We'll let you in on a secret: professional photographers love their camera phones just as much as the rest of us, and for the same reasons.

Dedicated camera hardware still produces vastly better results than your iPhone or Pixel camera, but sometimes that doesn’t matter. Add the sheer convenience of your phone’s camera, plus computational photography capabilities that a DSLR can only dream of, and you’ve got a fantastic tool for professionals. In fact, a big reason they don’t use their phones for work anymore is that clients might not take them seriously.

"There really are no barriers these days. With Profoto lights, you can even shoot with a camera phone and use studio flash. Imagine an Annie Leibovitz lighting setup with her giant umbrellas and the flash from your phone. We've reached a golden age of photography," professional photographer Weldon Brewster told Lifewire via email.

In a study conducted by Suite48 Analytics, 64% of professional photographers said they take more than half of their personal photos with their smartphones. When it comes to taking snaps for work, that number drops to just 13%, though the research numbers are a little misleading: the bottom line is that most photographers use their phones to take at least some photos for work.