Camera Gear vs Mobile Phone

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So I am currently at the Arube Atmosphere EMEA 2018 conference in Croatia.

Everytime I pack my bags I have to wage on wether to bring my camera and gear or to just take pictures with my phone which is not nearly as satisfying because the lack of manual control and framing due to the lack of lenses.

I have already downgraded to a mirrorless camera (EOS M5) to make travel with a camera easier, however – the size of my lenses remains the same and takes up most of the space.

Since I wanted to focus on taking some snapshots I decided to go with my phone which I carry around almost everywhere. The small space you need to bring comes with some caveats:

  • no real exposure control, can perhaps be corrected by filters – but that is not really an option
  • no manual control on Aperture on Exposure (using the default Camera app) – this is the big one here
  • Issues with compression and resolution: my Iphone SE has a 12 MP sensor, that is not the problem – putting a large resolution on a small sensor leads to issues like compression and artifacts
  • I like to keep Images in Raw – that is a big price for me to pay

Lets look at the bright side:

  • camera is almost always at hand, the best camera and set of lenses are useless if you spot a moment but do not have the camera with you
  • great for small image distribution on various plattforms (FB, Instagram, Twitter eg.): this is a big one – processing images and uploading them from a “big” camera is a whole different story

Once factor is not really that much of a deal, Image composure and using your creative mind – you can still play around alot but camputring the exact moment without a good shutter button can be an issue here.

Question is:

Would I give up my camera? – No way

Would I go through the extra effort to bring my lenses? – Definitely yes

What about international flight? – Well depends on the situation but If I travel for business purposes the awnser will amost always be no due to the amount of equiptment I already bring with me.

Am I satisfied with the resultas? – Sort of but I would really to have High Resolution RAW files but sometimes its just the memory that count that you can bring back alive with a snapshot.

Here are some results: