In the 21st century, you might be wondering… “are mirrorless or DSLR cameras even worth it now?”
Why not let us test it for you then?
So, here, we manage to get our hands on our guest-of-honour: Vivo X60 Pro, where the camera lenses happened to be co-engineered with Zeiss.
Specs-wise, what you get here is a 48MP main camera with two 13MP ultra-wide and portrait lenses. This triple-camera setup apparently promises a quality that’s out of this world.
But, can it replace a mirrorless or a DSLR camera?
While your DSLR utilises very high-quality lenses, the smartphone does it with mainly digital processors to get similar results.
So from here, it's very forgiving to think your 48MP smartphone camera can "replace" your DSLR... or can it?
Camera phone vs DSLR
Testing The Camera:
As you can see below on the wide shots… they look similar except with one major difference: The Vivo X60 Pro’s result tends to look aggressive and overly sharpened.
Not only that but the depth-of-field (the distance between the nearest and furthest object from the lens) is shallower on the X60 Pro, making the shot look less dramatic.
However, using the phone’s HDR mode produces better image quality than the one taken on a DSLR. You can easily adjust the colour tone of an otherwise flat-looking DSLR image, but the phone’s result already looks good enough in-camera.
Results:
- Camera phone - less dramatic, more colour-ready
- DSLR - dramatic, but needs editing on colours
What About The Bokeh Effect?
Shooting with a DSLR undoubtedly offers a better blur effect in the background, thanks to its larger sensor.
But Vivo X60 Pro’s portrait mode does a good job too in achieving the signature swirly bokeh in the background. And although the image looks more artificial, it still performed better than most camera smartphones out there.
Then again, if you have a person in the background, the images on the phone resulted in one of the best depth separations ever seen using a portrait mode.
The background blur also looks realistic enough and can match the quality of a DSLR. You can even customise the bokeh effect with variable depth of field.
For wider shots taken on a portrait mode, it produces a realistic, though not much on the blur effect between the foreground and the background.
But upon zooming in the phone camera a little, we have a better result here (read: smoother blur effect).
Results:
- Camera phone - satisfactory, but bokeh tend to look artificial even with customisation
- DSLR - natural and pleasant blur; easier to achieve smoother bokeh
Look Ma, No Tripod!
A cool feature on the Vivo X60 Pro is the built-in Gimbal Stabilization 2.0. That means even without a tripod, you can shoot a smooth-looking video.
Long story short; it does well to eliminate as many shakes no matter if you move your phone through a tree, handling from one hand to another or while you are running. When running, it’ll look similar to shooting on a GoPro, but still with some camera shakes and stutters.
And compared with a DSLR, the movement of the video performance on the Vivo X60 Pro performs better with more details than the former’s overexposed result as seen in the sky background.
Results:
- Camera phone - all built-in; processing power allows everything to be ready-to-publish
- DSLR - processing and external gimbal/stabilizer needed
Final Words (TLDR;)
The Vivo X60 Pro produces great results for anyone who finds the DSLR difficult to learn.
In conclusion, if you want a camera for everyday use, the Vivo X60 Pro (or similar) will do great to replace a mirrorless camera.
However, those who want more control over and natural processing of their images should go for a DSLR instead.
More: The Vivo X60 Pro features a vivid AMOLED display as well as HDR10+ with a 120Hz refresh rate and a great processor, all suitable for multitasking.
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Watch the full review here!