Re: New camera suggestions
Posted: Tue Sep 12, 2023 8:29 am
Quick comment from someone who will carry 8 pounds of camera gear on every 200+ mile hike, just because I would kick myself for not having the best full frame sensor, tripod and glass I own in my pack when it matters.
For lightweight cameras, I am a convert to current flagship phones. You carry the phone anyway. Just a few weeks ago, I would have never thought that I would say that, but my carrier was more or less giving away Pixel 7 Pros for 350 bucks spread over 3 years, so I ditched my old Samsung S10e and gave it a shot, wondering if all that talk about how good these phone cameras are was true.
Just a few test shots later, yeah, this is the best "point and shoot" I ever used. Optical zoom, low light, true macro lens. What impresses the most is the software, though, what it does in-camera to process images. At first I shot every frame in JPEG/RAW duplicates, but I quickly set that back to JPEG only and reserve RAW as an optional selection for the shots that matter. I have not been able to do better in Camera Raw than the phone did internally. For the kind of images I take while traveling, the phone really will hold its own. There are limits, like night skies and long exposures with ND filters, but for the 95% of what I usually shot, the phone is close to the DSLR gear I used to carry, just not as high resolution (the 48mp sensor bins down to 12mp in camera, there is no way to get the full resolution out of it).
For me, if I am ever in a position to have to cut my pack weight a lot (dreaming of the PCT...) there is the answer. It even shoots slow motion video in 4k resolution. The cratering of the point and shoot camera market is a direct result of how good phone cameras have become. Yeah, there's a lot of stuff I have no use for, like artificial background blur for portraits you could just use that 2 pound f/1.4 lens for, but out on the trail, you don't usually carry that. Who knows, I may even use that one of these days. I am not that much of a purist. If the result looks good, why not use it? For now, I am very impressed with the camera in that phone and it will get a lot of use soon: I have to record my life with a rescue puppy that is arriving from Texas on Friday and it needs to be photographed more than anything. That's where a phone that i always in your pocket is just unbeatable.
For lightweight cameras, I am a convert to current flagship phones. You carry the phone anyway. Just a few weeks ago, I would have never thought that I would say that, but my carrier was more or less giving away Pixel 7 Pros for 350 bucks spread over 3 years, so I ditched my old Samsung S10e and gave it a shot, wondering if all that talk about how good these phone cameras are was true.
Just a few test shots later, yeah, this is the best "point and shoot" I ever used. Optical zoom, low light, true macro lens. What impresses the most is the software, though, what it does in-camera to process images. At first I shot every frame in JPEG/RAW duplicates, but I quickly set that back to JPEG only and reserve RAW as an optional selection for the shots that matter. I have not been able to do better in Camera Raw than the phone did internally. For the kind of images I take while traveling, the phone really will hold its own. There are limits, like night skies and long exposures with ND filters, but for the 95% of what I usually shot, the phone is close to the DSLR gear I used to carry, just not as high resolution (the 48mp sensor bins down to 12mp in camera, there is no way to get the full resolution out of it).
For me, if I am ever in a position to have to cut my pack weight a lot (dreaming of the PCT...) there is the answer. It even shoots slow motion video in 4k resolution. The cratering of the point and shoot camera market is a direct result of how good phone cameras have become. Yeah, there's a lot of stuff I have no use for, like artificial background blur for portraits you could just use that 2 pound f/1.4 lens for, but out on the trail, you don't usually carry that. Who knows, I may even use that one of these days. I am not that much of a purist. If the result looks good, why not use it? For now, I am very impressed with the camera in that phone and it will get a lot of use soon: I have to record my life with a rescue puppy that is arriving from Texas on Friday and it needs to be photographed more than anything. That's where a phone that i always in your pocket is just unbeatable.