But, for professional results, one needs the right lenses and the ability to fully control the camera. Being able to shoot thousands of photos on a single battery charge is critical too. To use my studio strobes I need to be able to trigger the lights from the camera, and that can't be done with a phone.
I didn't think that kind of professional photography was being done that way. Most of the Pro Photographers using iPhones are in News, Fashion, Art, and Commercial Photography. . . however, I think I see a way for you to make some money with an app. There should be a way to trigger study strobes via bluetooth or WIFI or even the flash on the iPhone. An App for that could be a real money maker. There are a lot of photographers out there that would pay for such an app. . . both iPhone and Android. (Well, not so much in Android, but you could make it Ad ware, there). Look into it. Photography Apps are one of the biggest sellers on the App Store.
Take a look at these results of professional photographers using iPhones:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/chat/3246610/posts?page=19#19
They don’t think they need special lenses . . . and you CAN fully control an iPhone’s camera. By the way, what do you think happens when you take a video? Thousands of individual pictures are taken on a single charge. . . at 30 frames per second or more. The iPhone 6 can do it at 240 frames per second.
Camera phones are real good for taking photos that will not need to be enlarged say to 8 x 10. Plus you don’t have to fiddle around with the settings to get an excellent photo.
A typical photo I take with my LG G3 camera is 4160 x 3120 pixels. I reduce the height to 30% to see it all on my 27” pc monitor and it looks very good. Bigger then any photo I would typically print such as a 4 x 6” print. If I look at it full size the graininess shows up.
My Sony NEX-7 with a APS-C sensor on the other hand blows away the cell phone camera with much better detail not only in daytime photos but also indoor photos. Bigger lens and bigger sensor.
The future is already here as another poster mentioned this camera listed below. This is expensive now but as we know the prices only drop in the future. It has a bigger sensor and high quality lens with zoom.
Panasonic Lumix Smart Camera CM1 - many reviews below.
Full 1” sensor (same as the old 35mm film cameras)
https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=panasonic+lumix+smart+camera+cm1+review
Well said. Hobbyist photog here - my D70s is getting long in the tooth for DSLR, but its still far better quality than my iPhone 5s camera. The phone is great to play with, but for serious shooting, I need DSLR + lenses, flash, etc. No comparison really. I will admit a cell phone cam is handy tho!