Mobile Phone or Digital Camera for BJD Photography?

I use my Sony point-and-shoot digital camera when I want “good” pics, and my phone’s camera when I just want to quickly grab a snap to remember the day. ^^
Many people apologize, like, “sorry for phone pics,” but that seems to be a habit from the days when cell phone cameras captured small sized, grainy, low resolution shots. There is nothing wrong with using a modern phone camera, and no need to apologize.. as long as the upload size isn’t unreasonably enormous.

Focus on capturing your doll in a natural pose, make sure there is a shine of light in your doll’s eyes (when eyes are visible, of course!) and, of course it’s up to the photographer’s preference, but I also try to snap photos from around the doll’s eye-level, to avoid bobbleheadedness and to hide the unsightly neck joint. Don’t get too close-up, you can always crop later. There are many good guides and tips around the forums, these are my top suggestions though ^^

 

I am not a photographer and I never intend to be one; I take photos mostly for the sake of recording my belongings (I have terrible memory and it's only getting worse) and to document the modifications I do on most my dolls. As an artist, it is inevitable for me to want to share my work, so I also take photos for the sake of sharing, but it's only a minimal percentage compared to wanting to know what I own (because I do forget, and sometimes buy stuff I already own, because I forgot I already owned it -- not so much BJD, but OT dolls and figures). I usually use my 15-something-year-old digital camera, which has gone through a few accidents -- doesn't want to focus anymore. I always forget to get a new battery for it, so I can never take as many photos with it as I would like in one sitting, and I suck at setting lights -- I use common household lamps (I don't see the point of investing on good stuff when I suck! Tools are only as good as the artist holding them...). I don't take beautiful photos at all, but I have taken a few photos of my dolls I really love looking at. I've also taken photos at particular moments in time when I felt differently about them, so it's like going back memory lane. It's for that reason as well that I keep taking photos of my BJD, despite not being able to take beautiful photos of them; for the memories I get to keep forever. I can't give you any advice on how to take amazing photos people will drool over, but I can say that even if you never get to that point with photography, you can still enjoy the photos you take if you enjoy remembering things you might have forgotten about, through old photos you've taken. (:

 

My suggestion would be: use whatever you're comfortable with, but maybe invest in some adjustable lighting that will work well for doll-scale photography indoors. Even if that's just a couple old gooseneck table lamps. ^_^ (Size necessary dependent on doll scale and photography setup, of course.)

 

I have a fairly rubbish little digital camera but Photoshop Elements 10 makes majority of my pics OK. Now I'm used to Photoshop the thought of grappling to figure out a better camera is a bit daunting, but maybe one day I'll treat myself!

 

I really should buy a cammera, I never had any need for it -- my phone was and is anough for nature photography as same as making photos of my large paintings, but it's of no use for taking pictures of dolls or anything really small. To make such a photo nicely is too much of a labour especially if light isn't good. Well, cammera is not exactly my priority right now, so doll photography has to keep on waiting...

 

Cellphone is a good choice but I use my camera haba

 

I use my camera simply because I have it. I probably wouldn’t go out and buy one if I didn’t have one already since phones can take decent pictures too. But I have a canon t3i with a macro lens so for the doll size I choose to collect (16cm), my camera is perfect to capture all the small details.

 

Personally, I think both have very different functions, but depending on your ease of use and experience level they can be seen as interchangeable, or as different as day and night.

DSLRs are designed so that you can modify every little detail as to how the camera processes different environmental factors. I know from my own that I can create preset shortcuts for different situations I'll be encountering, like outdoors on a sunny day, indoors with no windows, overcast in front of a window, etc. The high resolution from the photos makes editing easier and can create more room to play around in photoshop.

Messing with depth of field and getting the always beloved bokeh effect is also easier when you have the ability to manually mess with a DSLR, though many camera apps now have it as an option (who doesn't love tiny heart-shaped bokeh?).

Newer phone cameras are a lot more customizable, and have better and better night modes so shooting things off the cuff has been made a lot easier. With the addition of decent photo editing apps, while phone cameras still don't have the same quality as a dedicated DSLR, with the right layout and eye for composition they are an amazing tool.

Also I'm never getting over tiny handheld computer. NEVER.

 

I use my phone because that is all I have now. It's an iphone Se, so it doesn't take the best pictures like a camera or one of the newer models do. I will always prefer a camera because I love taking photos period. However, I do like the ease and convenience of a phone. I dowish mine was better :/. But you make the best out of what you have!

 

My photos will always be better with the DSLR but I just got a new iPhone XS max and holy hell that camera is good (it better be, I'm pretty sure that's what I paid for). No light, pics come out clear, I enlarged one on PS and didn't lose any resolution. Settings are still way better on a real camera, but I don't feel as bad about "just using my phone" now. And lets face it, I'm not a pro and I never will be, and most of my "photography skills" are really just photoshop, so as long as I have a clear picture to start with, it doesn't matter what it's taken with.

 

I used to take pictures with my camera (not a dslr but a HQ point&shoot). I then took a couple with my phone, they often came just as good if not better,so I decided to keep on only using my phone. And mind you, it's an older one, 5 mpix only. Nothing fancy. I guess the touchy screen with easily set focus (one finger touch) is what convinced me. Aside from the size, of course I nowadays consider selling away my camera...

 

I have a little Canon point and shoot digital camera and my phone. The camera on my phone is a pretty decent one; between that and the Lightroom editing app, a decent amount of the pictures I put on my doll Instagram are phone pics and they look consistent with the ones I take with my point and shoot. I do prefer to use the digital camera when I'm really trying to do a set up and posed photo shoot, but my phone is exclusively what I use to document all my sewing and crafting projects with the dolls and to take fun/casual pictures of them, so I do end up using it more. I'm by no means an expert photographer, but I do enjoy taking pictures of my dolls, and my little compact digital camera and the camera in my phone are both capable of taking pics that I'm happy with.

 

Out of sheer lack of want to engage in the more intense use of my Nikon, I whip out that cellphone camera. Granted my pictures would look a hell of a lot better on my Camera than my phone but I can't shake it. I hate the rigmarole that comes with it.

 

I don't have a mobile phone but even if I did I shake when trying to take single still shots so everything would come out super blurry. DSLR all the way.

 

My mobile phone is not a great one and pretty old so i use my Bridge camera to take photos of things that I want nice photos of or to experiment with angles, light and positioning. So I know when I am finally able to take photos of a doll I will be using my Canon rather than my phone. I wish I could edit photos but alas I don't so photos need to be okay when I take the picture.

 

I currently use both, sometimes great lighting and changing angles can work wonders even if you don't have the best camera

 

I use my phone because the my phones camera is quite great and I choose the lightning accordingly etc... so the photos turn out to be great ^^

 

I've been wanting to invest in a larger, nicer camera for a while. But in the mean time I've been able to make great use of figuring out my phone camera! There are really great tutorials on Youtube for basically any model of smart phone out there these days. For reference I have a galaxy s7 and you can really easily access the "pro" mode on the camera that lets you have more control just like a larger, nicer camera would.

As others have said, an actual camera is always going to come out with the nicest photos, but smart phones these days are a really solid alternative if you can't afford both

Tbh my biggest issue right now is getting my pictures off my phone ^^; it's easier with iphones + icloud but for my setup right now it's kind of an arduous process lol