iPhone or a compact digi camera

[melvinn]

This is gonna be my first camino and I don't know if I will have the opportunity to do it again.
I would like to take photos along the way for later viewing and to reminisce my experience thru them.

Would my iphone 6 with 8-megapixel enough to take quality photos or I should bring my compact digi camera with 12-megapixel?

 

[Peter Fransiscus]

This is gonna be my first camino and I don't know if I will have the opportunity to do it again.
I would like to take photos along the way for later viewing and to reminisce my experience thru them.

Would my iphone 6 with 8-megapixel enough to take quality photos or I should bring my compact digi camera with 12-megapixel?

Hy , I think you can better use your digi camera , but when you don't like the extra weight stay with your phone . I don't have this problem , because the camera in my phone is 16 -megapixsels .save the weight of a camera , wish you a Buen Camino , Peter .

 

[BamaVol]

This is gonna be my first camino and I don't know if I will have the opportunity to do it again.
I would like to take photos along the way for later viewing and to reminisce my experience thru them.

Would my iphone 6 with 8-megapixel enough to take quality photos or I should bring my compact digi camera with 12-megapixel?

Back in the day, we would have been satisfied with a lot less than 8 mega pixels. I'd say to keep the weight and volume low, stick with the iPhone.

 

[Jan_89]

I had both, but used just my phone (most of the time).. For next Camino definitely without camera! I think it's useless if you have a good phone which takes a nice photos.

 

[kmrice]

Would my iphone 6 with 8-megapixel enough to take quality photos or I should bring my compact digi camera with 12-megapixel?

I you have to ask the question, you should probably stick with the iPhone 6. I say this because you are not, apparently, a very serious photographer, as a serious photographer would not ask the question and would always take a camera.

I mean absolutely no disrespect; I only mean that in my opinion an iPhone 6 is more than adequate to preserve your memories of the Camino (I was very satisfied with an iPhone 5 when I walked in 2013, and my iPhone 6 has a much better camera). Unless you are a pretty serious photographer, or intend to become one before you go, I'd say stick with the iPhone. You probably already know how to use it, and this way you will have one less gadget to juggle. You can take great pictures, including panoramas and video, with your iPhone 6.

There are lots of serious photographers on this site who may disagree, but they are more serious photographers than I.

Buen Camino,

Karl

 

[t2andreo]

I can see this from both sides of the argument, minimalism, versus convenience. On my first Camino Frances (2013), I took a Canon pocket digital camera with 4x telephoto lens and a 6Gb SD card. It weighed about 4 ounces. I also had one spare battery pack and the compact charger. By the time I got to O'Cebriero the SD card was full of video and still images - over 4,000 of them. And I WAS culling bad shots each night. The solution was simple, buy another micro SD card at the next opportunity. Problem solved...

In 2014, I re-walked the Camino Frances, this time taking only my 64Gb iPod Touch. Because I rely on this tiny "techno Swiss Army knife" for everything beyond voice and text there was perhaps 10Gb of "free space" remaining. This time, I made it as far as Ponferrada before running low on memory. As you know, there is NO WAY to add memory via SD card to an iOS device. So, I had to prioritize and cull shots I otherwise might have wanted.

Fancy solutions like uploading to the cloud cannot be relied on as you have no iron-clad guarantee of a good Wi-Fi signal every evening. Someday, you gat nothing, zilch. Other days, the signal strength is minimal and there is alway some fellow pilgrim trying to stream a video or something similarly spurious...

The moral of this story is that, if you have a modern digital camera you can always buy more SD cards. Note - Sony users - I said SD cards. These are standard for all cameras EXCEPT Sony products. Generic is good.

If you anticipate taking a lot of pictures and video I recommend seriously considering taking a pocket digital camera, with one spare battery pack and charger. Start with the largest SD card you can afford and know what the camera's maximum addressable memory size is, in case you wanted to d to buy another SD card along the way.

I carried my Canon digi-cam on a lanyard around my neck. It rode inside my zipped up fleece most days and was right there when I wanted to capture an image or shoot video. I did not carry a designated camera bag, and advise everyone to avoid doing so as especially in the cities, there are some folks who use a logo on a camera bag to target you for a grab and run. It is VERY rare, but it does happen.

Just FYI, when I leave to do the Camino Portuguese in three weeks, I am taking the Canon camera again. I will wear around my neck, again. However, this time, it has an 16Gb SD card. And I will have another as a spare.

I hope this helps....

 

[Harington]

This is gonna be my first camino and I don't know if I will have the opportunity to do it again.
I would like to take photos along the way for later viewing and to reminisce my experience thru them.

