Do better quality cameras give you a more realistic image of yourself?

It seems as though I look awful on pictures that are taken on something like an iPhone but I look ok on pictures taken on high quality HD cameras. Which one gives you a more real-life image of yourself? Or do we generally just look better in real life anyway?

Well we definitely do look better in real life, but yes, the better quality the image is, the more lifelike the photo is. Having said so, don't go spending £400-£600 on a professional SLR if you're not going to use it for -you know, proper- photography.Id suggest if you want to buy a camera for just casual use or whatever, then you can buy perfectly good digital cameras for Way less, but the image quality will be just as good.

Phones take horrible pictures of people because they all have wide angle lenses. They cause wide angle distortion which makes faces look all wonky.

You don't need a very good camera to take better pictures, even a cheap point and shoot will do. BTW you are not looking for an HD camera. HD is a video format. Stills are not HD. They are much higher resolution. HD is a low resolution image format, intended only for video.

The secret is to put your camera on a tripod, stand a good distance from the camera (like 2 metres/2 yards or more), use the camera's zoom to frame the shot, and use the self-timer to fire the shot or enlist the help of a friend to fire the shot.

If you do that, you will avoid the wide angle distortion you get with all phones.

If you take a selfie with a phone camera you will look bad. That's because holding it at arm's length if way too near to your face and it will distort your features.
Taking a shot with a proper camera from about 6 feet away will give a less distorted image.

IPhones are not cameras - they are devices that record images. In good daylight they produce decent images but in low light they are abysmal

Yes better quality camera's do give you more real image of self.