I do use it, probably one shoot or so a month. out of every 100 pictures I probably have one great one and 10 others that would be good with editing but I never go back and edit them. A phone is probably better for most people most of the time but there are definitely cases where it wont do the job.

I initially bought it when I worked over night shifts and wanted a night time hobby on the weekends, so I wanted to do deep space photography. I finally got on days soon after and am not up as late anymore so mostly take it on hikes, or birding and rarely around the city.

I rarely talk about it unless I show a picture that people ask “how’d you take that?” and I have to explain. I’ve bought a few lenses in 5 years but think I’m set on those. Maybe in another 5 years I’ll upgrade the body. For me it’s been a worthwhile investment.

Photos like these aren’t going to be possible on a phone camera. There’s still a lot of physical limitations to phones, namely low light and high aperture glass. Due to space constraints you’re extremely limited with sensor and glass size, which is where professional cameras still blow phones out of the water.

If all you’re doing is taking selfies and pictures of things you see around you then a phone is fine, but once you’re beyond that, it’s much more efficient to go to a dedicated camera.

Who’s the one bullying and gatekeeping here?

I’m not a camera nerd either, but I recognize that there’s people that need professional hardware either for a professional use or an obsessive hobby (either photog or other electronics or optics work). If a cell phone is “good enough” for me, that doesn’t mean it’s good for a specialist. Just like pretty much everything else in life.

imagine going into a thread about a hobby you’re not into where hobbyists are discussing their hobbyist gear, and just taking a big shit all over them because you personally don’t get it.