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Leaving DSLR home?


katie11
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Just bought an iPhone 7. Wondering whether or not to leave the Canon T4i with its heavy bag and lenses home.

Will the quality of the phone be as good as the Canon? Doing a 35 day Hawaii cruise with lots of sea days.

BTW, I'll have my Olympus TG4 with me.

Appreciate your help on this one.

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I'm not sure how many lenses you have but I would take the Rebel with either an 18-250/270/300mm "vacation" lens, or maybe just two lenses to give you some choice. Do you have the optional fisheye or telephoto for the Olympus TG4?

 

We just did a 12-day Baltic cruise and I took two DSLR bodies and four lenses with the capability of 11-400mm.. What I used 80% of the time was a 16-105mm lens with my DSLR, and new to my last cruise, a Sony HX90V with a 24-720mm. Granted the second body was along for insurance. The lenses were all the weight!

 

One nice feature with the HX90V is I can WiFi photos to my phone, plus it is very easy to use for selfies with a 3 second timer. I use to use my Nokia smartphone with a Zeiss lens for quick shots but one thing that I found is that the phone is difficult to hold securely if there is a wind near the edge of a deck or balcony while underway. I was always worried it would flip out of my hand.

 

Have a great cruise!

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Since you’re even asking the question, I would say leave the Rebel at home. Between the iPhone and the Olympus, you’ll b e able to cover most of your shots. Many on this forum wouldn’t even consider not taking their gear based on the priority they put on it. For me, it would be odd not to travel with my gear, regardless of the trip.

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I say.... take a picture with the iPhone... then compare image quality with the DSLR on the COMPUTER SCREEN. Things to check for...

  • low light?
  • flash photos?
  • optical zoom quality?
  • battery life when spraying and praying? Do you need to carry additional iPhone's while the others are charging?

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As Glaciers said, many of us would rather leave half of our clothes at home than any "necessary" camera gear, but the choice is entirely up to you based on your personal cruise/photography balance. Personally, I cruise to get to new places to take pictures. I truly enjoy photography and have looked at the world as a possible composition since I picked up my first camera at about 10 years old. Not taking my primary camera(s) would be unthinkable. If you are a casual photographer and don't spend a lot of time with your camera, the phone and the Oly should serve to capture the occasional sunset, wide view of the Hawaiian scenery, fellow travelers or fancy dinner shot. If you like to shoot a lot, the phone isn't going to cut it. I have a Pixel XL and even its spectacular camera falls short in very low light (I mean very low) and in any situation where a telephoto is needed. All of our advice is well meant but the decision is ultimately yours and will be based on your perceived need for the advantages an interchangeable lens camera gives you.

 

Dave

 

BTW, our last trip to Hawaii was a bit more adventurous with a boat tour out to the lava flow. If I were cruising to Hawaii and had a stop at the Big Island, I would take the tour again without hesitation.

 

p516065147-5.jpg

 

p160927184-5.jpg

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If you are use to using the Rebel and having that wide range of lenses then bring it. The camera in the iPhone 7 is very nice but it is pretty limited in things like zoom and macro. If you just want to make some snapshots the phone is ok. Much to my wife's dismay I still travel with a 5D III, 16-35 2.8, 24-105 4, 70-200 2.8 and a TC 1.4III. It is about 1/3 of what I used to carry before I retired and as much as I try, I cannot bring myself to go with anything less.

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Thanks everyone for your advice, much appreciated.

I have decided to take the Rebel, as I figure that I will be better off with it as without.

I took a new camera on our New Zealand cruise and was very disappointed. Mostly because I didn't understand the camera. It had a large zoom, but that did not give me the close up's I was looking for. They were very grainy.

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Dave, I really respect your expert advice and knowledge given here on CC.

I have decided to take the Rebel, best to have plenty of options.

The tour you took from the Big Island, can you tell me how you organised that one please. your photo's are fantastic.

Thanks,

Kerry

As Glaciers said, many of us would rather leave half of our clothes at home than any "necessary" camera gear, but the choice is entirely up to you based on your personal cruise/photography balance. Personally, I cruise to get to new places to take pictures. I truly enjoy photography and have looked at the world as a possible composition since I picked up my first camera at about 10 years old. Not taking my primary camera(s) would be unthinkable. If you are a casual photographer and don't spend a lot of time with your camera, the phone and the Oly should serve to capture the occasional sunset, wide view of the Hawaiian scenery, fellow travelers or fancy dinner shot. If you like to shoot a lot, the phone isn't going to cut it. I have a Pixel XL and even its spectacular camera falls short in very low light (I mean very low) and in any situation where a telephoto is needed. All of our advice is well meant but the decision is ultimately yours and will be based on your perceived need for the advantages an interchangeable lens camera gives you.

