When taking pics, iPhone or Digital Camera

1

Should I use my iPhone or my digital camera ( Canon Power Shot ELPH 180 ) when taking photos during a home inspection for best results of uploading pics to software, pics quality, and ease of use

2

My inspection software is on my phone therefore I use the phone for photographs that are going to get used in the reports. Some software automatically lowers the resolution in the report.

I use a separate camera to take my documented photographs of the house. These are the photographs of every wall ceiling and floor. These stay on a back up drive for a very long time.

3

Welcome to our forum, Shawn!..Enjoy! :smile:

4

I use both.

I use a Note 9 with my inspection software loaded onto it so it loads the picture in the report exactly where I want it to, and I also use a Nikon Cool Pix in some areas such as attics, finished basement, garages that are being used as storage units, etc…

5

The answer will depend on the software that you use and the way you work. Experimentation will decide what works best for you. While I have software on my phone that allows pictures directly from the phone, I generally just take separate pictures with a Nikon Coolpix and load them later. This is my form of “notetaking.” It allows me to take more pictures than I will use, I can use high resolution and make them smaller for the report later. Generally I find it gives me more flexibility for taking pictures; zoom, macro. lighting…etc.

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6

I suspect you will find success using either.

For me, I use a Cannon Powershot SX620 HS. I love the zoom. I use a camera vs a phone for many reasons:

  1. Habit.
  2. I never worry about battery life. I keep a couple back-up batteries at all times.
  3. I prefer to use an SD card for photo uploads.
  4. If I drop my camera, I did not lose both a camera and a phone.
  5. I do not use mobile software and I do not write reports in the field, so mobile photo’s not needed.

There will be just as many reasons to use a mobile phone or tablet. Best of luck!

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7

I use my phone. The image quality of the iPhone 11 is amazing.

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8

Just as a footnote to my earlier post, before you spend hundreds on a camera take a look at what you can find on E-bay. My Nikon Coolpix S-4 Died recently (2005 model w/10x). I liked it so much I found an identical model on e-bay and bought a Coolpix P100 (2015 model 26x) for a backup also on ebay. I paid about $100.00 for both. There are some reputable sellers and good deals. Beats buying new!

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9

I use my camera, phone, and tablet. Software is on tablet so it makes it quicker for report writing but if a pic goes on the report I will take several more with the camera as backup at various angles. I use the phone for items that I may need to post in the forum about for questions/answers/examples or marketing purposes.

10

I don’t do onsite reporting. However, I use a Samsung Galaxy S20 Ultra. Great phone, 108mp, 100x zoom.

I also have a Canon SX620HS, 20.2 mega pixels, 25X optical zoom, for a backup camera.

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