Would my iphone 6 with 8-megapixel enough to take quality photos or I should bring my compact digi camera with 12-megapixel?

If you take a camera as well as an iPhone you'll be carting two chargers around. Save on the weight, every time. I found the pix from an iPhone 4S have been really good.

 

[Mike Savage]

Fortunately my Sony camera does take SD cards and uses the same charger and cable as my Samsung cell phone.

 

[rometimed]

I got a Sony Cyber-shot dsc-hx50v i'll be taking along with me on the Camino and all my hikes this year (compact camera). Biggest benefit is that it has a 30X zoom. I have a DSLR but with lenses it would require another bag to carry and I am bringing a tent and other equipment.

 

[jmcarp]

...Should my iphone 6 with 8-megapixel enough to take quality photos or I should bring my compact digi camera with 12-megapixel?

This question gets asked so often it's almost in the same category as boots vs hiking shoes, raincoat vs poncho, poles vs no poles

Unless you're a 'serious' or even 'semi-serious' photographer, the iPhone is probably all you'll need, as long as you're aware of the memory limitations t2andreo mentioned in his post above. If you're a casual photographer and you've been happy with photos taken with your iPhone, you'll probably be happy with just that. I'd recommend transferring all the pre-Camino photos that may be stored on the iPhone to your home computer or to the cloud before you start the Camino (except for a few photos of kids, etc, that you may want to share with your new Camino friends). That way, you'll have the maximum amount of internal memory available.

If you are more than a casual photographer and like to have more manual control over your camera functions, then I'd say take whatever compact camera you normally use -- but leave the DSLR at home if you have one.

Regarding the megapixel question, unless you will be printing very large prints of your photos to hang on a wall, you'll never notice the difference between 8 mpx and 12 mpx. On our Camino, I shot photos with a 14 mpx compact camera and my wife shot with an 8 mpx smartphone. We combined the best of both collections into a slide show which we view on our 55" TV, and you can't tell the difference.

 

[jayree]

I took only an iPhone 4S which took great photos and videos. Now I have an iPhone 6 which is even better. For me the most important pictures were people I met and some landscapes and churches for which the iPhone camera is ideal. Interior low light shots can be a challenge. I backed up my photos periodically to Dropbox and iCloud when I found a fast WiFi connection.

 

[SYates]

This is gonna be my first camino and I don't know if I will have the opportunity to do it again.
I would like to take photos along the way for later viewing and to reminisce my experience thru them.

Would my iphone 6 with 8-megapixel enough to take quality photos or I should bring my compact digi camera with 12-megapixel?

Megapixel say close to nothing about the quality of a photo, they only affect how large you can print it.
Quality of a photo is affect by the lense(s), chip size and, most importantly, by you and your skills (composition ect).
Buen Camino! SY

 

[t2andreo]

I found a multi-head 1 meter cable that has a lightning plug, mini-USB, and Micro-USB charging head. It has a single, standard USB connector on the other end. This, together with the standard Apple "sugar cube" charger suffices to charge my Samsung flip phone, my Canon camera battery and iPod Touch (or an iPhone if you had one).

Making each item do more than one thing is the key. I neglected to include this in my original post above. My bad!

I hope this helps.

 

[jmcarp]

Megapixel say close to nothing about the quality of a photo, they only affect how large you can print it.
Quality of a photo is affect by the lense(s), chip size and, most importantly, by you and your skills (composition ect).
Buen Camino! SY

Exactly! As the saying goes, you have hit the nail right on the head.

There are actually more considerations regarding the number of pixels relative to sensor size, but that discussion is probably best discussed on forums dedicated to photography rather than in this setting, and especially since 99.9% of the pilgrims on the Camino would not want or need to carry a large sensor camera anyway. Besides, who can argue with the thousands of very good photographs that have been taken along the Camino with basic compact 'point-and-shoot' cameras and smartphones.

 

[jmcarp]

I found a multi-head 1 meter cable that has a lightning plug, mini-USB, and Micro-USB charging head. It has a single, standard USB connector on the other end. This, together with the standard Apple "sugar cube" charger suffices to charge my Samsung flip phone, my Canon camera battery and iPod Touch (or an iPhone if you had one)...

Tom, can you post a link to that cable?

 

[newfydog]

If you want snapshots of people and simple buildings, a phone is great. If you want to get more interesting shots, a phone is quite limiting. Megapixels mean nothing, but lenses and exposure control are important


Here's a phone photo, cropped to show the view of town:




Here's what I took that night with a pocket camera with zoom and good exposure control:



Again, here is what the zoom on a just pocket camera can do, bringing the mountains up close:

 

[t2andreo]

Tom, can you post a link to that cable?

