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Phone camera for backup during travel?

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jw10

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I have read, and agree completely that if you are traveling you should bring along a backup camera in case your primary camera becomes unuseable.

Has anyone considered just using their phone camera with its *awesome* DOF for the backup camera. Almost seems like a no-brainer for the very small chance that the primary camera bites the dust. Of course the quality of the phone camera must be good enough. Not sure mine is that good, but my daughter has a pretty new camera (samsung S5 I believe), and in our near future travels maybe we could use that. Would be one less thing to pack.
 
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E
Absolutely, yes, if your phone has a good camera (e.g. recent iPhone) you should use it as a backup. You'll be carrying it anyway, so why lug around another "real" camera in the unlikely event that you'll ever use it?

Phones can produce a surprising number of keepers:

On a recent trip to Europe, before I got my RX1Rii, I brought a decent Panasonic Micro 4/3 camera with a couple of fast primes as my main camera and shot RAW+JPG. I also had my iPhone 5S with me for navigation, connectivity, etc. I took shots of everything with the Panasonic. For some shots that I knew I would want to share on Instagram or Facebook I immediately took a second shot with my iPhone 5S for easier sharing (since resolution doesn't matter much on those...
I have a Sony Xperia Z5 Compact that I'm very satisified with.

I have been using it in tandem with my Sony RX100 IV while traveling and the quality seems excellent for a smartphone camera in my opinion. It even shoots some fairly decent 4K video (but the lack of optical stabilization is a downside obviously). :)
 
thanks, it's now on the list.
 
elliottnewcomb said:
Ellsass said:
It's a totally different company now than in 1984; the Plus models have optical image stabilization which you may want; and there's a camera adapter to read from SD cards...
Click to expand...
Thanks for reminding me, I have one that fits Donna's and my Mother's old ipads.
elliottnewcomb said:
But it sounds like you had already made up your mind so I'm dropping out of this line of discussion.
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Pretty much, but one never knows, and I appreciate learning from you. OIS sounds good for me.

I was hoping to get a few non-apple ideas, then hit the store for some prelim Verizon info, then hard research.

For cost, I like to stay a generation back, and then keep them for several years before changing.
Click to expand...
 
Here's another nice iPhone result, also in Louisiana.



Blowing Spanish moss
Blowing Spanish moss







--
Harvey
Write with light
 
I am also one that doesn't like the ifruite with their way of locking you into their way of doing things, and I'm not a fan of Android either. Therefore I would like to direct your attention to the recent reviews, which you should be able to see on the right, where the Microsoft Lumia 950 is reviewed. It cam out fairly well in the camera section, shoots 4k with stereo (which the 6s doesn't have), and has manual controls with RAW, if you must have it.

I use mine at work, for taking pictures of infrastructure as I am in Civil Engineering. The manual controls can be handy if you can't get the subject to move and you want the detail with the sun blazing from behind.

My earlier 1020 beats it I think, but I have some great photos from this and the 1020 and even the earlier 920, to say nothing of some of my older phones. Sometimes I have whipped out the phone and taken a few shots at a family function, and captured a shot that has become a family favourite. All in all, I have some pleasing shots, with some impressive examples in them.

With Windows phone you get 5 Gig in the cloud (I have 50 but I have taken advantage of earlier generous offers), which will sync the phone with desktop, tablet, laptop and offers Cortana with One Note, which I sue a bit as well.

Having said that, and generally being happy with the phone performance, if I was on holiday and destroyed my travel camera, I would do what an earlier poster said and buy a replacement.
 
thanks for the suggestion, I'm stalling till ideas like your and others come in, so options are good to know about. meanwhile, I will take some pics with my existing phone, just to see.

then verizon store, then web research, then get hustled by a pretty young sales person, ..., well, I'm a bit old for that.

I don't do video, so 4k is not needed, neither is stereo, so a more basic model for good stills at fast shutter speeds to help solve my less than steady shooting is the primary concern.
 
If you have any post-processing skill at all, you can quickly and easily create cell phone images that are indistinguishable from DSLR images so long as no one clicks the image - since 99% of people never click the image, that means you're pretty much gold with an iPhone and Lightroom Mobile CC.



24735312573_337e13ecf2_o.jpg




--
Digital Camera and Adobe Photoshop user since 1999.
Adobe Lightroom is my adult coloring book.
 
thanks for link
 
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camera phone image comparison site

any comments about this site?

Loading…

www.gsmarena.com
 
The question I have for you is what is your final output?

Your final output in combination with the technical limitations you are trying to overcome will determine if a phone camera is enough to be backup.

Family vacations which consist of photos that are 4x6 to 8x10 you will find most Camera phones will suffice. I have made comparison between iPhone 6, Lumia 925, and Samsung S5 and have printed many vacation books off of these phone cameras and including Full Frame and Micro Four Thirds gear.

Portugal, Brazil, Disney etc.

If you are content with the limitation of gear you are carrying that day for example ff the Sony RX100 does not have the reach or the iPhone does not have the reach you take shots that the camera can take.

In good day light any of the above phones worked great for the desired output. Now if the output is more demanding there is no way a phone will give you what a Phase One can provide.

Enjoy your vacation and taking pictures. Its fun to make the most of what ever camera you carry.

