This is Multnomah Falls in the Columbia River Gorge photographed with my DSLR, in compare and contrast mode with my iPhone capture of the same location. I used my Nikon D810 mounted on a tripod with the 28-300mm Nikkor lens equipped with a circular polarizer.

The image combines three exposures, with each exposure shot at 32mm, f/22, and ISO 31. The shutter speeds were 2.5 seconds, 8 seconds, and 13 seconds. I post-processed the image over a number of hours (and several days) using Adobe Bridge, Adobe Camera Raw (ACR), Photoshop, Nik Color Efex, Nik HDR Efex, Topaz Adjust, Topaz Glow, and Topaz Simplify.

Here’s the compare and contrast:

• The iPhone images were easy to take without fear of the incredible spray coming out of the waterfall; the camera was (obviously) lightweight to “schlepp”; processing of each version took less than ten minutes; resolution and final file size is intermediate (12MP to 14MP base file size).
• The DSLR images were hard to make because of the continuous blast of icy water coming at my camera, which was a “sitting duck” on its tripod (as much as I protected it, I still needed to be a “human windshield wiper” for the lens); the camera and tripod were relatively heavy to carry; processing was time consuming; resolution is high as you’d expect from three native 36MP RAW captures (4912 X 7360 px at 300 ppi); flowing water can be rendered flexibly depending on the shutter speed setting used, with possibilities ranging from Waterfall after Turner to Cold is the colour of crystal.

Does this comparison make it more likely you would choose your phone camera or your DSLR? In my life as a photographer, there is room for both—and each has differing strengths and weaknesses.