Jim:

There are several sources. I find mine as "point of purchase" impulse buys usually. But here are some internet results:

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00AE5BF5K/?tag=casaivar02-20

http://www.miniinthebox.com/popular/multi-charger-usb-cable.html

Finally, check these images out to locate something to your liking, and remember it is caveat emptor...

https://www.google.com/search?q=mul...v&sa=X&ei=74L8VKmCPIOmgwTyxoKwAQ&ved=0CDwQsAQ

One other way to work this is to use a known good USB to micro-USB cable, PLUS the available from Apple, converter than slides on the end of the micro-USB plug to convert it to the Lightning format. I have used that as well. But, it is a more expensive option and that Apple converter IS tiny.

The critical thing I have found it that the micro-USB jack that goes into a phone or camera has to be LONG enough (some are a silly mm short) and WIRED CORRECTLY. I have a several Samsung mobiles that are finicky, some like one cord, and some the other. So, just be aware that their is some "wiggle room" here.

I hope this helps...

 

[WldWil]

I agree with SYates. So, I'll skip repeating that part.

On my first trip to Hawaii, I had my phone camera. pocket camera, good camera, under water camera, manual camera with special lens and a video camera. On my third trip to Hawaii, I had my good camera and underwater camera.

A lot depends upon how important and what type of details you want to capture in photography. A lot also depends upon how you are going to use the photos upon your return. I am a person that in the first week back gets prints made and put in an album on the coffee stand. I enjoy looking at them later as well as when telling stories. I keep the books at 16 pages usually to force only best and the greatest shots to not bore the poor person that asks me about it.

Currently, for the Camino I plan on a pocket Nikon lightweight and my phone camera. I flinch a bit leaving the good camera behind, but at some point a decision has to be made about weight, quality and reason for a camera. I am having to fly in from the USA twice for the Camino I wish to walk and could be very long if ever to have the chance to do it again.

Here are a couple tips. Get a dual USB charger for phone and camera if you take one to save weight. Get a large sd card. Practice and Practice with whatever you bring. Knowing how to back light or use video or panoramic or hi def and other functions will make your shots faster and better.

Plus, it is unlikely that you may sit on a rock somewhere for three hours waiting for the light to get just right, like I did in the following photo. There are no edits or camera tricks here. It is pure light and shutter speed. The situation was different then a pilgrimage since we went to a location and were able to sit on the crater 2-3 hours waiting for ideal light and admire the beauty and wonder of a live volcano instrumental in creating the very island we were on. A phone camera could not have done it justice.

 

[jmcarp]

Jim:
There are several sources. I find mine as "point of purchase" impulse buys usually. But her are some internet results:
...

Thanks, Tom.

 

[dougfitz]

I agree with SYates. So, I'll skip repeating that part.

Likewise. I carry a camera with a reasonable lens system and good optical zoom. Using a smartphone camera to me is broadly equivalent to using a box brownie. It is a great option if you are interesting in being able to quickly capture and share 'happy snaps'. If you want to save weight, just carry the smartphone. If you have the skills, you will know how to get decent images of people. But if you are interested in more than that, consider taking a decent camera.

 

[jmcarp]

...If you have the skills, you will know how to get decent images of people. But if you are interested in more than that, consider taking a decent camera.

I agree wholeheartedly with that statement. Having the right tools for any job is very important; however, I have to keep telling myself that not everyone is as passionate about photography as I tell myself I am. And anyone who feels the same way must seriously ask themselves the question, "Why am I doing the Camino?" If the answer is anything other than, "To take some great photos," then the type of camera should not be a major concern. Those that do answer, "To take some great photos" probably already know what kind of camera to take (but they have to realize that a big DSLR and bag full of lenses is probably not the best choice). Most people are just looking for memories to share on Facebook or in a photo album when they get home. I forget that not everyone wants to take the time to fiddle with exposure settings, megapixels, sensor sizes, and rules of thirds. I used to subtly encourage my wife to get more serious about photography, but she has always been perfectly happy with a simple point-and-shoot compact on the most basic Auto setting, and more recently with her smartphone. And you know what, she takes some pretty darn good photos. You and I can continue to merrily fiddle with camera settings and worry if the lighting is right because that's what we care about; meanwhile, the rest of the folks are perfectly happy snapping away with their iPhones. If they're happy with the results of that tool everywhere else, why would they not be happy with it on the Camino?

 

[WldWil]

...If they're happy with the results of that tool everywhere else, why would they not be happy with it on the Camino?

@jmcarp really about sums it up as well.