Barry

http://www.photodisneyblog.com
 
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Just for the record, I'm totally satisified with the information I received here and will be happy to just use my phone camera for a backup if my rx100m2 somehow becomes defunct during vacation.

But, you all *should* continue on with the discussion to help Elliott or others evaluate phone camera purchases.

It's probably prudent to point out there is a mobile camera forum here on DPR too, which may yield good results for information as well.
 
Current android and iPhones are pretty decent. Even while shooting with my main camera I still use my andriod phone to take pictures everywhere as they auto backup to Google photos. Later Google photos automatically makes nice story on trip and keeps reminding randomly every few years what you did on that day several years back. Even makes collages automatically years later as memories of past. They look great even on tablet. Plus most tend to repeat watch pictures on phone mostly and current generation phone pictures look beautiful on anything less than 10".
jw10 said:
I have read, and agree completely that if you are traveling you should bring along a backup camera in case your primary camera becomes unuseable.

Has anyone considered just using their phone camera with its *awesome* DOF for the backup camera. Almost seems like a no-brainer for the very small chance that the primary camera bites the dust. Of course the quality of the phone camera must be good enough. Not sure mine is that good, but my daughter has a pretty new camera (samsung S5 I believe), and in our near future travels maybe we could use that. Would be one less thing to pack.

--
Jeff (aka jw10)
Click to expand...
 
kits said:
Current android and iPhones are pretty decent. Even while shooting with my main camera I still use my andriod phone to take pictures everywhere as they auto backup to Google photos. Later Google photos automatically makes nice story on trip and keeps reminding randomly every few years what you did on that day several years back. Even makes collages automatically years later as memories of past. They look great even on tablet. Plus most tend to repeat watch pictures on phone mostly and current generation phone pictures look beautiful on anything less than 10".
Click to expand...
Veering off topic a bit, I also use gps4cam on my iPhone to geotag all my RX10 images on trips to locate their images later.
 
Cell Phone Pics: I want 'good enough' to view full size on my large monitor, max 11" tall, (100dpi). (whatever size print they make would be good enough, very little printing).

If I can't generally get that, then I won't bother taking them, so this doesn't matter. And, if I can, I still doubt I will take many, I nearly always have my rx100m3 with me. And rx100m1 resides in the car door always ready to slip in a pants pocket. Cell phone screens don't tilt, so no good over peoples heads, or help get lower view without too much bending. And cell phones don't solve glare. I am writing myself out of the idea.

Went to Verizon store to see Samsung Galaxy Note 5. Write with stylus, big keyboard, separate space between each key when keyboard is horizontal, ability to move big hands/thumbs typing horizontal, all are big draws for me, and the real use.

Viewing pics with others, and video chat on bigger screen has to be better experience, so that is another draw over smaller screen S7.

I think I can set the shutter speed on Note 5, need to verify that. Example was for long shutter, to get better low light, I suppose propped up to avoid movement. I want to find and set my minimum shutter speed for my shakiness, solve blur free in lower light, if too low light, who cares, if it mattered, I would have my rx100m3 with me.

And, quite often, lots of family members, are popping away with their iPhones, I can get copies. Problem there, none of them ever look at the backgrounds, just pop away, tons of snaps that they love.

Generally I find it easier to hold something heavier a bit steadier, but who wants a heavy phone. This one is very light for it's size.

Note 5 has their f1.9 camera, the best Samsung camera, until current S7's best f1.7 camera came out.

Now, they say coming Note 6 (maybe by August?) will have the S7's f1.7 camera, and may have Infrared focus added.

Note 5 has mini sd card slot to move pics, I want that. who knows if they decide to skip that on the Note 6.

???????
 
I've never considered the galaxy note to be a cell phone, because, if it doesn't fit in my pocket, it's not practical as a phone. But, of course, I'm an american male, so that's my bias ;-)

I think you've got two separate paths:

1) If you are going for the small form factor smartphone, does the shutter mechanism and viewing angle of the screen allow you to take those "aaaauuugh, didn't bring my rx100 camera" shots, given your known advantages and limitations? Apart from that consideration, I think probably the image quality and capabilities of all newer phone cameras are going to be similar enough that it's not worth worrying about the sensor in the phone.

*You* would still get a decent capture from a cell phone, because you know how to frame a shot, consider the background, backlit scenes, etc. This is your strong advantage to make a cellphone image produce acceptable results.

Here's and example of how I (and others here on DPR) worked to recover a iphone6 image, that content-wise is very nice. I must have 4 hours of PP effort in this image. I really would rather have spent a few minutes on the PP. But it's my daughter, so she got the 4 hours...

If the photographer of that image had changed the angle of the camera *just a little bit* to get the sun out of the image more and reduce the contrast, it would have been dramatically easier to PP the image. You are that kind of photographer who can get the shot decently enough to make PP a lot easier, or possibly unnecessary. So, please, don't sell yourself short.

2) If you are considering a tablet, do you really see yourself bringing it along to take photos in lieu of a rx100? You have to answer that one for yourself. If the answer is yes, then there's some more head-scratching to do I think about the best option for you. My wife has a 10.5 inch Galaxy tab (S6 I think, can't remember at the moment), it's the one with newest LCD screen (amoled? sp?) with great clarity and contrast. She uses a little stylus with it and gets around just fine with it. She looked at the Note but decided it wasn't worth the extra $$. But she has no plans to take pictures with it either.
 
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