Awesome Neighbours - Need help with Photo quality

[Kevdon]

Hey guys im new here and i have some awesome neighbours that i can see nearly everyday from my window. But the quality of my phone camera suck. ( Samsung S23 )

Can u suggest a good phone for some quality shots with around 10x Zoom.

Heres a preview of my hot neighbour but bad quality. Thats some of the better shots. I have tons but i need to improve the quality

[LordActon]

Originally Posted by Kevdon

Hey guys im new here and i have some awesome neighbours that i can see nearly everyday from my window. But the quality of my phone camera suck. ( Samsung S23 )

Can u suggest a good phone for some quality shots with around 10x Zoom.

Btw how can i attach some pictures to show you my current bad shots?

Too bad you can't buy a camera, instead. Regardless, phone or camera, get a tripod.

[Kevdon]

Originally Posted by LordActon

Too bad you can't buy a camera, instead. Regardless, phone or camera, get a tripod.

Sadly a camera would be too obvious... no idea how to hide it well from my family while watching out of the windows

[skyfivefours]

Sony XPeria 1 Mark V.

It's expensive, but, by far, the best camera in a phone out there, besides the XPeria pro (which is even more expensive). They're geared to professional photographers who want to have a legit camera when they're walking around, and to use as a viewfinder or 3rd camera on a shoot. I have one, and it's more like a camera that you can make phone calls with instead of the other way around.

[21vj3]

In my opinion you should swap the S23 into a S23 Ultra. It comes with 10 times optical zoom.

[Grebarf]

Instead of spending 1k for a good smartphone try to buy a camera with a tele lens) you'll get very high quality pics

[Kevdon]

Originally Posted by Grebarf

Instead of spending 1k for a good smartphone try to buy a camera with a tele lens) you'll get very high quality pics

Any suggestions for a good camera? Prefered a small one thats good to hide and not too expensive

[rich87]

Originally Posted by Kevdon

Any suggestions for a good camera? Prefered a small one thats good to hide and not too expensive

https://www.rtings.com/camera/review...oint-and-shoot

Best to go off real test results.

[DaveK]

Use a pair of binoculars. You can just hold the phone camera lens up to the eye piece and focus through those.

[skyfivefours]

Originally Posted by DaveK

Use a pair of binoculars. You can just hold the phone camera lens up to the eye piece and focus through those.

I don't think this will work. the hardest thing about making these kinds of shots is keeping the camera steady. It's hard enough keeping one camera/phone steady with two hands. Now you'll have to worry about keeping *both* the camera and binoculars steady with one hand each.

Then there's focusing. Most camera phones and lower end cameras use autofocus. The glass in the binocular lens will totally throw that off. The autofocus will continue to search while it's confused by the image, which is far away, and the glass, which is close.

You could have a setup kinda like this that works, but you need a tripod. That part is non-negotiable. Then, you can get one of those small telescopes on amazon that has an attachment to mount a phone to the eyepiece, and, lastly, your phone *must* have a manual focus option. That's a niche feature, and the sony XPeria is the only phone I know of that supports it (one of the reasons I bought one).