com/store/apps/developer?id=Navionics

[filetandrelease]

I never had aspersions of being  Ansel Adams anyway , for fishing and a few other things the phone is much more practical

[OldSailor]

I never had aspersions  to be Ansel Adams anyway , for fishing and a few other things the phone is much more practical

And you can't call home on your camera!!!

[aquarium234]

I always carry an extra camera to take pictures cuz I like to make picture books of my things don't get me wrong I take a lot of pictures with my cell phone to to share but there's nothing beating a real camera taking the photo I just keep a camera in the front pocket of my coat

[Hottuna5150]

Ok.  If not for a camera ??  How do I get Navionics for my Samsung android?   Not an app that I see available?
Dick

Unfortunately I'm not familiar with android, and I'm not particularly tech savy :/
Sorry Dick

[OldSailor]

For the use you specified, there is nothing better than a good camera. We aren't arguing that, a camera has it's place!! And good cameras are compact enough to fit in a pocket with no problem! To each their own!!

[filetandrelease]

Dick try google play you'll find what your looking for

[dickbaker]

I always carry an extra camera to take pictures cuz I like to make picture books of my things don't get me wrong I take a lot of pictures with my cell phone to to share but there's nothing beating a real camera taking the photo I just keep a camera in the front pocket of my coat

Love it when some one finally agrees with me.   Six ounces of camera doesn't seem like a big inconvenience?
Dick

[Agronomist_at_IA]

Love it when some one finally agrees with me.   Six ounces of camera doesn't seem like a big inconvenience?
Dick

It's not. 8-10yrs ago I bought a digital camera because it was so much better then the original cameras on the phones. Today though here is what my I Phone 7+ can do.

The iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus are equipped with 12MP rear-facing cameras with ƒ/1.8 aperture and a 7-megapixel FaceTime HD Camera. These cameras are capable of recording 4K video at 30 fps, 1080p HD video at 30 fps or 60 fps and 720p HD video at 30 fps. 8MP stills can be captured while 4K video recording is in progress.

Both models include optical image stabilization (OIS) and video stabilization, a Quad-LED True Tone flash and the ability to shoot 63-megapixel panorama photos.

The iPhone 7 features 5x digital zoom. The iPhone 7 Plus has a dual camera 12-megapixel system allowing for 2x optical zoom and 10x software zoom. The telephoto lens on the iPhone 7 Plus has an ƒ/2.8 aperture.

Now I understand that a camera might have better quality if you get a good one. However, the IPhone 7+ takes better pictures the the digital cameras we bought just a few years ago. Plus if the wife wants actual photos she just checks the photo and sends them over the Internet to get printed then they send them to the house.

The other thing that is really cool that I don't think a camera does is the memories function on the iPhone. It will go into your pictures and videos and make a slide show/video by itself. For instance if I go under the memories tab there is one called On The Water 2014-2017. It takes every photo or video from being on the water and makes a slide show video. It is really kinda cool to watch. It made a really awsome video slide show of our vacation and I did nothing. Technology is amazing.

[chilly-willy]

There's one phone that might be similar to slr type lenses and I think  it is a worth less phone none the less..  macro shots are non existence with a I phone or a galaxy phones..  trying to take a pick of a  size 18 dry fly is tough but can be done but a size 24 forget it.. if you take wide angle shots of eagles at 1000 plus feet your I phone has a no way to compete with the slr style cameras.. cant zoom far enough and get a good enough shot with a I phone trust me.. it like buying a reel for $5  versus one for $40 to $200 the more you pay the better the quality gets.. same with slr lenes don't think they make a Panamarmic zoom lens for your iPhone etc that shoots as clear as the slr cameras..  it is imposible with out the zoom lenses these slrs can get.. that's why most people don't take  magazie cover photos with a I phone..

[Agronomist_at_IA]

There's one phone that might be similar to slr type lenses and I think  it is a worth less phone none the less..  macro shots are non existence with a I phone or a galaxy phones..  trying to take a pick of a  size 18 dry fly is tough but can be done but a size 24 forget it.. if you take wide angle shots of eagles at 1000 plus feet your I phone has a no way to compete with the slr style cameras.. cant zoom far enough and get a good enough shot with a I phone trust me.. it like buying a reel for $5  versus one for $40 to $200 the more you pay the better the quality gets.. same with slr lenes don't think they make a Panamarmic zoom lens for your iPhone etc that shoots as clear as the slr cameras..  it is imposible with out the zoom lenses these slrs can get.. that's why most people don't take  magazie cover photos with a I phone..

Don't disagree just was point out for the everyday person that use to buy the everyday camera....the Phones have come a long way and fill most people's needs

[Spider1]

Last year I got tired of fumbling around with my cell phone camera. The problem is that in the sun, I can't see the screen so I never know if it came out ok or if it's even ready to take a pic. A buddy of mine always brings a camera and I was always impressed with the quality of his photos, much better than cell phone pics. I got a cheap camera that is basically a point and shoot and it's much easier to deal with. Got a gopro I want to try this year also.

[meatandmetal]

This is what I use for my pictures. This is a "real camera".

[aquarium234]

the only way you will truly see the difference between the phones and a camera is to take a picture with both of the same fish, then compare the photos, I must admit, at least its been a good topic to get a bunch of people fired up to talk about... :-)

[papadarv]

Ok.  If not for a camera ??  How do I get Navionics for my Samsung android?   Not an app that I see available?
Dick

Go to Play Store, android app store. Type boating than select boating app. 2 U.S. versions available. Boating $10 and BoatingHD $50.00 for tablet. Boating gives you a 2 week free full version to try out before purchase. Cheaper boating version also works on android tablets.