There Are Pandas, and Then There Are Pandas.
And this isn't either of them! The Pandas we're talking about here, are watches, not bears. And what got me thinking about them (again) was a link posted this morning by @cm.rook who pointed a few of us to the very attractive (and not terribly priced) Yema "Rallygraph" Panda which, in it's most traditional arrangement, looks like the one on the left, but can also be had in the version on the right: The model on the left is a true Panda, while the model on the right is called a reverse Panda. The reason for that distinction is clear--Panda bears, only come in the first arrangement. Now at this point, everyone should be thinking about the most well-know Panda, The Rolex Panda, which is actually a Daytona, and among Rolex Daytonas, the most famous of which is the Paul Newman Daytona, which was famous first, because it was Paul's, and second because it sold at auction for $17.8 million (US Dollars). The story of that auction is well-known so I'll only...
Nov 8, 2019
So if you are looking to do some minor video production work with not a lot of money invested, I can't argue against going that route. But here is my pitch for a separate camera, especially for still photography. First thing, a smartphone loses it's portability and convenience factor as soon as you attach the add-on lens. Really, those reasons are pretty high on everybody's pitch for using a smartphone over a dedicated camera. You are not going to just put the camera/lens in the pocket and think nothing of it. You have to remove the lens and possibly store in some kind of container to keep safe and relatively clean. You can have a better optical zoom range on a dedicated camera vs a stock smartphone, and you don't have to remove the lens every time you are done taking photos. You can work with multiple storage cards with a dedicated camera. "Bokeh" has to be simulated with a filter on a smartphone, but can be created optically on a DSLR. Really most effects on a smartphone are special filters that must be done to an image that you often can create optically (and look more natural) on a DSLR. And will you need to buy a new lens adapter to fit when you replace the phone in a year or 2? I'm using some lenses and flashes I have had for 10 years with my current Nikon DSLR.