iPhone vs Canon DSLR: which is best for Instagram?

I'm Instagram obsessed, I won't lie. But things have gotten harder on the platform over the past year or two. Gone are the days when grainy photos, meaningless captions and drunken selfies were acceptable. Everyone's taken their game up a notch and it can be hard to compete. I touched on the subject in my post on whether you need to be rich to be a successful blogger.


Today, I'm discussing whether you really need a fancy ol' camera to take good quality photos for the 'gram. This morning (ever highly prepared, I know), I took a series of photos on both my iPhone 6 and Canon EOS 1200D of the cute little daffodils on my desk. They were taken moments apart, so have the same lighting, and I've tried to get them to be as similar as possible in terms of the actual content of the photo.
Photo brightness
As you can see, the ones I took on the DSLR are a little darker, but this is no biggie: I love Instagram's own edit feature, and that makes it really easy for me to brighten photos as much as I need to. On that front, I think the iPhone actually performs a little better. The automatic settings on it brighten settings that look dark before the photo is taken, which explains why the lighting looks different between the iPhone and Canon photos here. Winner: iPhone.
Depth of image
In all honestly, there really is hardly any difference between the quality of the two, and I was a little shocked at this. The main area of difference is definitely the depth in the image. Although it's not too important in this instance as I was just photographing the daffodils, the Canon is miles better at putting focus on the forefront of the image, and fading the background. This is most noticeable if you look at the stems: in the iPhone photos, the heads of the daffodils don't stand out anywhere near as much as in the Canon photos. Winner: Canon.
Colour quality
Although the Canon photos loo a little darker, you can tell that the colour of the daffodils has come through in a much bolder manner. This is particularly true when it comes to the stems. Even prior to any attempts by me to brighten either photos, the stems of the daffodils in the iPhone photos are a little grainy, and too pale to be brightened without becoming even more grainy. Winner: Canon.
Zoom
The photos above which were taken on my iPhone have not been zoomed in at all, and as such are at their optimum quality level. My Canon however, retains the quality in photos when you zoom in, as the lens adjusts itself, so we're left with an image that is just as sharp as the non-zoomed iPhone one. Winner: Canon.
Conclusion

All in all, I really don't think there's too much difference at all, apart from in the way in which the lens focuses. However, as you start to get less natural light, iPhone photos become incredibly grainy, whereas those on a DSLR tend not to do that. I think I'll be sticking with my Canon for Instagram at the moment, but iPhone cameras are moving miles and miles forward with each release. I need to get my hands on a 7 to check out portrait mode now!

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