Why I still carry a dedicated camera in 2026

Every year, phone cameras get good enough that a dedicated camera should stop making sense. Every year, I keep carrying one anyway. This isn't a technical argument — on paper, my phone wins most comparisons. It's something harder to put a spec number on.

It's not about image quality

In good light, I genuinely cannot tell my phone shots from my camera shots at normal viewing sizes. The gap that used to justify a separate device has mostly closed. That's not the reason I still bring one.

“A camera that only takes photos is a device with one job — and it turns out doing one job with a dedicated dial for it changes how deliberately you shoot.”

The dial, not the sensor

Physical dials for aperture and shutter speed force a kind of intentionality that a touchscreen never quite replicates. When every setting is a menu tap away, I default to auto. When it's a dial under my thumb, I actually think about the shot before I take it.

For anyone curious about the category, mirrorless cameras have gotten dramatically smaller and cheaper over the last few years, which is the main reason carrying one alongside a phone is realistic again.

This isn't advice to go buy a camera you don't need. It's a reminder that 'good enough' and 'the tool that makes you want to use it' aren't always the same device — and it's worth knowing which one you actually reach for.