 

Dave

 

BTW, our last trip to Hawaii was a bit more adventurous with a boat tour out to the lava flow. If I were cruising to Hawaii and had a stop at the Big Island, I would take the tour again without hesitation.

 

p516065147-5.jpg

 

p160927184-5.jpg

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Dave, I really respect your expert advice and knowledge given here on CC.

I have decided to take the Rebel, best to have plenty of options.

The tour you took from the Big Island, can you tell me how you organised that one please. your photo's are fantastic.

Thanks,

Kerry

 

Thanks for the kind words.

 

I took the tour from http://www.lavaocean.com .

 

Very professional and the boat they use is designed by a custom builder for close approach. I'm not sure if they have pickup from the pier but they are fairly close to Hilo. Here's a link to the rest of the photos from the trip. Some were from as close as 30 feet of so from the minor flows.

 

http://galleries.pptphoto.com/lava

 

Not cheap, but check marks next to Bucket List items seldom are! :D

 

Dave

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Thanks for your reply

I don't have the fisheye or telephoto for the Olympus. Are they worth getting?

 

 

I'm not sure how many lenses you have but I would take the Rebel with either an 18-250/270/300mm "vacation" lens, or maybe just two lenses to give you some choice. Do you have the optional fisheye or telephoto for the Olympus TG4?
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Thanks for your reply

I don't have the fisheye or telephoto for the Olympus. Are they worth getting?

 

 

I'm not sure how many lenses you have but I would take the Rebel with either an 18-250/270/300mm "vacation" lens, or maybe just two lenses to give you some choice. Do you have the optional fisheye or telephoto for the Olympus TG4?

 

I mentioned that only if you were not taking the DSLR. Probably not worth it with your decision to take the Rebel.

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The fact that you're asking, makes me say stick to your phone.

I did some side by side testing with the iPhone 7 and Sony a6300.

If you're shooting with consumer kit lenses in auto mode, the iPhone 7 photos will be just as good if not better.

Even in low light, the iPhone 7 is better than a kit dSLR auto.

 

You'll lose optical zoom. But if you're mostly doing landscapes and people photos... doesn't sound like carrying the dSLR is worth it, and wouldn't produce better photos.

Dslrs have more potential if you upgrade lenses, shoot in raw and manual modes, etc.

But if you're keeping it simple, stink to the phone.

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  • 2 weeks later...
As Glaciers said, many of us would rather leave half of our clothes at home than any "necessary" camera gear, but the choice is entirely up to you based on your personal cruise/photography balance. Personally, I cruise to get to new places to take pictures. I truly enjoy photography and have looked at the world as a possible composition since I picked up my first camera at about 10 years old. Not taking my primary camera(s) would be unthinkable. If you are a casual photographer and don't spend a lot of time with your camera, the phone and the Oly should serve to capture the occasional sunset, wide view of the Hawaiian scenery, fellow travelers or fancy dinner shot. If you like to shoot a lot, the phone isn't going to cut it. I have a Pixel XL and even its spectacular camera falls short in very low light (I mean very low) and in any situation where a telephoto is needed. All of our advice is well meant but the decision is ultimately yours and will be based on your perceived need for the advantages an interchangeable lens camera gives you.

 

Dave

 

BTW, our last trip to Hawaii was a bit more adventurous with a boat tour out to the lava flow. If I were cruising to Hawaii and had a stop at the Big Island, I would take the tour again without hesitation.

 

p516065147-5.jpg

 

p160927184-5.jpg

 

This is, pretty much, how Ieel. Of course, as has been stated, the choice is yours. I, simply, cannot imagine taking a trip like that without bringing, at least, one of my DSLRs (I have 2). I would bring the lightest one if that was even an issue. Now...me....I rarely travel without both of mine after a hard learned lesson when I brought one of my bodies with me on a trip through The St Lawrence Seaway and my camera died mid trip and I had nothing to shoot with for the rrst of the trip. I vowed that would never happen again.

 

For me, using a phone as my primary camera just does not make me feel very comfortable, as good as some of today's phone cameras may be.

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