I suppose you could also ask, "What do you do with them afterwards." Sit on a drive or computer, upload an album to Facebook, make a motion slide show with music and commentary? It may help in the decision.

 

[PANO]

Once a dedicated hobby-photographer, I owned a few of the finest top-of-the-line system cameras with half a ton of lenses. I just never had that stuff handy when those special photo-opportunities came up. So I bought a small Leica DLux which does very decent snaps. Forgot to take it along on a trip to China and I added a Nikon Coolpix 300 on the stop-over in Hongkong to my hardware. Again, good lens, good pix. Which one to take along on my camino? I chose the iPhone 5 for the following reasons:
1. I would have taken it along anyway and I did not want to duplicate weight, chargers etc.
2. No worry about memory, whenever within WiFi range, pictures automatically load to the cloud , DropBox, etc. and are safely stored.

Now, talking of picture quality, suffice to say, that both my afore-mentioned digital cameras gather dust, can't remember when I used them last. When I show my camino pix and vid's to friends, they never believe that I took them with my phone. (Meanwhile I have the iPhone 6, which is even better. See amateurs-pictures on http://www.apple.com/iphone/world-gallery/) The video capabilities are really astounding and the cute tiny Kenu tripod (http://www.kenu.com/products/stance for both iPhone and Android) is a great accessory.

Most important of all however are the final touches with a digital darkroom app (even the limited tools within iPhoto will do); no matter with what camera a picture is taken with, retouching brings about improvements far beyond the mostly irrelevant differences between different equipment. This, along with the photographer's "eyes", or skills, as SYates mentioned so rightly, is what makes extra-ordinary pictures. To capture them, the iPhone- and many other good smart phones are perfectly adequate, given their versatility, size and light weight.

Btw, on my last walk, I took along a thin, flexible solar panel tied on top of my Rucksack, which kept my iPhone fully charged the entire day, great and weighing next to nothing!

 

[WldWil]

@PANO what charger did you have?

I was looking at a Bushnell that doubles as a portable power as well.

If you take a camera and phone, consider a do port charger in order to carry one and not two.

 

[PANO]

@WidWil: Fly USB Solar Charger by iLand (www.iland-solar.com). Checked Bushnell website, they have similar, just check their electrical data to make sure that you get a tool and not a toy.

 

[jeffnd]

I took a Canon EOS-M, a mirror-less camera on my Camino. When I go back, I'm not sure what I will take. I liked having the versatility of having different lenses. It was also great for low-light environments like churches where flashes weren't allowed.

I took this in the Leon cathedral. The area was so dark, all you could see of the painting was the frame. But I put my camera in low-light mode and this came out. I know camera phones have gotten much better in the past few years, but I don't know if they are that good.

 

[Mark Lee]

First and maybe only Camino?
Who knows how many hours planning it and probably at least a thousand dollars spent on the trip?
All that and you risk the possibility of taking crappy photos with an iPhone? You gotta be kidding......
Bring the compact digital camera. Never mind the little bit of extra weight. The memories the photos give you will be worth it.

 

[PANO]

Crappy photos are just that, regardless with what camara they are taken.

Oh, and one picture shown in this thread as an example is not crappy.

 

[SYates]

An iphone 6 actually makes pretty good photos, see here: https://www.flickr.com/cameras/apple/iphone_6/ in the right hands.

As I said earlier, the most important factor for making good photos is the photographer, the camera just provides the technical quality/ability but composition ect is all up to the photographers own skills. SY

 

[Lyndale]

Bill Bennett, a fanous film producer, director and writer from Australia, has just written a book on Camino photography. It's called "Photo Camino: A Personal Guide to Photography on the Camino". It's available on Amazon. It addresses the types of cameras that are best and does include a chapter on phone cameras. Very helpful in how to get the best shot. Very good instructional guide along with his usual humor thrown in. Many beautiful photos as well.

 

[newfydog]

, the most important factor for making good photos is the photographer, the camera just provides the technical quality/ability but composition ect is all up to the photographers own skills. SY

Yes, you can take great pictures with a phone, and bad pictures with a fancy camera, (I'm very good at the latter). For some shots a phone will take a photo which can barely be improved upon, but many, many shots are simply not possible with just a phone. It just depends what your goals are.


Here's some shots with the compact travel zoom from our last pilgrimage, they are better than I can get from a phone, and not much worse than I do with my SLR. Plus, the little camera is always in my pocket, ready to go.

 

[Mike Savage]

Well done Newfydog.

 

[newfydog]

Looking at the start of this thread, there was a concern about how many megapixels are needed for a decent photo. All those pictures above have been cut back to less than one megapixel. Ken Rockwell wrote that selecting a camera by the number of megapixels is similar to selecting a car by the number of spot welds in the body.

