New phone who dis?

When is 50 Mp not 50 Mp? When you are comparing a 50 Mp phone camera to a 45 Mp Canon R5 Mark II, The World's Most Powerful Mirrorless Camera. There is no comparison.

I ran over my phone last July 29 when the greenhouse was delivered. For almost the past year I have been using a hand-me-down from my spouse until it also met its end, less spectacularly, being dropped onto the bathroom floor. The screen fractured, then died over the next few days. Today I received the replacement, a Samsung S25. (By the way, when Walmart says 3-day delivery, they are LYING. It took seven days.) The S25 is not a flagship phone, but it is the closest I have ever gotten.

It took maybe 10 minutes to set up the new phone. I popped the SIM card out of the old phone and into the new one, and it was easy from there. Compared to other attempts to activate phones, I feel like we have finally arrived in the 21st Century. Then it was time to check out the camera. Let's jump right to the Expert Raw phase of the testing.

The original for this image is 5712x4284, about 24 Mp. This phone has some modes that go up to 50 Mp, but from what I can tell those are a waste of time and space and I don't think they are available in RAW. Anyway, here is Sempervivum Little Survivor

Those parts of the image that are in focus are sharp, but the problem that is immediately apparent is there is no depth of field. This image was shot at f/2.4, and I did not see any way to adjust the f/stop. You can change ISO, shutter speed, white balance and exposure compensation, but not the f/stop. When I shoot images like this with my ancient (c. 2017) M100, I usually shoot with f/8. When I use The World's Most Powerful Mirrorless Camera, I take up to 36 images at different focus points and combine them with Zerene Stacker.

Here's a little easier challenge from further away. These are the Supertunia Hoopla Vivid Orchid blooms in the basket on our front porch. There also is a Supertunia Priscilla on the back side, but it has been a disappointment and you can't even see it. It looks good at first blush, but closer examination also reveals a lack of depth of field. Focal length is (wait for it) 5mm. That is a small lens and a small sensor. There's your problem.

This Supertunia basket on the back porch is a bit better. I took it in telephoto mode, which increased the focal length to 7mm and f/2.4. There is no obvious depth of field problem, so standing further away is good. It was shot in golden light just before sunset and I fiddled with the color a little bit. The magenta Jazzberry Vista mixed in with the Honey is not blown out, but it is close. Strangely enough, this is probably our best basket at the moment. A month ago I put it in greenhouse rehab because it was looking sad. Now the Bubblegum/Jazzberry basket needs a trim, and the Blue Vein basket is very lopsided. The other three baskets aren't as bushy.

My way-too-early conclusion is the S25 camera phone is good at medium to wide images, but absolutely sucks at anything resembling a macro. Despite its near-flagship status, it is still a point-and-shoot.

Then the question becomes, is this the camera I take on my next couple of trips? In both Michigan (August) and Switzerland (September/October), I don't expect I will need a telephoto lens for wildlife. But I would like to have a capable macro camera. The best solution is the R5 with the 100mm macro lens and the 14-35mm zoom, my only two RF-mount lenses. (I have converters for EF wildlife lenses such as the 100-400 zoom and the 500mm monster.) The lighter solution is the M100 with the 22mm f/2, or its native 15-45 zoom lens. The latter is not a real macro setup, but it does well enough. BTW, you can still buy a new M100 with a 15-45, no longer supported by Canon, for $859 on Amazon. I don't think I paid that much in 2017.