Originally Posted by
merlinextraligh
Obviously a smart phone camera is not a replacement for DSLR; its not a replacement for a small Sony if that small Sony is an RX100.
However an IPhone 5 camera compares very favorable to a small point and shoot digital camera. Add in that you don't have to buy, or carry a second device, and the case for an IPhone 5 camera over a point and shoot is very compelling.
I'd much rather put $200-300 toward a smartphone, than buy a small point and shoot digital camera with a tiny chip and a crap lens.
And I'm pretty sure that enough of the market agrees with me, that small, inexpensive, digital cameras are going to largely diasappear.
http://www.businessweek.com/articles...hardly-knew-ye
Hence, the recoomendation to go a bit up market, or just get a smartphone with a good camera.
I'll agree that new phones like the IPhone5 do take good pictures but with a very limited range.
The zoom feature is nothing more than cropping a photo so quality is very degraded, that's the difference between a good camera is the fact that the zooming is done by optical means and not digital, by cropping that should be one of the main point when looking for any compact camera if you are looking for a camera that is going to zoom, optical zoom will always give a better sharper photo.
Even a DSLR body with a cheap lens may not (will not) be as good as a mid range compact point and shoot camera, if the image doesn't go in it's not going to come out!
Ok back to cycling
Some resources
here for you.