Lenses are another matter.

 

[Ian Afloat]

Leica M2 plus 10 rolls of film. Post the film home as you use it. No need for a charger.

 

[Mark Lee]

It's obvious that iPhone's and smart-phones are quite capable of taking great pictures. That was never in doubt. The only thing to me that would not seem sensible is to not pack a small digital camera if photos of your Camino experience are important to you. Especially if you already have the camera and no extra expense would be incurred, and an 8-gb memory card in the camera can hold over 2000 photos. The digital camera really is weight negligible and takes up little space in the pack.
Like I stated earlier, it doesn't make much sense to me to spend so much time and money on walking the Camino and then nickle and dime over a small camera.

 

[WldWil]

It's obvious that iPhone's and smart-phones are quite capable of taking great pictures. That was never in doubt. The only thing to me that would not seem sensible is to not pack a small digital camera if photos of your Camino experience are important to you. Especially if you already have the camera and no extra expense would be incurred, and an 8-gb memory card in the camera can hold over 2000 photos. The digital camera really is weight negligible and takes up little space in the pack.
Like I stated earlier, it doesn't make much sense to me to spend so much time and money on walking the Camino and then nickle and dime over a small camera.

I would add that you should also not fill the card to more than 90% capacity as it could raise the risk of being corrupted.

I am taking the 64GB card in case I want a short video and it does not cost that much more. Funny how our film cameras only took up to 36 photos.

As for cost, it can be a challenge. There is always the question of when does it hurt or not feel right to spend that extra money. I have a self imposed budget, but will also be spending $2,600 in 2 airfares over 2 years in order to just walk the Camino starting at SJPP in 2 segments. It could be long time if ever for the opportunity to ever come again as time is valuable and short limited as well. The real question is determining how much it is worth to you n weight, cost and what you have afterwards as well.

 

[daesdaemar]

I have an array of hi end digital SLRs as a serious amateur photographer. However, it is unrealistic to lug those along on the Camino. I took a Canon Elph which takes excellent pictures and has quite a few adjustments and effects available. It was no bigger than an iphone. Very easy to carry on your belt or pouch and always available for that instant shot. Took hundreds of pictures with only an occasional charge needed.

 

[Deleted member 43985]

I have an iPhone 5s and while it takes very nice snap shots and actually pretty darn good HD video, I think it is still pretty limited to bright light situations. Many small cameras now have some really sophisticated features and can easily take very nice shots at ISO settings of 800-1600 which means sunrise, sunset and interiors shots can be taken hand held and still achieve very good results. It took a Canon G12 which has a much stronger flash, nice pano options and many of the DSLR exposure features plus a lot of options I don't believe you can find in even the iPhone 6. I paired the camera with a small table top Gorilla tripod that would allow me to attached my camera to sign posts, tree limbs, railings, etc and get some 'selfies' from a nice distance to really showed my surroundings. I'm certainly not a minimalist so adding the extra 9-10 oz wasn't a hard decision for me!

 

[anniethenurse]

This is gonna be my first camino and I don't know if I will have the opportunity to do it again.
I would like to take photos along the way for later viewing and to reminisce my experience thru them.

Would my iphone 6 with 8-megapixel enough to take quality photos or I should bring my compact digi camera with 12-megapixel?

Hola

I did not read all the 37 answers to this question...
but my opinion is that if this is your first and last camino you will probably be taking a LOTS of photos.

So I would bring both iPhone and a compact digital camera.
That way you would always have either your phone or camera charged and ready to take your pics any time you wanted.

Any smart phone and any light weight digital camera will do the job.

Buen camino.

 

[jmcarp]

I have an iPhone 5s and while it takes very nice snap shots and actually pretty darn good HD video, I think it is still pretty limited to bright light situations. Many small cameras now have some really sophisticated features and can easily take very nice shots at ISO settings of 800-1600 which means sunrise, sunset and interiors shots can be taken hand held and still achieve very good results. It took a Canon G12 which has a much stronger flash, nice pano options and many of the DSLR exposure features plus a lot of options I don't believe you can find in even the iPhone 6. I paired the camera with a small table top Gorilla tripod that would allow me to attached my camera to sign posts, tree limbs, railings, etc and get some 'selfies' from a nice distance to really showed my surroundings. I'm certainly not a minimalist so adding the extra 9-10 oz wasn't a hard decision for me!

Nice shots! The Canon G-series are great cameras, especially in the hands of someone who knows how to use the advanced features they offer. The G12 was obviously the right choice for you.