I replaced my 4,000 euro camera with a Xiaomi smartphone for 1 month: big mistake ?

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After having almost killed the compact camera market, can smartphones now replace professional bodies and lenses?? Reading these words, photography purists must already be boiling. However, I am content to repeat the repeated promises of smartphone manufacturers in their grandiloquent conferences.

Rest assured, dear photographers, I am not trying to convince anyone but am lending myself to an experience that is still new on our media. To better understand my approach, here is a little context. I embarked on the adventure of smartphone photography with a professional approach. Far from being a talented photographer, photography remains one of my great passions. The test photos that you find on Presse-citron were produced by me. Outside of my working hours, I also devote myself to this passion, a lot, sometimes with a certain frenzy.

This passion for photography (and video, to a lesser extent) led me to equip myself with a professional camera body and a few lenses. Vincent, who supports me in photo and video production on Presse-citron, generously provided me a few years ago with a Sony A7III body as well as a Tamron 28-75 mm lens, a very versatile combo that I use most of the time. I later equipped myself with other lenses to vary the pleasures. When I need more compact equipment (in street photographyor on weekends), I use an old Fuji XM1 bought more than ten years ago with a few lenses. All these beautiful people obviously cost me a small fortune (that's also what photography is).

Problem: these bodies remain bulky, heavy, they take up space in the suitcase or backpack and changing lenses is sometimes laborious. In short, I was looking for a combo between the compactness of the smartphone and the feeling of the camera body. I could have turned to a compact camera like the Ricoh GRIII but my experience would not have been very original. On the other hand, replacing a camera body with a smartphone is an experience worth the detour.

Rendez-vous en terre familier

At the end of 2024, a Xiaomi executive generously offered to provide me with a Xiaomi 14 Ultra with its photo kit to carry out my experiment. This small accessory that you attach to the smartphone transforms it into a small compact camera. I couldn't have hoped for better, the Xiaomi 14 Ultra is one of the best camera phones on the market. The cherry on the optics is that it is developed in partnership with Leica, one of the biggest names in the history of photography. A few days later, I was equipped. I put my two cameras and my lenses in their drawer and embarked on the adventure of smartphone photography for a month.

What a pleasure to go on a weekend with only a smartphone in your pocket. Although it is among the most imposing models on the market, the Xiaomi 14 Ultra remains much more discreet than a huge camera body and its set of lenses. No bag or satchel, it fits in a jacket pocket, coat or wide pants. In summer, a small banana is enough to take it anywhere.

The photo kit that transforms it into a compact camera is just as discreet.Lightweight, it fits into the phone thanks to the USB-C port. A locking system keeps it attached to prevent it from falling in the most dangerous situations. Once connected, the two devices become one. A nice surprise: the addition of the photo kit does not prevent the phone from being slipped into a large pocket, a bag or a fanny pack. I was therefore able to carry the Xiaomi 14 Ultra in all my photo sessions. A real pleasure, especially in the difficult exercise of street photography. Moreover, the smartphone format tends to impress passers-by less, which allows you to shoot more relaxed.

What about the handling ? Photo purists often criticize a certain blandness in the practice of photography on smartphones. A criticism that is clearly justified since Apple has decided to integrate a physical button to control the camera of its latest iPhones. At Xiaomi, they preferred to develop a specific kit for these purists.

The photo kit is covered with a black grip, a mix between fabric, rubber and plastic, allowing an excellent grip. Its lines resemble what you might find on a classic camera body: slightly curved, the accessory is easy to hold in one hand. The buttons have been arranged with great precision: above, a dial for adjusting the exposure keeps company with the shutter release. Below the latter, another small dial is used to manage the zoom level. Finally, a button specific to video recording completes the set. These buttons alone are enough to rediscover the sensations of a professional camera.

The Xiaomi 14 Ultra equipped with its photo kit then becomes a real compact camera. So I was able to pull it out on the fly and shoot at angles that would be impossible to get with a conventional camera body. Space constraints obviously prevent manufacturers from integrating optics as powerful as those of a camera lens. But software optimizations (especially artificial intelligence) can compensate for a good part of these technical limitations. Even more so in the case of the Xiaomi 14 Ultra, developed in partnership with Leica.

< h2>A Leica camera in compact format

A compact camera is good, but it still has to take good pictures. On this specific point, I must admit that I started with some preconceptions . I test smartphones all year long, I analyze the advances in photography, but to this day I have never found the quality of a professional camera.

To say that the Xiaomi 14 Ultra reaches such a level would be a lie. However, like most ultra-premium smartphones launched in the last five years (at least), it comes close to the quality of a professional camera that I used to use. At least in good lighting conditions and for what 90% of users do: post photos on social networks.

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Tas long as the images remain online, the Xiaomi 14 Ultra produces images sharp enough to give the illusion of being a real camera.You can even risk printing a few shots as long as you don't venture into those shot in low light, or in small size and with a lot of retouching. In any case, the Leica signature allows this model to stand out from the competition. The German company not only intervenes in the software but also designs the smartphone's optics. This close collaboration between the two entities makes the Xiaomi 14 Ultra one of the best camera phones on the market.

To go further, Xiaomi and Leica have developed filters inspired by the German giant's cameras. We therefore find several colorimetric profiles: Leica Vibrant (saturates the colors a little more), Leica Naturel(more neutral) or the famous black and white Leica (my favorite). Thanks to an intuitive interface, you can access the different shooting modes with ease. This is also the main advantage of the smartphone over professional cameras: they are easy to use, so you can pull it out and shoot in a handful of seconds.

For more experienced photographers, the Xiaomi 14 Ultra obviously includes a very complete Pro mode as well as an option to shoot in RAW. I of course had fun with all of this in certain situations but I favored the auto mode, as I would have done with a “point & shoot” like the Ricoh GRIII or the Sony RX100. The results were quite convincing.

Review of my experience

Can a smartphone replace a professional camera costing more than 4,000 euros ? < strong>If we sticks to photo quality, no. The laws of physics are impenetrable, so the magic of algorithms is still not enough to compensate for the tiny size of a smartphone's optics compared to those of a digital camera. However, improvements in image processing allow for production of excellent quality shots. This is even more true with a Xiaomi 14 Ultra that benefits from the know-how of Leica, a reference among references.

Photography is not just a question of intrinsic quality, it is also an experience that must provide pleasure, it is lived. With its compactness and ease of use, the smartphone turns out to be a great tool for this. Since we always carry it with us, it is even the best camera to have in our pocket.

By offering a complementary accessory, Xiaomi also allows you to rediscover the sensations of a real camera. The grip is better, the physical buttons provide this feelingwhich is so lacking in smartphones. The Xiaomi 14 Ultra + photo kit combo has therefore proven to be a perfect intermediary between the smartphone alone and the camera body. Too bad the battery life of the accessory is a little short for prolonged use.

At the end of this experience, I would therefore not say that the smartphone can replace a professional camera. Nevertheless, any photographer should consider integrating the smartphone into their gear as it is so practical and effective on a daily basis. Most of them have already done so, even if not all of them want to admit it.

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Teilor Stone

Teilor Stone has been a reporter on the news desk since 2013. Before that she wrote about young adolescence and family dynamics for Styles and was the legal affairs correspondent for the Metro desk. Before joining Thesaxon , Teilor Stone worked as a staff writer at the Village Voice and a freelancer for Newsday, The Wall Street Journal, GQ and Mirabella. To get in touch, contact me through my teilor@nizhtimes.com 1-800-268-7116